EHRENBOURG, Ilya. Le dégel. Traduit du russe par Michel Wassiltchikov. Paris: Gallimard, 1957.
Octavo (208 × 148 mm), pp. 348, (2). Original wrappers and spine preserved. Red half morocco, smooth spine lettered and dated in gilt, balsa wood boards framed in black and gilt rules, top edge gilt, slipcase. Binding by A. & R. Maylander.
Limited issue of the first Gallimard edition. One of 35 numbered copies on vélin pur fil from a total of 40 copies printed, the remaining five copies lettered A–E for private distribution.
First published shortly after the death of Joseph Stalin, Le dégel quickly became one of the defining literary works of the period of political and cultural relaxation associated with Nikita Khrushchev. The title itself soon passed into common usage to designate the Soviet “Thaw”, the brief era during which censorship loosened and intellectual life cautiously re-emerged after the rigid controls of the Stalinist years.
In the novel, Ehrenburg depicts the uncertainties, tensions, and hopes of a Soviet society attempting to move beyond the oppressive legacy of Stalinism, making the work both a literary milestone and a key historical document of the post-Stalin transition.
