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[AVIATION ‘FEVER’ IN THE EARLY SOVIET UNION] Shturm neba: Sb. izbr. avio-stikhov [i.e. Storm of the Sky: Collection of Verses about Aviation]

Kharkiv: Ukrvozdukhput’, 1924. Item #1162

[78] pp. 11x15.4cm. In original publisher’s wrappers. Title-page lacks a small fragment at the top (no text affected). Otherwise in a very good condition.

First edition. This is an extremely rare collection of an early Soviet verses dedicated to aviation.
The edition, which was printed in Kharkiv in 1924, houses verses written by the Soviet poets Nikolay Tikhonov, Nikolay Kuznetsov, Alexander Bezymensky, Semyon Rodov, Vivian Itin, Vladimir Kirillov, etc., as well as the leading representatives of Futurism: Vladimir Mayakovsky, Nikolay Aseev, and Vasiliy Katanyan. The collection consists of 4 sections, Red Flight, Red Wings, Red Pilots, Into the Near Future, and comprises 23 verses hailing Soviet aviation.
Following the 1917 October Revolution and the end of World War I, the Bolsheviks became fascinated with the idea of creating a utopian socialist society. The struggle to build a new Soviet man turned synonymous with aviation, an obsession with which gripped the entire country. While Russia had always held one of the leading positions in the world air flight (in 1911 Russian aviators took their first flight from St. Petersburg to Moscow), the air ‘craze’ was put into motion in the early 1920s, when the Soviet government created the nation’s first major civil air organization, Dobrolet (later Aeroflot). Four months later, the stock company opened a regular air service between Moscow and Nizhniy Novgorod. As a result, aviation fever took over almost every aspect of Communist life, including Soviet press, which became flooded by the increasing number of writings dedicated to Soviet aviation.
The theme of aviation held a particular place in the oeuvre of Soviet Futurists, who perceived it as an epitome of boundaryless freedom. Among some of the most famous works dedicated to aviation are Aeroplan i pervaya lyubov’ [i.e. Airplane and First Love] by Vladimir Kamensky (who himself owned an airplane), Letayushchiy proletariy [Flying Proletarian] by Vladimir Mayakovsky, etc.

No copies found in Worldcat.

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