In the history of journalism in Russia, thick journal or thick magazine (Russian: толстый журнал, ) was a type of literary magazine, regarded to be an important tradition originated in Russian Empire, continued through the times of the Soviet Union and into the modern Russia. [1] [2] [3] The name comes from its format: a typical 19th-century issue of a "thick journal" was 300–500 pages, appeared several times a year.
The volume was roughly divided between literary publications (short stories, serialized novels, drama, poetry, etc., including translations) and journalism (criticism of literature, arts, music, political and social reviews and essays, calendars and reviews of current events, etc). Literary reputations were fostered mainly through thick journals.[4]
In late Russian Empire it was a major vehicle of propagation of culture across the vast expanses of the country, as well as a major component of cultural life of Russian emigres. Notable examples of early "thick journals" include Вестник Европы, «Московский телеграф», «Телескоп», «Библиотека для чтения», «Современник», «Отечественные записки», «Мир божий», «Жизнь», «Образование», «Современная жизнь».
The thick journal, usually distributed once a onth, was originally a phenomenon of the Western European Enlightenment, a means to circulate ideas to a small, educated public. In the nineteenth century its influence they faced competition both from journals and magazines that offered entertainment and information for a wider audience, and their influence diminished.[5]
The first independent Russian journal was Ezhemesiachnye sochineniya, k pol'ze i uveseleniyu sluzhashchie (Monthly Writings Serving Purpose and Enjoyment; 1755–1797), edited by Gerhard Friedrich Mueller, of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Inspired by the principles of the European Enlightenment, it was followed by an ever-increasing number of similar undertakings on different subjects, including literature.[6]
Many famous authors created their own Thick Journals. Aleksandr Pushkin launched Sovremennik (the contemporary), which became a famous liberal vehicle, and ran for 30 years, from 1836-1866. Nikolai Karamzin created Moskovskii Zhurnal (Moscow Journal; 1791–1792), Dostoevsky launched two different journals, called Epokha (Epoch) and Vremya (Time).
A Number of other journals was launched after the 1861 reforms, which lessened censorship in the Russian Empire. Some of the most influential thick journals of the time were Russkii vestnik (Russian Messenger), in which Ivan Turgenev, Leo Tolstoy, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky published major works, and Russkaia mysl' (Russian Thought; 1880–1900), to which Vladimir Korolenko, Nikolai Leskov, and Anton Chekhov contributed.
Towards the end of the Imperial Period, Thick Journals seemed to be dminishing in popularity, mirroing what had happened in Western Europe. They were however revived by the Bolsheviks, who had taken control of the press, and who needed a new authoritative forum. Many important publications were launched in the 20s and 30s, Novy Mir (1925-), Oktyabr (magazine) (1925-), Znamya (newspaper) (1931-), all based in Moscow, Zvezda (magazine) (1924-), based in Leningrad, Sibirskie ogni (1922-), based in Novosibirsk, Don (1925-), based in Rostov-on-Don 1925, and Zvezda Vostoka (1932-), based in Tashkent.
Thick journals were trend-setters and cultural icons, that could start literary careers and end them. In 1948, a campaign of Zhdanovism was directed against thick journals Zvezda (magazine) and Leningrad, for having published works by Anna Akhmatova and Mikhail Zoshchenko. During the 50s and 60s, a few of these magazines had massive influence, publishing some of the most iconic books of the period. Novy Mir published Not by Bread Alone, by Dudintsev, and A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Its cultural influence was so massive that Historian Cecile Vaissie has claimed that without its Editor-in-Chief, Aleksandr Tvardovsky, the 60s would not have happened.[7] Novyi Mir became so associated with liberal intelligentsia that it received hundreds of readers's letters not only in response to its publication, but also on human rights matters, such as the Pasternak affair, when he published Doctor Zhivago (novel) outside the USSR and was expelled from the country for it, and the Sinyavsky–Daniel trial.[8]
Other classics of the period also came out in Thick Journals before appearing as books, such as Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, published by journal Moskva (magazine).