“Inferior to Engels”

This chapter discusses a cornerstone publication in the history of Tobias Smollett’s adventures in the Russophone world: the two-volume illustrated edition of Peregrine Pickle, issued in the period between 1934 and 1935 by the Moscow-based state publishing house Academia. A collaborative project of a group of individuals, this edition shaped the Soviet and post-Soviet reception of Smollett for decades to come. The chapter discusses this edition not only as a material object but also as a site of intersection between different readings and biographical trajectories. What kind of people took interest in translating, editing, and illustrating Smollett during the Stalinist era? How did their lived experiences shape their interactions with the Scottish writer? It is hoped that answering these questions will add productive new angles to our perception of Smollett and the international reception of his fiction.