Literature of the Americas Literature of the Americas 2541-7894 2542-243X IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2024-17-154-174 Research Article Articles Metamorphoses of the Gold Bug: Soviet Illustrations for Edgar Poe's Prose 2024 Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 The paper deals with illustrations for Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories, created by Soviet artists of different generations and published in different decades, from the New Economic Policy period to perestroika. Our main focus are the illustrations of Dmitri Mitrokhin, Alexandr Silin, Nikolai Kuzmin, Vladimir Noskov and Sergey Sokolov. Our aim was not only to describe unique personal style of each artist or to analyze the complex relationship between the illustrations and Poe’s text, but also to put the illustrations in historical and cultural context, find their correlation with the publishers’ preferences, market or censorship requirements, and, in general, the idea of Poe’s place in a Soviet library. Poe’s “tales of ratiocination”, in particular “The Gold Bug”, used to be the main object of Soviet illustrators’ interest for a long period of time. Interestingly enough, they avoid plain entertaining position and take various approaches, e.g. exoticism in Mitrokhin’s landscapes, Kuzmin’s representation of transience of life, or references to film aesthetics in Sokolov’s illustrations. Poe’s Gothic tales were rarely illustrated in USSR. Alexandr Silin’s illustrations of the 1920s were strongly influenced by British book design of the previous decades. Vladimir Noskov created his metaphorical illustrations for a Soviet book series “Library of World Literature” (“Biblioteka vsemirnoi literatury”, 1976). Soviet illustrated editions of Poe’s prose in 1960–1970s reflect his status of a canonizes “classic” author for both adult and young adult readers. Especially important are the illustrations in various book series, from prestigious “Library of World Literature” to popular “World of Adventures” (“Mir priklucheniy”). 1. Adaptation 2024 — Adaptation and Illustration: New Cartographies. Edited by Sophie Aymes and Shannon Wells-Lassagne. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024. 2. Boyle 1999 — Boyle, Eloise M. Poe in Russia. In Poe Abroad: Influence, Reputation, Affinities. Edited by Lois Davis Vines, 19–25. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1999. 3. Chegodaeva 1967 — Chegodaeva, Maria А. “Vysokoe iskusstvo knigi (Biblioteka vsemirnoi literatury)” [“The High Art of Book (The Library of World Literature)”]. Iskusstvo knigi, no. 7 (1971): 73–82. Moscow: Kniga Publ. (In Russ.) 4. Drost 2006 — Drost, Christian. Illuminating Poe: The Reflection of Edgar Allan Poe’s Pictorialism in the Illustrations for the Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. Hamburg, 2006. 5. Dubin 2001 — Dubin, Boris V. “Kniga i dom (K sociologii knigosobiratel'stva)” [“The Book and the House (On the Sociology of Book Collecting)”]. In Dubin, Boris V. Slovo — pis'mo — literatura: Ocherki po sociologii sovremennoj kul'tury [Word — Writing — Literature: Essays on the Sociology of Modern Culture], 47–62. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2001, (In Russ.) 6. Gerchuk 2014 — Gerchuk, Juri Ja. Iskusstvo pechatnoi knigi v Rossii XVI–XXI vekov [The Art of the Printed Book in Russia of the 16th–21st Centuries]. St. Petersburg: Kolo Publ., 2014. (In Russ.) 7. Grossman 1998 — Grossman, Joan D. Edgar Poe v Rossii. Legenda i literaturnoe vliianie [ Edgar Poe in Russia. The Legend and the Literary Influence]. Translated by M.A. Shereshevskaya. St. Petersburg: Akademicheskii proekt Publ., 1998. (In Russ.) 8. Hudozhniki 1986 — Hudozhniki gruppy “Trinadcat'”: Iz istorii hudozhestvennoi zhizni 1920–1930-h godov [ The Artists of the Group “Thirteen”: From the History of Artistic Life of the 1920s–1930s]. Moscow: Sovetskii hudozhnik Publ., 1986. (In Russ.) 9. Magistrale, Slayton 2021 — Magistrale, Tony, and Jessica Slayton. The Great Illustrators of Edgar Allan Poe. London: Anthem Press, 2021. 10. Male 2007 — Male, Alan. Illustration: A Theoretical and Contextual Perspective. Lausanne: AVA Academia, 2007. 11. Menges 2007 — Menges, Jeff A. Poe Illustrated. New York: Dover Publications, 2007. 12. Newell 2017 — Newell, Kate. Expanding Adaptation Networks: From Illustration to Novelization. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 13. Nikoliukin 2022 — Nikoliukin, Aleksandr N. “Edgar Poe v Rossii” [“Edgar Poe in Russia”]. In Nikoljukin, Aleksandr N. Sobraniie sochinenii: v 4 t. [Collected Works in 4 vols], vol. 1: “Literary connections between Russia and the USA: the establishment of literary contacts.” Moscow: INION RAS Publ., 2022. (In Russ.) 14. Osipova 2017 — Osipova, Еl'vira F. “O perevodah Edgara Poe v Rossii” [“On Edgar Poe’s Translations in Russia”]. Literatura dvuh Amerik, no. 2 (2017): 141–155. (In Russ.) 15. Osipova 2004 – Osipova, Еl'vira F. Zagadki Edgara Poe. Issledovaniia i kommentarii [Edgar Poe’s puzzles. Studies and commentaries]. St. Petersburg: Izdatel'stvo filologicheskogo fakul'teta SPbGU Publ., 2004. (In Russ.) 16. Pollin 1989 — Pollin, Burton Ralph. Images of Poe's Works: A Comprehensive Descriptive Catalogue of Illustrations. Westport (CT.) Greenwood Press, 1989. 17. Quinn 1998 — Quinn, Arthur Hobson. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. 18. Rusakov 1966 — Rusakov, Juri A. Dmitrii Isidorovich Mitrohin. Leningrad; Moscow: Iskusstvo Publ., 1966. (In Russ.) 19. Sobolev 1970 — Sobolev, Juri A. “Uchastie hudozhnika v nauchno-populiarnoi knige” [“The Artist’s Role in a Popular Science Book”]. Iskusstvo knigi, no. 6 (1970): 19–29. Moscow: Kniga Publ. (In Russ.) 20. Steig 1978 — Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington, ID: Indiana University Press, 1978. 21. 22. Verizhnikova 2005 — Verizhnikova, Tat'iana F. Iskusstvo knigi Anglii vtoroi poloviny XIX – nachala XX veka [The Art of Book in England of the Second Half of the 19th – the Beginning of the 20th Century]. St. Petersburg: Sankt-Peterburgskii gosudarstvennyi akademicheskii institut zhivopisi, skul'ptury i arhitektury im. I.E. Repina Publ., 2005. (In Russ.) 23. Zverev 2000 — Zverev, Aleksei M. “Edgar Allan Poe” [“Edgar Allan Poe”]. Istoriia literatury SShA [The History of American Literature], vol. 3, 171–221. Moscow: Nasledie Publ., 2000. (In Russ.)