Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This chapter examines the archival history of two Soviet publishing ventures, Vsemirnaya literatura (World Literature) and Academia, through their engagement with Sterne’s works in the 1920s and 1930s. It explores the institutional and social factors that influenced the publication of A Sentimental Journey and Tristram Shandy in Soviet Russia. The chapter introduces several figures who recur later in the book, including Gustav Shpet and Adrian Frankovskii, as well as some overlooked names, such as the translator Anna Anichkova, who was known in France under the male pseudonym Ivan Strannik. It also considers Maxim Gorky’s interest in Sterne—evident in his letters and his annotated copy of Tristram Shandy—and his role in promoting Sterne to Soviet publishers. The chapter shows how these publishing projects were affected by political repressions, and how shifts in cultural policy altered the conditions for intellectual autonomy within the field of Soviet world literature.</jats:p>