1 Prishvin, Mikhail,“Torf,” Sobranie sochinenii v vos’mi tomakh (Moscow, 1982–1986), 3:491–92.Google Scholar The essay was first published in six installments in Rabochaia gazeta, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 July 1926. Prishvin conflates the inhabitants of the legendary island of Atlantis with the Titan Atlas, who held up the heavens. Cf. also Prishvin, M. M., Dnevniki 1926–1927 (Moscow, 2003), 73–76.Google Scholar Slavic Revieiu 70, no. 3 (Fall 2011)

2 Prishvin, “Torf,” 491.Google Scholar

3 Ibid., 490.

4 Ibid., 495.

5 Gor'kii, Maksim, Sobranie sochinenii v tridtsati tomakh (Moscow, 1949-1955), 24:268, 29:477.Google Scholar

6 Ibid., 27:49–50.

7 Ibid., 27:42.

8 Ibid., 26:182.

9 Ibid., 26:181. On the history of representations of bogs, see Miller, David C., Dark Eden: The Swamp in Nineteenth-Century American Culture (Cambridge, Eng., 1989)Google Scholar; Sanders, Karin, Bodies in the Bog and the Archaeological Imagination (Chicago, 2009)Google Scholar; Black-bourn, David, The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany (London, 2006), 136–53Google Scholar passim.

10 Gor’kii, Sobranie sochinenii, 26:183–84. In fairness, Gor’kii had previously posed the issue in sexual terms; for instance, in his 1926 essay on Prishvin he found himself ad-vocating“incest":“man, born of the Earth, fertilizes it with his labor and enriches it with the beauty of his imagination.” Ibid., 24:267.

11 Benjamin, Walter, Moscow Diary, ed. Smith, Gary, trans. Sieburth, Richard (Cambridge, Mass., 1986), 51.Google Scholar

12 Sokolov, B. N., ed., Torf v narodnom khoziaistve (Moscow, 1988), 11-12Google Scholar; see Belokopytov, I. E.,“M. V Lomonosov o bolotakh i torfe,” Torfianaia promyshlennost', no. 8 (1960): 25–27.Google Scholar

13 On Shatura, see Fedorov, V,“Shatura-gorod”, Nashi dostizheniia, nos. 7–8 (1931): 35’43 Google Scholar. On other peat-based power stations, see Semenovskii, D.,“Elektrostantsiia na torfe”, Nashi dostizheniia, no. 12 (1931): 17–25.Google Scholar On Lenin and peat, see Douglas Weiner, Models of Nature: Ecology, Conservation and Cultural Revolution in Soviet Russia (Pittsburgh, 2000), 23.

14 These figures are from Sokolov, ed., Torf v narodnom khoziaistve, 74; see also Ignat’ev, I.,“Bogatstva ‘brosovykh zemel–,’” Nashi dostizheniia, no. 9 (1930)Google Scholar; Kazakov, George, Soviet Peat Resources: A Descriptive Study (New York, 1953)Google Scholar; Coopersmith, Jonathan, The Elec-trification of Russia, 1880–1926 (Ithaca, 1992)Google Scholar.

15 For a recent reflection on these, see Arkadii Dragomoshchenko,“Bezrazlichie,” Topos: Literaturno-filosofskii zhurnal (24 March 2004), at topos.ru/article/2149 (last ac-cessed 1 June 2011). For Blok and Nabokov, peat blazes were a harbinger of revolution: Blok, A. A., Sobranie sochinenii v shesti tomakh (Moscow, 1971), 6:313Google Scholar (notation of 6 August 1917); Nabokov, Vladimir, Speak, Memory, in Novels and Memoirs 1941-1951 (New York, 1996), 565 Google Scholar. For Pasternak (in his poem“Marine Tsvetaevoi”), they signified the complex workings of cultural memory. Pasternak, Boris, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii s prilozheniiami, v odinnadtsati tomakh (Moscow, 2003–2005), 1:214.Google Scholar

16 See ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/IUaTypcKaa_rP3C (last accessed l j une 2011). More recent figures from the parent company OGK-4 give the proportion as 2.57 percent (140,000 tonnes); see www.ogk4.ru/?obj=prod_sales (last accessed 1 June 2011).

17 Igolkin, A. A.,“Razvitie toplivno-energeticheskogo kompleksa v gody pervoi i vto-roi piatiletok: Plany i rearnost’,” in Odesskii, M. P., ed., Proektnoe myshlenie stalinskoi epokhi (Moscow, 2004), 56.Google Scholar

18 On the history of peat-harvesting technologies in Russia, see Ignat‘ev,“Bogatstva ’brosovykh zemel”; Kazakov, Soviet Peat Resources, 140–47; Sokolov, ed., Torfv narodnom khoziaistve, 11–26.

19 Lenin, V I., Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, 58 vols. (Moscow, 1958–1970), 44:321–22; 53:145–48Google Scholar (correspondence with R.Klasson); Anonymous,“Sorokaletie plana GOELRO,” Torfianaia promyshlennost’, no. 8 (1960): 3; see also Sokolov, S. G., ed.,“Vyskazyvaniia V. I. Lenina i postanovleniia Soveta Narodnykh Komissarov i Soveta Truda i Oborony o torfe,” Torfianaia promyshlennost1, no. 8 (1960): 27–31.Google Scholar

20 See, for instance, Maksim GorTdi,“Solovki,” Nashi dostizheniia, no. 6 (1929): 1 1 – 12; cf. Elizabeth Astrid Papazian, Manufacturing Truth: The Documentary Moment in Early Soviet Culture (DeKalb, 2009), 131-55. The extraction of peat is featured as an enjoyable outdoors activity in reel four of the infamous film Solovki (1926–1927); the film is held at Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv kino-fotodokumentov (RGAKFD), no. 2700.

21 Peat was featured on a Gospolitprosvet stenciled poster in six panels by V. O. Roskin from July 1921. Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv literatury i iskusstva (RGALI), f. 336, op. l ,ed. khr. 938.

22 Zorkaia, Neia, Istoriia sovetskogo kino (St. Petersburg, 2005), 76–81.Google Scholar The film is held at Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv kinofotodokumentov (RGAKFD), no. 22668. Cf. Anonymous,“Sorokaletie plana GOELRO,” 2 –3 ; Sokolov, ed., Torfv narodnom khoziaistve, 22.

23 Lenin, Polnoesobraniesochinenii, 35:413; Anonymous,“Sorokaletie plana GOELRO,” 3.

24 Kuleshov’s film survived in fragmentary form and without intertitles; Nikolai Iz-volov and Natascha Drubek-Meyer have recently reconstructed and annotated the film for release on an interactive DVD in the series“Kino Academia” of the Russian Cinema Council (Ruscico): Proekt inzhenera Praita, dir. Lev Kuleshov (Moscow, 2008).

25 Litvinov, Za shest’ millionov! RGAKFD, no. 3674; for a story on a related theme, see Geizel’, Mark,“Torfianiki,” Ezh, no. 17 (1931): 6–9.Google Scholar

26 RGALI, f. 656, op. 1, ed. khr. 3365,11. 72–87.

27 Peregudov, Aleksandr,“Boloto,” ChelovecHia vesna (Moscow, 1926), 74–85.Google Scholar

28 Peregudov, Aleksandr,“Tumany”, Chelovech’ia vesna, 106–42Google Scholar; lakovlev, Aleksandr, “Boloto,” Literaturno-khudozhestvennyesbornikiNedra, vol. 6 (1926): 149–91.Google Scholar

29 Peregudov, Aleksandr,“Iakovlev, A. S.,” in Izbrannyeproizvedeniia (Moscow, 1986), 2:504.Google Scholar

30 Ibid., 2:504–5.

31 RGALI, f. 2211, op. 1, ed. khr. 511,11. 328–328ob. Peregudov’s information tallies with that reported by Prishvin in his essay; see Prishvin,“Torf,” 495–98. Cf. also Peregu-dov’s annotated press clippings on peat: RGALI, f. 2211, op. 1, ed. khr. 171.

32 An article from a penal colony newspaper clarifies the context:“She has finished one ‘map’. She has to cross the ditch. The KR woman [i.e., a woman imprisoned for counterrevolutionary activity] looks for a bridge. She stops in thought. She looks at her reflection in the brackish water and sees a face sad because of peat. She decides to show off her gymnastic ability. She runs up in her narrow skirt and jumps awkwardly, right into the ditch. She clutches at the moss and scrambles out.” Sofia Okerman,“Torfianistki,” Novye Solovki, no. 16 (August 1925): 2; see also [Anonymous,]“Udarnik na torfu,” Novye Solovki, no. 16 (August 1925): 3.

33 Letter to Aleksandr Peregudov from 4 December 1927, in Gor'kii, Sobranie so-chinenii, 30:50.

34 V Boichevskii,“Tvorchestvo A. Peregudova,” Novyi mir, no. 11 (November 1933): 181,182.

35 Lenard Korris, Torfianitsa Niura. Komediia v 5 deistviiakh, 6 kartinakh (Iz zhizni torfo-rabochikh) (Moscow, 1935).

36 See, for instance, the poster held at the Hoover Institution: Toplivnaia promysh-lennost': Skhematicheskaia karta raspolozheniia novogo promyshlennogo stroitel’stva v oblasti kamennougol'noi i neftianoi promyshlennosti (Moscow-Leningrad, 1933). The poster plots the expansion of fuel extraction on schematic maps of the“European” and“Asian” parts of the USSR. The maps are surrounded by photomontages illustrating the machinery and statistical targets for excavating peat, coal, oil, and firewood; an additional photomontage illustrates the transportation of oil by railway. The section on peat (in the lower left cor-ner) shows a female worker standing on a pile of clumps being loaded into a narrow-gauge freight train. The growth in peat production is shown with three figures (in millions of tons): 1.6 (1913); 6.9 (1927–28); 16.0 (1932–33).

37 See the DVD Gimn tru.Au: Sovetskoe iskusstvo iz sobraniia russkogo muzeia (St. Peters-burg, 2010).

38 Shabad, E., SSSR: Sever, vostok, iug, zapad (Moscow, 1932)Google Scholar. is exemplified by the young Arsenii Tarkovskii’s“tonorama” (radio-play)

39 Kirsanov, Semen, Piatiletka (Moscow, 1931), 37.Google Scholar

40 Tarkovskii, Arsenii,“Povest’ o sfagnume: Tonorama”, Radio-Dekada, no. 1 (June 1931): 11–14.Google Scholar

41 Abdulov, [O. N.],“Kak zvuchit torf?” Radio-Dekada, no. 1 (June 1931): 14–15.Google Scholar

42 Tarkovskii,“Povest’ o sfagnume,” 11, 12. Emphasis in the original.

43 Ibid., 14.

44 The canvas is reproduced (without indication of source) in D. Zuev, N. Lozin-skaia, and A Trofimov, eds., Promyshlennyi realizm: Proizvodstvennaia tema v sovelskoi zhivopisi ifotografii (Moscow, 2007), 158–59. This catalogue constituted nos. 24–25 of the almanac WAM (World Art Muzei).

45 Platonov, Andrei, Zapisnye knizhki: Materialy k biografii (Moscow, 2000), 345.Google Scholar Pla-tonov’s“volt arc” is also featured in his story“Iuvenil’noe more” (Sea of Youth, 1934), which elaborates on its metaphysical ramifications.

46 Joravsky, David, SovietMarxismandNaturalScience, 1917–1932 (New York, 1961), 101.Google Scholar It should be noted that, confusingly, this“energetics” was a feature of the so-called mechanist faction of Soviet philosophy that was inspired in part by Aleksandr Bogdanov's“scientific monism.”

47 Boichevskii,“Tvorchestvo A. Peregudova,” 183.

48 Peregudov, Aleksandr,“Solnechnyi klad: Roman”, Novyi mir, no. 4 (April 1932): 10.Google Scholar

49 Ibid., 20.

50 Ibid., 29.

51 Peregudov, Aleksandr“Solnechnyi klad: Roman”,Novyimir, no. 7 (July 1932): 207.Google Scholar

52 Peregudov, Aleksandr“Solnechnyi klad: Roman”,Novyi mir, no. 5 (May 1932): 129.Google Scholar

53 Peregudov,“Solnechnyi klad: Roman,” Novyi mir, no. 4 (April 1932): 23. For a Utopian project based on this notion of peat as a spiritual organism, see Kudriashov, V. V., Torfkak rastushchee tela (Moscow, 1929), 1.Google Scholar

54 On forced labor and peat, see Blackbourn, Conquest of Nature, 270–74; Berben, Paul, Dachau, 1933–1945: The Official History (London, 1975), 93 Google Scholar; Benz, Wolfgang and Distel, Barbara, eds., Der Ort des Terrors: Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager, vol. 2, Friihe Lager; Dachau; Emslandlager (Munich, 2005), 119–20, 546–47.Google Scholar For descriptions of the work, see Langhoff, Wolfgang, Rubber Truncheon: Being an Account of Thirteen Months Spent in a Concentration Camp (New York, 1935), 164–77;Google Scholar Hentschke, Heinz, Moor undHeideringsumher:Erinnerungen (Berlin, 1990), 83–84.Google Scholar

55 Langhoff, Wolfgang, Bolotnye soldaty: Trinadtsat’ mesiatsev v kontsentratsionnom lagere. Rasskaz o deistvitel’no perezhitom, ill. Kralik, Jean, trans. Kazanskaia, E. (Moscow, 1936).Google Scholar

56 The resistance of peat is vividly illustrated in I. Asarov’s 1931 poem“Muck”; see Asarov, I.,“Griaz’”, Krasnaia nov’., no. 2 (1931): 106.Google Scholar

57 Marx, Karl, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, ed. Engels, Frederick (New York, 1967), 1:398Google Scholar; Engels, Friedrich, Dialectics of Nature, trans. Duff, Clemens P. (New York, 1940), 292.Google Scholar

58 Gor'kii, , Sobranie sochinenii, 26:333.Google Scholar

59 Prishvin, , Sobranie sochinenii, 2:376, 3:50.Google Scholar

60 Ibid., 3:68.

61 Ibid., 5:252. See also Prishvin’s thoughts about peat and machines and his draft of a story about getting stuck with his automobile in a peat bog: Prishvin, M. M., Dnevniki 1932–1935 (St. Petersburg, 2009), 451, 508, 525, 613, 820–23.Google Scholar

62 Prishvin, Mikhail,“Sovest’”, hvestiia, 12 August 1934, 6.Google Scholar

63 Prishvin’s letter to Gor’kii from 3 October 1926, in Anisimov, I.I. et al., eds., Gor'kii i sovetskiepisateli: Neizdannaiaperepiska (Moscow, 1963), 332–33Google Scholar. In a follow-up from 6 October 1926, Prishvin retracted the suggestion to avoid confusion with the notion of vitalism in biology.

64 Prishvin, Sobranie sochinenii, 2:480.

65 Ibid.

66 Ibid., 2:476.

67 Prishvin, M. M.,“Dnevnik 1939 goda”, Oktiabr’, no. 2 (1998): 147.Google Scholar Prishvin also adopted other dominant images of the 1930s Soviet imaginary as metaphors for his own struggle as a writer to overcome his material:“We are all building a kind of canal,” he wrote in the“scaffolding” of his magnum opus The Lord’s Road, a history of the White Sea-Baltic Sea Prishvin, Canal. M. M., Dnevniki 1936-1937 (St. Petersburg, 2010), 683.Google Scholar Cf. Irina Pa-perno, Stories of the Soviet Experience: Memoirs, Diaries, Dreams (Ithaca, 2009), 174–82. On Prishvin’s notion of the resistance of material to his artistic design, see Prishvin, Dnevniki 1926-1927, 204–5. One can draw a direct parallel to the peat poetry of Seamus Heaney. See, for instance, Seamus Heaney,“Digging,” New Selected Poems 1966-1987 (London, 1990), 1–2.

68 AleksandrSolzhenitsyn,“Matrenin dvor,”Maloe sobranie sochinenii(Moscow, 1991), 3:113. Solzhenitsyn also mentions peat farming in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich as one of the professions open to former peasants. Ibid., 3:28.

69 Solzhenitsyn,“Matrenin dvor,” 3:114.

70 Ibid., 3:145.

71 Antokol’skii, Pavel,“Mashina vremeni”, Stikhotvoreniia 1920–1932 (n.p., 1936), 159.Google Scholar