The novel “Children of the Arbat” is Anatoly Rybakov’s reflection on the fate of his generation. He began writing it in the mid-1950s and first presented it in 1958 in “Literaturnaya Gazeta,” answering the question from the New Year questionnaire “What is the writer working on?”. And he repeated year after year in other newspapers: “I continue writing ‘Children of the Arbat’; the action takes place in the 1930s.”
“…From the very first steps, I had to show that I don’t hide what novel I’m writing. In the spring of 1965, the first part of ‘Children of the Arbat’ was ready, and I took it to ‘Novy Mir.’ They signed a contract with me, paid an advance, and announced the novel for 1967. But nothing came of it. ‘I read the manuscript in a single day,’ Tvardovsky told me when I came to the editorial office some time later, ‘it’s impossible to tear yourself away from it… You’ve found your golden treasure. This treasure is your own life…’. ”