The Red Pencil (1989) examines the many ways in which Soviet censorship interfered in the creative process - in the words of those who experienced it first hand. It helps to identify the ways in which Soviet artistic and intellectual production was shaped by the practices of Soviet censorship. The book goes beyond the simple recounting of banned books and taboo subjects to examine the more subtle issue of how Soviet writers attempted to strike a balance between accommodating the demands of government censorship while retaining for themselves a modicum of unfettered expression and intellectual integrity. Most of the contributing authors were active as writers, critics, editors, film and theatre specialists, or scientists prior to their departure from the Soviet Union in the 1970s.

Marianna Tax Choldin was Director of the Russian and East European Center and the Head of the Slavic and East European Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Maurice Friedberg was Senior University Scholar and Head of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.