Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn is a Nobel Prize winner, a great Russian writer and public figure. His name is associated with the patriarchy of world classical literature, he is characterized by ruthlessness and categorical judgments about everything that happened in the country during his lifetime. Solzhenitsyn knew how to speak accessible and patriotic words on behalf of millions, promoted national ideas, advocated justice and goodness.
Solzhenitsyn: origin story
"What is high among people is vile before God!" - It is impossible even today to object to the elder of Russian literature. The life path of Alexander Isaevich, through suffering, serves as a direct confirmation of his awareness of the simple truths of human existence. The publicist was born in 1918 in the North Caucasus, in a family of immigrants from the Kuban peasants. Solzhenitsyn's parents were intelligent people, trained in literacy and basic sciences. Alexander Isaevich's father died at the front during the First World War, never seeing his descendant. The writer's mother, Taisiya Zakharovna,got a job as a typist after the death of her husband, had to move with little Sasha to Rostov-on-Don. Here the childhood years of the great writer passed.
Love for literature comes from childhood
It would seem that the future of Alexander Isaevich was a foregone conclusion from the school bench. Of course, teachers who admired the incredible abilities of the child could not even imagine that Solzhenitsyn would receive the Nobel Prize for "the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature" - this is the official name of the nomination. But nevertheless, the boy's penchant for writing contrastedly distinguished him from a number of students even in his school years.
Having successfully studied physics at Rostov University, the future great writer was hired as a school teacher. The life of the playwright flowed in a measured way: combining work and continuing to study part-time (Department of Philosophy in Moscow), he devoted his free time to creating stories, essays and poems. Changes also occurred in his personal life: Alexander Isaevich married a student, Natalya Reshetovskaya, who was fond of literature and music. In the fall of 1941, the writer was called up for service. After a couple of years of study at a military school, Solzhenitsyn ended up at the front, where he still managed to carve out free minutes for literary work.
The beginning of the fight against the political regime
Solzhenitsyn's receiving the Nobel Prize is not so much a consequence of the playwright's talent or his ability to correctly put lines together, butthe result of a persistent and stubborn struggle for anti-Soviet agitation. Alexander Isaevich never succeeded in publishing his first opuses in wartime: in 1945, Solzhenitsyn, being in the rank of captain, was arrested for correspondence with a friend containing criticism of Comrade Stalin.
The author's attempt to undermine the dictatorial authority cost him eight years in the camps. A man of amazing will and aspiration: while in prison, he did not leave the idea of telling the whole world about the passions of the Stalinist regime.
Solzhenitsyn's creative rise: the period from 1957 to 1964
Only in 1957, the political prisoner was rehabilitated. Probably, Solzhenitsyn did not even think about the Nobel Prize at that time, but he was not going to remain silent about the repressions of past years. The period of "Khrushchev's thaw" became one of the most favorable for the writer's work. The then leadership of the USSR not only did not interfere with the exposure of the criminal policy of its predecessor, but also allowed the publication of the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”. The work, written in an easy accessible way for the general population, produced a real explosion: it de alt with one day of a camp prisoner. The story began to be published in Europe, all critics highly appreciated the work, which allowed him not to stop and send the next stories for publication.
Prohibition of Solzhenitsyn's works in the USSR
The change in the leadership of the state in the mid-70s again did not play into the hands of Solzhenitsyn. Before the Nobel Prize, they tried to nominate the writer forreceiving a national award - the Lenin Prize. However, his candidacy was ruled out in a secret committee vote.
By the way, this could not in the least affect the writer's popularity: the whole class of the Soviet intelligentsia read Solzhenitsyn. It was impossible to buy novels in a bookstore, but the works literally went from hand to hand, remaining with each reader for a period of no more than three days. Some of the stories were published without covers, as a pamphlet - this was convenient and made it easy to hide the banned playwright's essays if necessary.
Political repression against the writer
In 1965, the authorities began to radically interfere in the writer's work. Confiscation of manuscripts, a literary writers' archive, a ban on holding reading evenings with the participation of a playwright and the publication of a new novel "Cancer Ward", which allegedly "distorted reality" and was recognized as anti-Soviet, and, finally, expulsion from the Writers' Union of the USSR - such measures hindered literary work, but could not stop the foreign publication of novels. Everything that was not printed at home was printed abroad. True, the author himself did not give his consent to such a step, realizing the scale of responsibility.
Getting the Nobel Prize: awarding without a laureate
When Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn received the Nobel Prize, Soviet television tried to hide from the public the news that a "bourgeois" award had been awarded to its citizen. Couragethe author of works in which the truth of life went beyond the framework of "socialist realism" deserves true respect. In fact, courage and inviolability in upholding public justice is exactly what Solzhenitsyn received the Nobel Prize for.
But, instead of the solemn awards ceremony in Stockholm, to which Alexander Isaevich was invited, the event was celebrated in a close circle of the people closest to him, the broadcast from Sweden was listened to on the radio at the dacha of a friend and composer Mstislav Rostropovich. It is worth noting one interesting point regarding the Nobel Prize for the works of Solzhenitsyn: the writer became a record holder of its kind, because only 8 years have passed from the date of publication of the first story to the award - in the history of the award, this is the fastest gaining world recognition.
Fearing that if he traveled abroad, the authorities would deny him re-entry, he stayed at home. The direct presentation of the Nobel Prize to Solzhenitsyn took place only in 1974, four years after the award ceremony.
Difficulties of a writer after the Nobel Prize
Immediately after the playwright was announced as the laureate of the prestigious world award, the preliminary campaign against him began to rapidly gain momentum. Over the next couple of years, all the author's publications were destroyed in his homeland, and the Paris publication of The Gulag Archipelago only angered the representatives of the communist leadership.
The author's widow, Natalya Dmitrievna, is sure that she saved me from exile and imprisonmentSolzhenitsyn Nobel Prize in Literature. The award saved the writer not only his freedom and life, but also gave him the opportunity to create in spite of Soviet censorship. When Alexander Solzhenitsyn received the Nobel Prize, the negatively minded rulers of the Soviet Union now had no doubts: the continued residence of the "agitator" and "propagandist of anti-Soviet ideas" in the country would only strengthen his position.
Expulsion in exchange for the truth: 16 years in exile
Soon Andropov, the then chairman of the KGB, and Prosecutor General Rudenko prepared a project to expel the writer from the country. The final decision of the authorities was not long in coming: In 1974, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "for the systematic commission of actions incompatible with belonging to the citizenship of the USSR and detrimental to the USSR," Solzhenitsyn was deprived of citizenship and deported to Germany.
Citizenship was returned to the playwright and his family by a presidential decree in 1990. In addition, in the autumn of that year, the whole country again remembered Solzhenitsyn's Nobel Prize. Published in Komsomolskaya Pravda, his program article on the capitalist arrangement of Russia was positively received by the public. A few months later, Solzhenitsyn was awarded the State Prize for having published in France in 1973 The Gulag Archipelago. Soon all the works published outside of Russia were published in the writer's homeland, and in the mid-90s, together with his wife and sons, he returned home, immediately activelyengaging in social activities.
Solzhenitsyn's return to public activity in the 90s
Nobel Prize Winner, Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, became for Russian circles the personification of democratic strength, a supporter of building a new, anti-communist state. Surprisingly, the writer received a variety of proposals, up to running for the presidency.
Meanwhile, Solzhenitsyn's public speeches demonstrated the lack of demand for his past ideas in society. Being a living representative of another era, a classic of national literature and at the same time a debunker of the inhumane Stalinist regime, Alexander Isaevich put forward ideas that irrevocably moved away from the realities of our time, remaining a tragic page in national history in the past.
Criticism of the latest work of the Nobel laureate
A striking example of the inconsistency of Solzhenitsyn's work with the present time, according to critics, was the book "Two Hundred Years Together". The work was published in 2001. But the result of ten years of painstaking work of the author simply shocked representatives of the scientific and historical sphere. The writer's intention itself, the history of the Jewish people in Russia, caused numbness. The work caused a flurry of bewilderment and indignation from critics - why did Solzhenitsyn again raise the already problematic topic of relations between the two peoples?
Opinions about Solzhenitsyn's work were divided, and therefore some consideredthe work is a masterpiece, a real manifesto of the Russian national idea, while others gave ambiguous assessments to the work of the author, saying that the writer almost praises the Jews, but one should write about them differently, more harshly. Someone even considered the work from a number of frankly anti-Semitic short stories. Solzhenitsyn himself repeatedly emphasized the maximum objectivity and impartiality of the covered topic.
Summing up: the significance of Solzhenitsyn's work in world literature
It is too early to judge the author's creative approach, to look for the positive and negative aspects of his book - the publication is not completed. But, apparently, the relevance of the theme of this work will cause more than one wave of discussions and discussions.
For Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel Prize did not become the merit of a lifetime. The writer took a worthy place in the history of Russian and world literature, promoting to the masses thoughts about the true state of affairs in the country, engaging in journalism and social work. Most of the author's works were published in multi-million copies both in Russia and abroad. The Gulag Archipelago, In the First Circle, The Cancer Ward and many other works have become the embodiment of the worldview of the playwright, who faced many of the most difficult life trials.
Remember, never forget
The great writer passed away in August 2008. The cause of death of 89-year-old Solzhenitsyn was acute heart failure. On the day of farewell to the playwright, D. Medvedev issued a decree implying the perpetuation of the memory of a public figure and writer. In accordance with the presidential decision, nominal Solzhenitsyn scholarships were established for the best students of Russian universities, one of the capital's streets is now also named after Alexander Isaevich, and monuments and memorial plaques have been erected in Rostov-on-Don and Kislovodsk.
Today, some of Solzhenitsyn's works are included in the mandatory minimum of the general education program in Russian literature. Schoolchildren read the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", the story "Matryona Dvor", they study the writer's biography in history lessons, and since 2009 the list of works of fiction recommended for reading has been supplemented by "The Gulag Archipelago". True, schoolchildren read an incomplete version of the novel - having shortened the work several times, Solzhenitsyn's widow preserved its structure and personally prepared it for publication.
