France

This article deals with understanding the aesthetics of French classicism, which not only assumes compliance with norms, but also establishes “freedom” as the leading aesthetic component of the text. The first part of the study demonstrates the deformed logic of perceiving classical aesthetics in Russian philological science, which largely followed the French ideological attitudes developed during the 19th century.

The article is written on the occasion of A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s 100th anniversary. It presents the writer’s view on France of the 1970s, on the French, their mass media, French history. It is noted that Solzhenitsyn’s special attitude to France had been determined by reasons of his worldview.