Солженицын

Based on his own recollections and on documented sources the author reconstructs the history of how A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s short novel «One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich» was perceived by the members of Saratov University literary club of the first half of the 1960s, under the supervision of a wonderful philologist T. I. Usakina, Assistant Professor of the Chair of the Russian literature of Saratov State University.

The article dwells on Solzhenitsyn’s lexical preferences, on what words he considered «unbearable» and why. In Solzhenitsyn’s attitude to the word aesthetic aspects (meaning, sound, color, smell) and ethic ones (belonging to the rogue or slaughterer world, being Russian, a possibility of coming from Christ’s lips) can be singled out.

The issue of the point of view in the composition of A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s novel «The First Circle» is regarded in the article by means of the structural analysis of its components based on the methodology by B. A. Uspensky.

In the article the authors consider the stages of A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s texts being introduced in the school curriculum; key problems of studying «Matryona’s Home» in secondary school are identified: the incompatibility of the story with the age of the students, and their lack of cultural and historic facts necessary for a proper perception of the text.

In the article the author regards different aspects of death perception artistically reconsidered by A. I. Solzhenitsyn in the short novel «Cancer Ward»; the spiritual vector of the novel is defined.

The article analyzes the ideas in A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s short story «The New Generation», the peculiarities of the conflict of tradition and innovation in post-revolutionary Russia (1920–1930s) and its relevance for modern Russia.

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The article offers the analysis of narrative strategies in the novel Cancer Ward as a significant component of the author’s creative method, which was being formed in 1950-1960s. The idea of A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s prose being polyphonic is considered controversial.

The author studies Solzhenitsyn’s understanding of the ways and logic of the development of the Russian revolution expressed in the novel August 1914, the writer’s interpretation of its key stages and important episodes, and the principles of depicting the types of revolutionaries.