Literature holds different values in different countries according to leadership, culture, and beliefs. In the Soviet Union, literature has seen many different aspects. Pre-Stalin literature was seen as a tool of propaganda, where writers were given narrow themes and were forbidden to create objective, dissident works. Writers would smuggle work abroad to be published. In the late 1920s, Joseph Stalin took reign in Russia and placed a ban on free writing, strictly governing over writers' styles and content. Many writers took to children's literature and translation because it was easier and safer. No writer could talk or write poorly about the government nor publish anything that gave internationals insight on what was really occurring inside Soviet borders. After the death of Stalin in 1953, a new leader rose: Nikita Khrushchev. Many suppressed writers began writing freely again. One of these writers was Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn.
Solzhenitsyn was born December 1918 in Kislovodsk, Russia, and died August 2008. He was raised primarily by his mother as his father was killed before his birth. He graduated university in mathematics and took some classes in literature. From 1939-45, Solzhenitsyn served as a captain of artillery in World War II until he was arrested for writing a letter where he criticized Stalin. He was sentenced 8 years in a gulag and 3 years in enforced exile. In 1956, Solzhenitsyn returned to central Russia, became a math teacher, and started writing.
In 1964, he wrote a book titled Odin den Ivana Denisovicha (One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich). He sent it to the leading Russian magazine, Novy Mir, for publication. Solzhenitsyn was one of the first writers to publish about the grueling experience to be an inmate in a gulag in Soviet Russia. Never before had a piece of literature been so simple, raw, exposing, and enlightening. This work received so much attention by Russian citizens and international and Soviet politics. The work also sparked other writers to publish about their own imprisonment. However, once Khrushchev fell from power, the appraisal stopped and soon the attacks and criticism began. Solzhenitsyn was denied official publication, so he began sending his works abroad for publication. These works include V krunge pervom (1968: The First Circle), Rakovy korpus (1968 Cancer Ward), and Arkhipelag Gulag (1971: The Gulf Archipelago). These works criticized Stalin and exposed the actions of the Soviet to the outside world.
In 1970, Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in Stockholm; however, he never went to accept the award in fear he wouldn't be readmitted into Russia. After the publication of The Gulf Archipelago in December 1973, the Soviet press immediately attacked. Solzhenitsyn was arrested and charged with treason in February 1974. The following day he was exiled again. In December, he took possession of his Nobel Prize. Upon return to Russian citizenship, Solzhenitsyn established an annual award for writers involved in Russian literary tradition.
While Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's actions and works of literature may not be viewed as a classic creation, he still created something new for the world. He was brave in telling his experience of imprisonment or helping in a gulag in a time that gave harsh punishments and where people lived in a constant state of fear. His works were simple and raw, and they created a deeper understanding and look in to the Stalin Era, a time in history that wasn't well recorded. Solzhenitsyn's Pro-c level of thinking made him one of the most notable writers during this Revolution period. The creative way in describing imprisonment in a gulag opened the minds of many. Solzhenitsyn maintained his own personal view on the matter regardless of the praise or disapproval he received, and he didn't let it stop him from getting his works published for the world to read.
sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aleksandr-Solzhenitsyn
https://www.britannica.com/art/Russian-literature/Post-Revolutionary-literature
Solzhenitsyn impact on history cannot be understated as a creative and as an author. He was influential as a creative because he showed that even under extreme Soviet authoritarianism, one is still able to express ideas about the government. His bravery in that regard is extremely commendable.He also is able to so definitively express the emotions of those in a gulag that when read to former gulag inmates they could not differentiate between their experiences and the ones from Solzhenitsyn. In addition, his writings helped in the destruction of the USSR as it enlightened the West about the travesty befalling the oppressed people of Communist countries.
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