Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Russian Literary Tradition

Abstract

THE first novel of A. Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, swept into the world like a gust of fresh wind. Sufficient time has elapsed since to make clear that the purely literary qualities of the novel far outweigh the political sensationalism that inevitably accompanies the appearance of any out of the ordinary Soviet work of art. The newness and originality have worn off; in the wake of book several timid exposes of life in prison camps have appeared, but One Day still stands unique and unchallenged. The present-day generation of writers in the Soviet Union has been cut off from so much of the literary heritage that the normal continuity has been interrupted. As a consequence, what passes now for Soviet literature has strayed too far from the mainstream of Russian literary tradition. In the twenties (by far the most exciting period in Russian post-revolutionary letters) it looked for a while as if the thread might be picked up again. But all such attempts were successfully thwarted in the long run by Zhdanovtype watchdogs established by the authorities. Literature was regimented into a mouthpiece of party-line propaganda and became one of the mass production tools of Soviet soul engineering. In contrast to this masterpiece marks a return to the great tradition of the nineteenth century. As M. Hayward put it: . . I would like to say that however Solzhenitsyn may be 'rated' now and in the future, he has in terms of the Russian literary tradition broken through a barrier as an interpreter of the 'popular' mind, if not as a writer who commands universal interest. 1M. Hayward, Solzhenitsyn's Place in Contemporary Soviet Literature, The Slavic Review, vol. XXIII, Number 3.