Solzhenitsyn’s heritage as a cultural phenomenon and an object of scholarly study

Abstract

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of Solzhenitsyn’s creative self-determination in the context of 20th century culture. The author dwells on the writer’s artistic connections and interactions with Russian and world classics, modernist poetics, and the socialist realist canon. Special attention is paid to the evolution of the mystery-epic principle in his prose. In the final part of the article the current state of scholarly and academic studies of Solzhenitsyn’s heritage are considered. The article is based on V. V. Polonsky’s report at the meeting of the Presidium of RAS on December 13, 2018.