Altynbayeva G. M., Gerasimova L. E.

The Chekhovian code in A. Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago. Pp. 80–86.

UDC 821.161.1-31.09″19″

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2023.81.4.008

 

Abstract. The article investigates The Gulag Archipelago and demonstrates the influence of Chekhov’s poetics on A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s work. The authors of the research do not discuss the obvious connections between the works The Island of Sakhalin and The Gulag Archipelago, but bring out the aesthetic continuity of Solzhenitsyn arising from Chekhov, first and foremost, his high moral and philosophical understanding of man, recorded in his articles, letters, and artistic texts. In “close reading” of Solzhenitsyn’s “experiment in literary investigation,” the authors have identified a number of references to Chekhov, ranging from direct ones to implications, confirming not only artistic, but also personal reasons for Solzhenitsyn’s dialogue with Chekhov. The main criterion here is the moral position of the 19th-century classic, his “normal” worldview, his perception of Russia at the turn of the 20th century. The article proposes a clarification of the concept of the “Chekhovian code” in Solzhenitsyn. The Code includes not only direct allusions to Chekhov’s texts, but also references to Chekhov’s position in understanding man and his understanding of the conflict between a personality and the powers that be; at the same time, the “Chekhovian code” in The Gulag Archipelago also includes Solzhenitsyn’s argument with Chekhov, with his attitude towards the reader’s perception of time that had become “outdated” for the 20th century. Thus, Solzhenitsyn, in his “search for reality” (L. Ya. Ginzburg), analyzing his material gained confidence that “the word will destroy concrete” (Nobel Lecture), shows the boundaries of new writing. The materials for the present research included an interview with Solzhenitsyn, the text of The Gulag Archipelago, as well as works dedicated to him by Russian and foreign authors.

 

Keywords: A. I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, A. P. Chekhov.

 

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