Altynbayeva G. M.

  1. I. Solzhenitsyn’s Conversations with Young People about the Awakening of “Kind Feelings” P. 129-137.

UDC 821.161.1-4.09«19»

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2022.75.2.013

Abstract. The article analyzes A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s lectures and speeches delivered in lecture halls
in Vladivostok, Moscow, Rostov, Ryazan, Samara, Saratov, Tver, Tomsk, Windsor, Harvard, Zurich and other towns and cities in Russia, Europe and the USA to investigate the writer’s ethical and aesthetic views on the modern world, his ideas about self-improvement, his perception of humanist values. The article proves that Solzhenitsyn strives to endow his young listeners with moral qualities, such as self-discipline, fairness, conscience.  The author of the article maintains that Solzhenitsyn tries to warn his young listeners against mistakes associated with lack of experience, talks about threats facing humankind, such as 1) elusive truth that can result in social disruption and hostility, 2) a decline in courage, lack of willpower, cowardliness, subservience, pragmatism, 3) rejection of freedom and independence for the sake of comfort, material wealth, enjoyment. For Solzhenitsyn, all risks of modern life are associated with moral destitution, emasculated humanism, spiritual crisis, political impasse. He underlines such hidden dangers as boundless materialism, complete disregard of religion and religious duties, sciolism. Solzhenitsyn’s advice to his young listeners is based on communicativeness, which is one of the pillars of his aesthetics. Solzhenitsyn couldn’t imagine his life without his dialogues with his readers, his contemporaries, his literature, his time. Reading Solzhenitsyn’s prose, his memoirs, his literary criticism, we see a wide variety of rhetorical devices. The author concludes that Solzhenitsyn’s communication with young people in the 1960s-1990s reeks of professional competencies which are in high demand nowadays, which ensure the formation of an educated and harmoniously developed personality. Solzhenitsyn highlights the importance of knowing world and national history and culture,
he wants young people to be able to develop and preserve moral values, and humane character. He urges them to practice self-discipline and conscience. He encourages them to awaken “kind feelings” Alexander Pushkin speaks about in his poem “My Monument”.

 

Keywords: A. I. Solzhenitsyn, spiritual vision, experience of former generations, Solzhenitsyn’s literary works, Solzhenitsyn’s aesthetics.

 

Bibliography:

  1. Meetings with A. I. Solzhenitsyn. Studija “Publicist” [Publicist Studio]. 1995. Available at : http://www.solzhenitsyn.ru/mediateka/tvcasts/1335/ (accessed: 16.02.2022). (In Russian).
  2. Solzhenicyn A. I. “Prjamaja linija”: nado dumat’ ob obshhej bede [Direct Line: We Should hink about Common Problems]. Solzhenitsyna N. D. (comp.). Moscow, ACT Publ., 2016, 224 p. (In Russian).
  3. Solzhenicyn A. I. Sobranie sochinenij : v 9 tomah [Collected Wors: in 9 vols.]. Moscow, TERRA-Book Club Publ., 1999–2005, vol. 7, 2001, pp. 17–33, 100–142, 237–254, 431–456 ; vol. 8, 2005,
    237–248. (In Russian).
  4. Solzhenicyn A. I. Publicistika : v 3 tomah [Publicistics: in 3 vols.]. Yaroslavl, Upper-Volga Publishing House Publ., 1995–1997, vol. 2, 1996, pp. 13–17, 211–233 ; vol. 3, 1997, pp. 145–155. (In Russian).
  5. Solzhenicyn A. I. Sobranie sochinenij : v 30 tomah [Collected Works]. Moscow, Time Publ., 2006 vol. 1, 2006, vol. 672 p. ; vol. 3, 2012, 552 p. ; vol. 06, 432 p ; vol. 8, 2006, 536 p. ; vol. 9, 2007, 512 р., vol. 10, 2007, 592 p. ; vol. 16, 2010, 792 р. ; vol. 18, 2016, 544 p. (In Russian).

 

Uncategorized