(!LANG: Solzhenitsyn short biography. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander Isaevich - life and works. Interesting facts from the life of the writer

The name of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, which was banned for a long time, today rightfully occupies a worthy place in the history of Russian literature. After the publication of The Gulag Archipelago (and this happened only in 1989), neither in Russian nor in world literature there were any more works left that would pose a great danger to the departing Soviet regime.

This book revealed the whole essence of the totalitarian regime. The veil of lies and self-deceit, which still veiled the eyes of many of our fellow citizens, subsided. After everything that was collected in this book, which was revealed with amazing power of emotional impact, on the one hand, documentary evidence, on the other, the art of the word, after the monstrous, fantastic martyrology of the victims of “build of communism” in Russia during the years of Soviet power - nothing is surprising or scary anymore!

A brief biography of Alexander Isaevich is as follows: date of birth - December 1918, place of birth - the city of Kislovodsk; the father came from peasants, the mother was the daughter of a shepherd, who later became a wealthy farmer. After high school, Solzhenitsyn graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Department of the University in Rostov-on-Don, at the same time he entered the Moscow Institute of Philosophy and Literature as a correspondence student. Not finishing in the last two courses, he went to war, from 1942 to 1945 he commanded a battery at the front, was awarded orders and medals. In February 1945, he was arrested with the rank of captain - anti-Stalinist statements were found in his "correspondence" and sentenced to eight years, of which he spent almost a year on investigation and transfer, three in a prison research institute and four most difficult - in general work in the political special camp. Then there was a village in Kazakhstan "forever", but rehabilitation began in February 1957. He worked as a school teacher in Ryazan. After the publication in 1962 of the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" was accepted In 1969, he was expelled from the Union of Writers, in 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 1974, in connection with the release of of the first volume of The Gulag Archipelago" was forcibly expelled from the Soviet Union. Until 1976 he lived in Zurich, then moved to the American state of Vermont, which by nature resembles central Russia. In 1996, Alexander Isaevich returned to Russia. Such is not an easy life ny path of the writer.

Although the writer himself claimed that the form that attracted him most in literature was “polyphonic with exact signs of time and place of action,” of his five major works, surprisingly, a novel in the full sense of the word can only be called “In the First Circle”, because “The Gulag Archipelago”, according to the subtitle, is “an experience of artistic research”, the epic “Red Wheel” is “narration in a measured time”, “Cancer Ward” (according to author's in-le) - a story, and "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" - a story.

The novel "In the First Circle" was written for 13 years and has seven editions. The plot is based on the fact that the diplomat Volodin calls the American embassy to say that in three days the secret of the atomic bomb will be stolen in New York. The conversation overheard and recorded on tape is delivered to the "sharashka" - a research institution of the MGB system, in which prisoners create a method for recognizing voices. The meaning of the novel is explained by the convict: "Sharashka is the highest, the best, the first circle of hell." Volodin gives another explanation, drawing a circle on the ground: “Do you see the circle? This is the fatherland. This is the first round. But the second swarm, it is wider. This is humanity. And the first circle is not included in the second. There are fences of prejudice. And it turns out that there is no humanity. But only fatherlands, fatherlands and different for everyone ... "

The idea of ​​the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" appeared at the general work in the Ekibastuz special camp. “I was carrying a stretcher with a partner and I thought how I would describe the whole camp world in one day.” In the story Cancer Ward, Solzhenitsyn put forward his own version of the “excitation of cancer”: Stalinism, red terror, repressions.

What attracts the work of Solzhenitsa-na? Truthfulness, pain for what is happening, insight. Writer, historian, he warns us all the time: don't get lost in history. “They will tell us: what can literature do against the ruthless onslaught of open violence? And let's not forget that violence does not live alone and is not capable of living alone: ​​it is certainly intertwined with lies, wrote AI Solzhenitsyn. - But you need to take a simple step: do not participate in lies. Let it come into the world and even reign in the world, but not through me. For writers and artists, more is available: to defeat lies! Solzhenitsyn was such a writer who defeated lies.

Russian writer, publicist, poet, public and political figure

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

short biography

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1970). A dissident who for several decades (1960-1980s) actively opposed communist ideas, the political system of the USSR and the policy of its authorities.

In addition to artistic literary works, which, as a rule, touch upon acute socio-political issues, he became widely known for his artistic and journalistic works on the history of Russia in the 19th-20th centuries.

Childhood and youth

Alexander Isaevich (Isaakievich) Solzhenitsyn Born December 11, 1918 in Kislovodsk (now the Stavropol Territory). Baptized in the Kislovodsk church of the Holy Healer Panteleimon.

Father - Isaac Semyonovich Solzhenitsyn (1891-1918), a Russian peasant from the North Caucasus (the village of Sablinskaya in "August the Fourteenth"). Mother - Taisiya Zakharovna Shcherbak, a Ukrainian, the daughter of the owner of the richest economy in the Kuban, a Tauride shepherd-farm laborer who rose to this level with intelligence and work. Solzhenitsyn's parents met while studying in Moscow and soon got married. Isaaki Solzhenitsyn volunteered for the front during the First World War and was an officer. He died before the birth of his son, on June 15, 1918, already after demobilization as a result of a hunting accident. Depicted under the name of Sanya (Isaac) Lazhenitsyn in the epic "Red Wheel" (based on the memoirs of the writer's wife - mother).

As a result of the revolution in 1917 and the Civil War, the family was ruined, and in 1924 Solzhenitsyn moved with his mother to Rostov-on-Don. From 1926 to 1936 he studied at school number 15 (Malevich), located in Cathedral Lane. They lived in poverty.

In the lower grades, he was ridiculed for wearing a baptismal cross and unwillingness to join the pioneers, was reprimanded for attending church. Under the influence of the school, he adopted the communist ideology, in 1936 he joined the Komsomol. In high school, he became interested in literature, began to write essays and poems; interested in history and social life. In 1937 he conceived a long novel about the 1917 revolution.

In 1936 he entered Rostov State University. Not wanting to make literature his main specialty, he chose the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. According to the recollection of a school and university friend, “... I studied mathematics not so much by vocation, but because there were exceptionally educated and very interesting teachers at the Physics and Mathematics”. One of them was D. D. Mordukhai-Boltovskoy. At the university, Solzhenitsyn studied "excellently" (Stalin scholarship), continued literary exercises, in addition to university studies, independently studied history and Marxism-Leninism. He graduated from the university in 1941 with honors, he was awarded the qualification of a second-class research worker in the field of mathematics and a teacher. The dean's office recommended him for the position of university assistant or graduate student.

From the very beginning of his literary activity, he was keenly interested in the history of the First World War and the revolution. In 1937, he began to collect materials on the "Samson catastrophe", wrote the first chapters of "August the Fourteenth" (from orthodox communist positions). He was interested in the theater, in the summer of 1938 he tried to pass the exams at the theater school of Yu. A. Zavadsky, but unsuccessfully. In 1939 he entered the correspondence department of the Faculty of Literature of the Institute of Philosophy, Literature and History in Moscow. He interrupted his studies in 1941 due to the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.

In August 1939 he and his friends made a kayak trip along the Volga. The life of the writer from that time until April 1945 is described by him in his autobiographical poem Dorozhenka (1947-1952).

During the war

With the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, Solzhenitsyn was not immediately mobilized, as he was recognized as "limited fit" for health reasons. Actively sought to be drafted to the front. In September 1941, together with his wife, he was assigned as a school teacher in Morozovsk, Rostov Region, but already on October 18 he was called up by the Morozovsky District Military Commissariat and assigned as a rider to the 74th transport-drawn battalion.

The events of the summer of 1941 - the spring of 1942 are described by Solzhenitsyn in the unfinished story "Love the Revolution" (1948).

He sought direction to a military school, in April 1942 he was sent to an artillery school in Kostroma; in November 1942 he was released as a lieutenant, sent to Saransk to the reserve artillery reconnaissance regiment to form artillery instrumental reconnaissance divisions.

In the army since March 1943. He served as commander of the 2nd sound reconnaissance battery of the 794th separate army reconnaissance artillery battalion of the 44th cannon artillery brigade (PABR) of the 63rd Army on the Central and Bryansk fronts.

By order of the Military Council of the 63rd Army No. 5 / n dated August 10, 1943, Lieutenant Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree for identifying the main enemy artillery grouping in the Malinovets - Setukha - Bolshoy Malinovets section and identifying three disguised batteries that were subsequently destroyed 44- i PABR.

Since the spring of 1944, he was commander of the sound reconnaissance battery of the 68th Sevsko-Rechitsa cannon artillery brigade of the 48th Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front. Battle route - from Orel to East Prussia.

By order of the 68th PABR No. 19 of July 8, 1944, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star for the sound detection of two enemy batteries and the adjustment of fire on them, which led to the suppression of their fire.

At the front, despite the strictest ban, he kept a diary. He wrote a lot, sent his works to Moscow writers for review.

Arrest and imprisonment

Arrest and sentence

At the front, Solzhenitsyn continued to be interested in public life, but became critical of Stalin (for "distorting Leninism"); in letters to an old friend (Nikolai Vitkevich), he spoke abusively about the “Godfather”, under which Stalin was guessed, kept in his personal things a “resolution” drawn up together with Vitkevich, in which he compared the Stalinist order with serfdom and talked about the creation after the war of an “organization” for restoration of the so-called "Leninist" norms.

The letters aroused the suspicion of military censorship. February 2, 1945 was followed by telegraph order No. 4146 of the deputy head of the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence "Smersh" of the USSR NPO, Lieutenant General Babich, about the immediate arrest of Solzhenitsyn and his delivery to Moscow. On February 3, the army counterintelligence launched an investigation file 2/2 No. 3694-45. On February 9, Solzhenitsyn was arrested at the headquarters of the unit, stripped of his military rank of captain, and then sent to Moscow, to the Lubyanka prison. Interrogations continued from February 20 to May 25, 1945 (investigator - assistant chief of the 3rd department of the XI department of the 2nd department of the NKGB of the USSR, captain of state security Ezepov). On June 6, the head of the 3rd branch of the XI department of the 2nd directorate, Colonel Itkin, his deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Rublev and investigator Ezepov, drew up an indictment, which was approved on June 8 by State Security Commissar 3rd rank Fedotov. On July 7, Solzhenitsyn was sentenced in absentia by a Special Conference to 8 years in labor camps and eternal exile at the end of the term of imprisonment (under article 58, paragraph 10, part 2, and paragraph 11 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR).

Conclusion

In August he was sent to the New Jerusalem camp, on September 9, 1945 he was transferred to a camp in Moscow, whose prisoners were engaged in the construction of residential buildings on the Kaluga Gate (now Gagarin Square).

In June 1946 he was transferred to the system of special prisons of the 4th special department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in September he was sent to a closed design bureau (“sharashka”) at the aircraft engine plant in Rybinsk, five months later, in February 1947, to a “sharashka” in Zagorsk, 9 July 1947 - to a similar institution in Marfin (on the northern outskirts of Moscow). There he worked as a mathematician.

In Marfin, Solzhenitsyn began work on the autobiographical poem "Dorozhenka" and the story "Love the Revolution", which was conceived as a prose continuation of "Dorozhenka". Later, the last days on the Marfinskaya sharashka are described by Solzhenitsyn in the novel "In the First Circle", where he himself is bred under the name of Gleb Nerzhin, and his cellmates Dmitry Panin and Lev Kopelev - Dmitry Sologdin and Lev Rubin.

In December 1948, his wife divorced Solzhenitsyn in absentia.

On May 19, 1950, Solzhenitsyn, due to a quarrel with the “sharashka” authorities, was transferred to the Butyrka prison, from where he was sent to Steplag in August - to a special camp in Ekibastuz. Almost a third of his term of imprisonment - from August 1950 to February 1953 - Alexander Isaevich served in the north of Kazakhstan. In the camp he was at general work, for some time he was a foreman, he participated in a strike. Later, camp life will receive a literary embodiment in the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", and the prisoners' strike - in the film script "Tanks Know the Truth".

In the winter of 1952, Solzhenitsyn was diagnosed with seminoma, he was operated on in camp 909.

Liberation and exile

In conclusion, Solzhenitsyn was completely disillusioned with Marxism, and over time he leaned towards Orthodox-patriotic ideas. Already in the “sharashka” he began to write again, in Ekibastuz he composed poems, poems (“Dorozhenka”, “Prussian Nights”) and plays in verse (“Prisoners”, “Feast of the Victors”) and memorized them.

After his release, Solzhenitsyn was sent into exile to a settlement “forever” (Berlik village, Kokterek district, Dzhambul region, South Kazakhstan). He worked as a teacher of mathematics and physics in the 8th-10th grades of the local secondary school named after Kirov.

By the end of 1953, his health deteriorated sharply, the examination revealed a cancerous tumor, in January 1954 he was sent to Tashkent for treatment, and in March he was discharged with significant improvement. Illness, treatment, healing and hospital experiences formed the basis of the story "Cancer Ward", which was conceived in the spring of 1955.

Rehabilitation

In June 1956, by decision of the Supreme Court of the USSR, Solzhenitsyn was released without rehabilitation "due to the absence of corpus delicti in his actions."

In August 1956 he returned from exile to Central Russia. He lived in the village of Miltsevo (post office Torfoprodukt of the Kurlovsky district (now Gus-Khrustalny district) of the Vladimir region), taught mathematics and electrical engineering (physics) in grades 8-10 of the Mezinovskaya secondary school. Then he met his ex-wife, who finally returned to him in November 1956 (the remarriage was concluded on February 2, 1957). Solzhenitsyn's life in the Vladimir region is reflected in the story "Matryonin Dvor".

On February 6, 1957, by decision of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, Solzhenitsyn was rehabilitated.

From July 1957 he lived in Ryazan, worked as a teacher of physics and astronomy at secondary school No. 2.

First publications

In 1959, Solzhenitsyn wrote the story Shch-854 (later published in the Novy Mir magazine under the title One Day of Ivan Denisovich) about the life of a simple prisoner from Russian peasants, in 1960 - the stories “A village is not worth without a righteous man” and "Right Hand", the first "Tiny", the play "The Light that is in you" ("Candle in the wind"). He experienced a creative crisis, seeing the impossibility of publishing his works.

In 1961, impressed by the speech of Alexander Tvardovsky (editor of the Novy Mir magazine) at the XXII Congress of the CPSU, he handed over Shch-854 to him, having previously removed the most politically sharp fragments from the story, which were obviously not passed through Soviet censorship. Tvardovsky rated the story extremely highly, invited the author to Moscow and began to seek publication of the work. N. S. Khrushchev overcame the resistance of the members of the Politburo and allowed the publication of the story. The story entitled "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" was published in the journal "New World" (No. 11, 1962), immediately republished and translated into foreign languages. December 30, 1962 Solzhenitsyn was admitted to the Writers' Union of the USSR.

Shortly thereafter, Novy Mir magazine (No. 1, 1963) published The Village Is Not Standing Without a Righteous Man (under the title Matryonin Dvor) and The Incident at the Kochetovka Station (under the title The Incident at the Krechetovka Station).

The first publications caused a huge number of responses from writers, public figures, critics and readers. Letters from readers - former prisoners (in response to "Ivan Denisovich") laid the foundation for the "Gulag Archipelago".

Solzhenitsyn's stories stood out sharply against the background of the works of that time for their artistic merit and civic courage. This was emphasized at that time by many, including writers and poets. Thus, V. T. Shalamov wrote in a letter to Solzhenitsyn in November 1962:

The story is like poetry, everything is perfect in it, everything is expedient. Each line, each scene, each characterization is so concise, intelligent, subtle and deep that I think that Novy Mir has never printed anything so solid, so strong from the very beginning of its existence.

In the summer of 1963, he created the next, fifth in a row, truncated "under censorship" edition of the novel "In the First Circle", intended for printing (of 87 chapters - "Circle-87"). Four chapters from the novel were selected by the author and offered to the New World "...for testing, under the guise of" Fragment "...".

On December 28, 1963, the editors of the Novy Mir magazine and the Central State Archive of Literature and Art nominated One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich for the Lenin Prize for 1964 (as a result of a vote by the Prize Committee, the proposal was rejected).

In 1964, for the first time, he gave his work to samizdat - a cycle of "poems in prose" under the general title "Tiny".

In the summer of 1964, the fifth edition of The First Circle was discussed and accepted for publication in 1965 by Novy Mir. Tvardovsky got acquainted with the manuscript of the novel "Cancer Ward" and even offered it to Khrushchev for reading (again - through his assistant Lebedev). Solzhenitsyn met with Shalamov, who had previously spoken favorably of Ivan Denisovich, and invited him to work together on Archipelago.

In the fall of 1964, the play Candle in the Wind was accepted for production at the Lenin Komsomol Theater in Moscow.

"Tiny" penetrated abroad through samizdat and under the title "Etudes and Tiny Stories" was published in October 1964 in Frankfurt in the journal "Frontiers" (No. 56) - this is the first publication in the foreign Russian press of Solzhenitsyn's work, rejected in the USSR.

In 1965, with B. A. Mozhaev, he traveled to the Tambov region to collect materials about the peasant uprising (on the trip the name of the epic novel about the Russian revolution was determined - “The Red Wheel”), began the first and fifth parts of the Archipelago (in Solotch, Ryazan region and on the Kopli-Märdi farm near Tartu), finished work on the stories “What a pity” and “Zakhar-Kalita”, on November 4 published in the Literary Gazette (arguing with academician V.V. Vinogradov) the article “It is not customary to whitewash cabbage soup with tar , that’s why sour cream” in defense of Russian literary speech:

It has not yet been neglected to expel what is journalistic jargon, and not Russian speech. It is not too late to correct the warehouse of our written (author's) speech, so as to return to it the colloquial folk lightness and freedom.

On September 11, the KGB searched the apartment of Solzhenitsyn's friend V. L. Teush, with whom Solzhenitsyn kept part of his archive. Manuscripts of poems, "In the First Circle", "Tiny", the plays "Republic of Labor" and "Feast of the Winners" were confiscated.

The Central Committee of the CPSU issued a closed edition and distributed among the nomenklatura, "to convict the author", "The Feast of the Winners" and the fifth edition of "In the First Circle". Solzhenitsyn wrote complaints about the illegal seizure of manuscripts to the Minister of Culture of the USSR P. N. Demichev, the secretaries of the Central Committee of the CPSU L. I. Brezhnev, M. A. Suslov and Yu. V. Andropov, transferred the manuscript of Krug-87 to the Central State Archives literature and art.

Four stories were offered to the editors of Ogonyok, Oktyabrya, Literaturnaya Rossiya, and Moscow, but they were rejected everywhere. The newspaper "Izvestia" typed the story "Zakhar-Kalita" - the finished set was scattered, "Zakhar-Kalita" was transferred to the newspaper "Pravda" - N. A. Abalkin, head of the department of literature and art, refused.

At the same time, the collection “A. Solzhenitsyn. Favorites ”:“ One day ... ”,“ Kochetovka ”and“ Matryonin Dvor ”; in Germany in the publishing house "Posev" - a collection of stories in German.

dissidence

By March 1963, Solzhenitsyn had lost Khrushchev's favor (not being awarded the Lenin Prize, refusing to publish the novel In the First Circle). After L. Brezhnev came to power, Solzhenitsyn practically lost the opportunity to legally publish and speak. In September 1965, the KGB confiscated Solzhenitsyn's archive with his most anti-Soviet works, which aggravated the situation of the writer. Taking advantage of a certain inaction of the authorities, in 1966 Solzhenitsyn began an active public activity (meetings, speeches, interviews with foreign journalists): on October 24, 1966, he read excerpts from his works at the Institute of Atomic Energy. Kurchatov (“The Cancer Ward” - the chapters “How People Live”, “Justice”, “Absurdities”; “In the First Circle” - sections on prison dates; the first act of the play “A Candle in the Wind”), November 30 - at an evening at the Institute Oriental studies in Moscow (“In the first circle” - chapters on exposing informers and the insignificance of operas; “Cancer Ward” - two chapters). At the same time, he began to distribute his novels “In the First Circle” and “Cancer Ward” in samizdat. In February 1967, he secretly completed the work "The Gulag Archipelago" - by the author's definition, "the experience of artistic research."

In May 1967, he sent out a "Letter to the Congress" of the Writers' Union of the USSR, which became widely known among the Soviet intelligentsia and in the West.

First of all, the Prague Spring was fueled by Solzhenitsyn's well-known letter to the Fourth All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers, which was also read in Czechoslovakia.

Interview of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Vladimir Petrovich Lukin to the Itogi magazine

After the Letter, the authorities began to perceive Solzhenitsyn as a serious opponent. In 1968, when the novels “In the First Circle” and “Cancer Ward” were published in the USA and Western Europe without the permission of the author, which brought the writer popularity, the Soviet press began a propaganda campaign against the author. On November 4, 1969, he was expelled from the Writers' Union of the USSR.

In August 1968, Solzhenitsyn met Natalia Svetlova, they began an affair. Solzhenitsyn began to seek a divorce from his first wife. With great difficulty, the divorce was obtained on July 22, 1972.

After being expelled, Solzhenitsyn began to openly declare his Orthodox-patriotic convictions and sharply criticize the authorities. In 1970, Solzhenitsyn was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the prize was eventually awarded to him. Only eight years passed from the first publication of Solzhenitsyn's work to the awarding of the award - this has never happened before or since in the history of the Nobel Prizes in Literature. The writer emphasized the political aspect of the award, although the Nobel Committee denied this. A powerful propaganda campaign against Solzhenitsyn was organized in the Soviet newspapers, up to the publication in the Soviet press of Dean Reed's "open letter to Solzhenitsyn". The Soviet authorities offered Solzhenitsyn to leave the country, but he refused.

In the late 1960s - early 1970s, a special unit was created in the KGB, which was exclusively engaged in the operational development of Solzhenitsyn - the 9th department of the 5th directorate.

On June 11, 1971, Solzhenitsyn's novel "August 14th" was published in Paris, in which the author's Orthodox-patriotic views are clearly expressed. In August 1971, the KGB carried out an operation to physically eliminate Solzhenitsyn - during a trip to Novocherkassk, he was secretly injected with an unknown poisonous substance (presumably ricinin). The writer survived after that, but was seriously ill for a long time.

In 1972, he wrote a Lenten Letter to Patriarch Pimen about the problems of the Church, in support of the speech of Archbishop Hermogen (Golubev) of Kaluga.

In 1972-1973 he worked on the epic "Red Wheel", but did not conduct active dissident activities.

In August - September 1973, relations between the authorities and dissidents escalated, which also affected Solzhenitsyn.

On August 23, 1973, he gave a long interview to foreign correspondents. On the same day, the KGB detained one of the writer's assistants, Elizaveta Voronyanskaya. During interrogation, she was forced to reveal the location of one copy of the manuscript of The Gulag Archipelago. When she returned home, she hanged herself. On September 5, Solzhenitsyn found out about what had happened and ordered that the printing of Archipelago be started in the West (by the immigrant publishing house YMCA-Press). Then he sent the leadership of the USSR "Letter to the leaders of the Soviet Union", in which he called for abandoning the communist ideology and taking steps to turn the USSR into a Russian national state. Since the end of August, a large number of articles have been published in the Western press in defense of dissidents and, in particular, Solzhenitsyn.

A powerful propaganda campaign against dissidents was launched in the USSR. On August 31, the Pravda newspaper published an open letter from a group of Soviet writers condemning Solzhenitsyn and A. D. Sakharov, "slandering our state and social system." On September 24, the KGB, through Solzhenitsyn's ex-wife, offered the writer the official publication of the story Cancer Ward in the USSR in exchange for refusing to publish The Gulag Archipelago abroad. However, Solzhenitsyn, saying that he had no objection to the publication of Cancer Ward in the USSR, did not express a desire to bind himself by an unspoken agreement with the authorities. In the last days of December 1973, the publication of the first volume of The Gulag Archipelago was announced. A massive campaign to denigrate Solzhenitsyn as a traitor to the motherland with the label of "literary Vlasov" began in the Soviet mass media. The emphasis was not on the real content of The Gulag Archipelago (an artistic study of the Soviet camp-prison system of 1918-1956), which was not discussed at all, but on Solzhenitsyn’s solidarity with “traitors to the motherland during the war, policemen and Vlasovites”.

In the USSR, during the years of stagnation, August 1919 and The Gulag Archipelago (as well as the first novels) were distributed in samizdat.

At the end of 1973, Solzhenitsyn became the initiator and collector of the group of authors of the collection “From Under the Rocks” (published by the YMCA-Press in Paris in 1974), wrote articles for this collection “On the return of breath and consciousness”, “Repentance and self-restraint as a category of national life", "Education".

Exile

On January 7, 1974, the release of the "Gulag Archipelago" and measures to "suppress anti-Soviet activities" by Solzhenitsyn were discussed at a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. Yuri Andropov proposed to expel Solzhenitsyn from the country in an administrative manner. Ustinov, Grishin, Kirilenko, Katushev spoke in favor of the expulsion; for arrest and exile - Kosygin, Brezhnev, Podgorny, Shelepin, Gromyko and others. A resolution was adopted - “Solzhenitsyn A.I. to bring to justice. Instruct comrades Andropov Yu. V. and Rudenko R. A. to determine the procedure and procedure for conducting the investigation and trial of Solzhenitsyn A. I. However, contrary to the decision of the Politburo on January 7, Andropov's opinion about expulsion ultimately prevailed. Earlier, one of the "Soviet leaders", Interior Minister Nikolai Shchelokov, sent a note to the Politburo in defense of Solzhenitsyn, but his proposals (including publishing Cancer Ward) did not find support.

On February 12, Solzhenitsyn was arrested, accused of treason and deprived of Soviet citizenship. On February 13, he was expelled from the USSR (delivered to Germany by plane).

On February 14, 1974, an order was issued by the head of the Main Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press under the Council of Ministers of the USSR “On the Withdrawal of A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s Works from Libraries and Booksellers”. In accordance with this order, the issues of the Novy Mir magazines were destroyed: No. 11 for 1962 (the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” was published in it), No. 1 for 1963 (with the stories “Matryonin Dvor” and “The Incident at the Station Krechetovka"), No. 7 for 1963 (with the story "For the good of the cause") and No. 1 for 1966 (with the story "Zakhar-Kalita"); "Roman-gazeta" No. 1 for 1963 and separate editions of "Ivan Denisovich" (publishing houses "Soviet Writer" and Uchpedgiz - a publication for the blind, as well as publications in Lithuanian and Estonian). Foreign publications (including magazines and newspapers) with the works of Solzhenitsyn were also subject to confiscation. The publications were destroyed by "cutting into small pieces", which was documented by an appropriate act signed by the head of the library and its employees who destroyed the magazines.

TASS message
on the expulsion of A. Solzhenitsyn
(News. 15.2.1974)

On March 29, the Solzhenitsyn family left the USSR. The archive and military awards of the writer were secretly taken abroad by the assistant to the US military attache, William Odom. Shortly after his expulsion, Solzhenitsyn made a short trip to Northern Europe, as a result of which he decided to temporarily settle in Zurich, Switzerland.

On March 3, 1974, a "Letter to the Leaders of the Soviet Union" was published in Paris; leading Western publications and many democratically minded dissidents in the USSR, including Andrei Sakharov and Roy Medvedev, rated the Letter as anti-democratic, nationalist, and containing "dangerous delusions"; Solzhenitsyn's relationship with the Western press continued to deteriorate.

In the summer of 1974, with fees from the Gulag Archipelago, he created the Russian Public Fund for Assistance to the Persecuted and Their Families to help political prisoners in the USSR (parcels and money transfers to places of detention, legal and illegal material assistance to the families of prisoners).

In 1974-1975, in Zurich, he collected materials about Lenin's life in exile (for the epic "Red Wheel"), completed and published his memoirs "A Calf Butted an Oak".

In April 1975, he traveled with his family through Western Europe, then went to Canada and the United States. In June - July 1975, Solzhenitsyn visited Washington and New York, delivered speeches at the congress of trade unions and in the US Congress. In his speeches, Solzhenitsyn sharply criticized the communist regime and ideology, called on the United States to abandon cooperation with the USSR and the policy of detente; at that time, the writer still continued to perceive the West as an ally in the liberation of Russia from "communist totalitarianism." At the same time, Solzhenitsyn feared that in the event of a rapid transition to democracy in the USSR, interethnic conflicts could escalate.

In August 1975 he returned to Zurich and continued to work on the Red Wheel epic.

In February 1976, he made a trip to Great Britain and France, by which time anti-Western motives became noticeable in his speeches. In March 1976, the writer visited Spain. In a sensational speech on Spanish television, he spoke approvingly of the recent Franco regime and warned Spain against "moving too fast towards democracy." Criticism of Solzhenitsyn intensified in the Western press, and some leading European and American politicians declared their disagreement with his views.

Soon after his appearance in the West, he became close to the old emigre organizations and the YMCA-Press publishing house, in which he occupied a dominant position, without becoming its formal leader. He was cautiously criticized in the emigrant environment for the decision to remove the emigrant public figure Morozov, who had been in charge of the publishing house for about 30 years, from the leadership of the publishing house.

Solzhenitsyn’s ideological differences with the emigration of the “third wave” (that is, those who left the USSR in the 1970s) and Western activists of the Cold War are covered in his memoirs “A grain fell between two millstones”, as well as in numerous emigrant publications.

In April 1976, he moved to the United States with his family and settled in the town of Cavendish (Vermont). After his arrival, the writer returned to work on The Red Wheel, for which he spent two months in the Russian émigré archive at the Hoover Institution.

He rarely spoke with representatives of the press and the public, which is why he was known as a "Vermont recluse."

Back in Russia

With the advent of perestroika, the official attitude in the USSR towards the work and activities of Solzhenitsyn began to change. Many of his works were published, in particular, in the journal Novy Mir in 1989, separate chapters of The Gulag Archipelago were published.

On September 18, 1990, at the same time, Solzhenitsyn's article was published in Literaturnaya Gazeta and Komsomolskaya Pravda on the ways of reviving the country, on the reasonable, in his opinion, foundations for building the life of the people and the state - "How do we equip Russia." The article developed the old thoughts of Solzhenitsyn, expressed by him earlier in the “Letter to the Leaders of the Soviet Union” and journalistic works, in particular, included in the collection “From under the rocks”. The author's fee for this article Solzhenitsyn transferred in favor of the victims of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The article generated a huge response.

In 1990, Solzhenitsyn was restored to Soviet citizenship with the subsequent termination of the criminal case, in December of the same year he was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR for the Gulag Archipelago.

According to the story of V. Kostikov, during the first official visit of B. N. Yeltsin to the United States in 1992, immediately upon arrival in Washington, Boris Nikolayevich called Solzhenitsyn from the hotel and had a “long” conversation with him, in particular, about the Kuril Islands. “The opinion of the writer turned out to be unexpected and shocking for many: “I have studied the entire history of the islands since the 12th century. These are not our islands, Boris Nikolaevich. Need to give. But it's expensive...'

On April 27-30, 1992, film director Stanislav Govorukhin visited Solzhenitsyn at his home in Vermont and made a two-part television film Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Together with his family, Solzhenitsyn returned to his homeland on May 27, 1994, having flown from the USA to Magadan. After that, from Vladivostok, I traveled by train across the country and ended the journey in the capital. Spoke in the State Duma. At the Yaroslavl railway station in Moscow, the communists greeted Solzhenitsyn with protest posters: "Solzhenitsyn is America's accomplice in the collapse of the USSR" and "Solzhenitsyn, get out of Russia." Democrats were against Solzhenitsyn - the faction "Democratic Choice of Russia" voted against the writer's speech in the building of the State Duma.

In March 1993, by personal order of President B. Yeltsin, he was presented (on the basis of a lifetime inheritable possession) with the Sosnovka-2 state dacha in Troitse-Lykovo (plot area 4.35 ha). The Solzhenitsyns designed and built a two-story brick house there with a large hall, a glazed gallery, a living room with a fireplace, a concert piano and a library where portraits of P. Stolypin and A. Kolchak hang. Solzhenitsyn's Moscow apartment was located in Kozitsky Lane.

In 1997 he was elected a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In 1998 he was awarded the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, but he refused the award: “I cannot accept the award from the supreme power that has brought Russia to its current disastrous state.” In the same year, he published a voluminous historical and journalistic essay "Russia in a collapse", containing reflections on the changes that took place in Russia in the 1990s, and on the state of the country, in which he sharply condemned the reforms (in particular, privatization) carried out by the Yeltsin government - Gaidar - Chubais, and the actions of the Russian authorities in Chechnya.

He was awarded the Big Gold Medal named after M.V. Lomonosov (1998).

In April 2006, answering questions from the Moscow News newspaper, Solzhenitsyn stated:

“NATO is methodically and persistently developing its military apparatus - to the East of Europe and to the continental coverage of Russia from the South. Here and open material and ideological support for "color" revolutions, and the paradoxical introduction of North Atlantic interests in Central Asia. All this leaves no doubt that a complete encirclement of Russia is being prepared, and then the loss of its sovereignty.

Awarded with the State Prize of the Russian Federation for outstanding achievements in the field of humanitarian activity (2007).

On June 12, 2007, President Vladimir Putin visited Solzhenitsyn and congratulated him on being awarded the State Prize.

Shortly after the author's return to the country, a literary prize named after him was established to reward writers "whose work has high artistic merit, contributes to self-knowledge of Russia, and makes a significant contribution to the preservation and careful development of the traditions of Russian literature."

He spent the last years of his life in Moscow and at a dacha outside Moscow. At the end of 2002, he suffered a severe hypertensive crisis, the last years of his life he was seriously ill, but continued to write. Together with his wife Natalia Dmitrievna, president of the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Foundation, he worked on the preparation and publication of his most complete, 30-volume collected works. After the severe operation he underwent, only his right hand worked.

Death and burial

Alexander Solzhenitsyn died on August 3, 2008 at the age of 90 in his home in Troitse-Lykovo. Death occurred at 23:45 Moscow time from acute heart failure.

On August 5, in the building of the Russian Academy of Sciences, of which Solzhenitsyn was a full member, a civil memorial service and farewell to the deceased took place. This mourning ceremony was attended by former President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev, Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Osipov, Rector of Moscow State University Viktor Sadovnichy, former Prime Minister of Russia Yevgeny Primakov, figures of Russian culture and several thousand citizens.

On August 6, 2008, Archbishop Alexy (Frolov) of Orekhovo-Zuevsky performed a funeral liturgy and funeral service in the Great Cathedral of the Moscow Donskoy Monastery. On the same day, the ashes of Alexander Solzhenitsyn were interred with military honors (as a war veteran) in the necropolis of the Donskoy Monastery behind the altar of the church of St. John of the Ladder, next to the grave of Vasily Klyuchevsky. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev returned to Moscow from a short vacation to attend the funeral service.

On August 3, 2010, on the second anniversary of his death, a monument was erected on Solzhenitsyn's grave - a marble cross designed by sculptor Dmitry Shakhovsky.

Family Children

• Wives:
  • Natalya Alekseevna Reshetovskaya (1919-2003; married to Solzhenitsyn from April 27, 1940 to (formally) 1972), author of five memoirs about her husband, including Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Reading Russia (1990), Rupture (1992) and others.
  • Natalia Dmitrievna Solzhenitsyna (Svetlova) (b. 1939) (since April 20, 1973).

Accusations of informing the NKVD

Beginning in 1976, the West German writer and criminologist Frank Arnau accused Solzhenitsyn of camp "snitching", referring to a copy of the autograph of the so-called "denunciation of Vetrov" dated January 20, 1952. The reason for the accusations was the description by Solzhenitsyn himself in chapter 12 of the second volume of The Gulag Archipelago of the process of recruiting him by the NKVD officers as informers (under the pseudonym "Vetrov"). Solzhenitsyn also emphasized that, being formally recruited, he did not write a single denunciation. It is noteworthy that even the Czechoslovakian journalist Tomasz Rzezach, who wrote the book “Solzhenitsyn's Spiral of Treason” by order of the 5th KGB Directorate, did not consider it possible to use this “document” obtained by Arnau. Solzhenitsyn provided the Western press with samples of his handwriting for a handwriting examination, but Arnau declined to conduct an examination. In turn, Arnau and Rzezach were accused of contacts with the Stasi and the KGB, whose Fifth Directorate, as part of Operation Spider, tried to discredit Solzhenitsyn.

In 1998, journalist O. Davydov put forward a version of “self-delusion”, in which Solzhenitsyn, besides himself, accused four people, one of whom, N. Vitkevich, was sentenced to ten years. Solzhenitsyn denied these accusations.

Creation

Solzhenitsyn's work is distinguished by the setting of large-scale epic tasks, the demonstration of historical events through the eyes of several characters of different social levels, located on opposite sides of the barricades. His style is characterized by biblical allusions, associations with the classical epic (Dante, Goethe), the symbolism of the composition, the author's position is not always expressed (a clash of different points of view is presented). A distinctive feature of his works is documentary; most of the characters have real prototypes personally known to the writer. "Life for him is more symbolic and meaningful than literary fiction." The novel The Red Wheel is characterized by the active involvement of a purely documentary genre (reportage, transcripts), the use of modernist poetics (Solzhenitsyn himself recognized the influence of Dos Passos on him); in general artistic philosophy, the influence of Leo Tolstoy is noticeable.

Solzhenitsyn, both in fiction and essays, is characterized by attention to the riches of the Russian language, the use of rare words from the Dahl dictionary (which he began to analyze in his youth), Russian writers and everyday experience, replacing them with foreign words; this work was crowned with the separately published "Russian Dictionary of Language Expansion"

Positive ratings

K. I. Chukovsky called Ivan Denisovich a “literary miracle” in an internal review: “With this story, a very strong, original and mature writer entered literature”; "a marvelous depiction of camp life under Stalin".

A. A. Akhmatova highly appreciated “Matryonin’s Dvor”, noting the symbolism of the work (“This is more terrible than “Ivan Denisovich” ... There you can push everything to the cult of personality, but here ... After all, it’s not Matryona, but the whole Russian village fell under a steam locomotive and to smithereens…”), figurativeness of individual details.

Andrei Tarkovsky noted in his diary in 1970: “He is a good writer. And above all, a citizen. Somewhat embittered, which is quite understandable if you judge him as a person, and which is more difficult to understand, considering him primarily a writer. But his personality is heroic. Noble and stoic."

The chairman of the Committee for Freedom of Conscience, the priest of the Apostolic Orthodox Church, G.P. Yakunin, believed that Solzhenitsyn was “a great writer - of a high level not only from an artistic point of view,” and also managed to dispel faith in the communist utopia in the West with the “Gulag Archipelago”.

Solzhenitsyn's biographer L. I. Saraskina owns such a general description of her hero: “He emphasized many times:“ I am not a dissident. He is a writer - and he never felt like anyone else ... he would not lead any party, he would not accept any post, although he was expected and called. But Solzhenitsyn, oddly enough, is strong when he is a warrior alone in the field. He proved it many times."

Literary critic L. A. Anninsky believed that Solzhenitsyn played a historical role as a “prophet”, a “political practitioner”, who destroyed the system, who, in the eyes of society, was responsible for the negative consequences of his activities, from which he himself was “horrified”.

V. G. Rasputin believed that Solzhenitsyn was "both in literature and in public life ... one of the most powerful figures in the entire history of Russia", "a great moralist, just, talent."

V.V. Putin said that during all his meetings with Solzhenitsyn, he “was struck every time by how organic and convinced a statesman Solzhenitsyn was. He could oppose the existing regime, disagree with the authorities, but the state was a constant for him.”

Criticism

Criticism of Solzhenitsyn since 1962, when One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was published, paints a rather complicated picture; often former allies after 10-20 years fell upon him with harsh accusations. Two unequal parts can be distinguished - a voluminous criticism of literary creativity and socio-political views (representatives of almost the entire social spectrum, in Russia and abroad) and sporadic discussions of individual "controversial" moments of his biography.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a campaign against Solzhenitsyn was carried out in the USSR, with various accusations against Solzhenitsyn - a "slanderer" and a "literary Vlasovite" - in particular, Mikhail Sholokhov, Dean Reed, Stepan Shchipachev (author of an article in Literaturnaya newspaper, entitled "The End of the Literary Vlasovite").

Participants of the Great Patriotic War, who had the opportunity to get acquainted with the book "The Gulag Archipelago", did not agree with the description of military events in it.

In the USSR, in dissident circles in the 1960s and early 1970s, criticism of Solzhenitsyn was equated, if not with cooperation with the KGB, then with a betrayal of the ideas of freedom. Vladimir Maksimov recalled:

I belonged to the environment that surrounded him and Andrei Sakharov (...) His position at that time seemed to all of us absolutely correct and the only possible one. Any criticism of him, official or private, was perceived by us as a spit in the face or a stab in the back.

Subsequently (Solzhenitsyn himself dated his loss of "unified support of society" to the period between the release of "August the Fourteenth" in June 1971 and the distribution of the "Lenten Letter to Patriarch Pimen" in Samizdat in the spring of 1972), criticism of him began to come from Soviet dissidents as well ( both liberal and extremely conservative).

In 1974, Andrei Sakharov was critical of Solzhenitsyn's views, disagreeing with the proposed authoritarian option for the transition from communism (as opposed to the democratic path of development), "religious-patriarchal romanticism" and the reassessment of the ideological factor in the then conditions. Sakharov compared Solzhenitsyn's ideals with official Soviet ideology, including Stalin's, and warned of the dangers associated with them. Grigory Pomerants, recognizing that in Russia for many the path to Christianity began with reading Matryonin Dvor, on the whole did not share Solzhenitsyn’s views on communism as an absolute evil and pointed to the Russian roots of Bolshevism, and also pointed out the dangers of anti-communism as “a swamp of struggle ". Solzhenitsyn's friend in prison in the "sharashka" Lev Kopelev in exile publicly criticized Solzhenitsyn's views several times, and in 1985 summarized his claims in a letter where he accused Solzhenitsyn of a spiritual split in emigration and intolerance to dissent. The sharp correspondence debate between Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sinyavsky, who repeatedly attacked him in the émigré magazine Syntax, is well known.

Roy Medvedev criticized Solzhenitsyn, pointing out that “his young, orthodox Marxism did not stand the test of the camp, making him an anti-communist. It is impossible to justify oneself and one's instability by slandering the "communists in the camps", portraying them as hard-nosed orthodox or traitors, while distorting the truth. It is unworthy of a Christian, which Solzhenitsyn considers himself to be, to gloat and mock at those who were shot in 1937-1938. Bolsheviks, considering it as retribution for the "Red Terror". And it is absolutely unacceptable to interleave the book with “an element of tendentious untruth, insignificant in number, but impressive in composition.” Medvedev also criticized the Letter to the Leaders, calling it a "disappointing document", "an unrealistic and incompetent utopia", pointing out that "Solzhenitsyn is completely ignorant of Marxism, attributing various nonsense to the doctrine", and that "with the technical superiority of the USSR, the predicted war on the part of China would be suicide."

Varlam Shalamov initially treated Solzhenitsyn's creative work with attention and interest, but already in a letter about One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, along with praise, he made a number of critical remarks. Later, he became completely disillusioned with Solzhenitsyn and wrote already in 1971:

Solzhenitsyn's activity is the activity of a businessman, aimed narrowly at personal success with all the provocative accessories of such activity.

Richard Pipes has written about his political and historiosophical views, criticizing Solzhenitsyn for idealizing Tsarist Russia and holding the West responsible for communism.

Critics point to contradictions between Solzhenitsyn's estimates of the number of repressed and archival data that became available during the period of perestroika (for example, estimates of the number of deportees during collectivization - more than 15 million), criticize Solzhenitsyn for justifying the cooperation of Soviet prisoners of war with the Germans during the Great Patriotic War .

Solzhenitsyn's study of the history of the relationship between the Jewish and Russian peoples in the book "Two Hundred Years Together" provoked criticism from a number of publicists, historians and writers.

In 2010, Alexander Dyukov accused Solzhenitsyn of using Wehrmacht propaganda materials as sources of information.

According to Zinoviy Zinik, "<находясь на Западе>, Solzhenitsyn never understood that political ideas have no spiritual value outside of their practical application. In practice, his views on patriotism, morality and religion attracted the most reactionary part of Russian society.

The image of Solzhenitsyn is subjected to a satirical image in the novel by Vladimir Voinovich "Moscow 2042" and in the poem by Yuri Kuznetsov "The Way of Christ". Voinovich, in addition, wrote a publicistic book "Portrait against the background of a myth", in which he critically assessed the work of Solzhenitsyn and his role in the spiritual history of the country.

John-Paul Khimka believes that Solzhenitsyn's views on the origin and identity of the Ukrainian people, expressed in the book How We Settle Russia, are identical to Russian nationalist views at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Awards and prizes

• August 15, 1943 - Order of the Patriotic War II degree
• July 12, 1944 - Order of the Red Star
• 1957 - medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"
• 1958 - medal "For the capture of Koenigsberg"
• 1969, winter - awarded the French Journalists' Prize for the best foreign book.
• 1970 - Nobel Prize in Literature "for the moral force with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature" (offered by François Mauriac). He received a diploma and the monetary part of the award on December 10, 1974, after being expelled from the USSR.
• May 31, 1974 - presentation of the "Golden Cliche" award of the Union of Italian Journalists.
• December 1975 - The French magazine "Poin" declared Solzhenitsyn "man of the year."
• 1983 Templeton Prize for excellence in research or discovery in the spiritual life
• September 20, 1990 - awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of the city of Ryazan.
• December 1990 - State Prize of the RSFSR in the field of literature - for "The Gulag Archipelago"
• In the spring of 1995, the Literary Prize named after the Italian satirist Vitaliano Brancati was awarded.
• 1998 - Big Gold Medal named after M.V. Lomonosov - "for outstanding contribution to the development of Russian literature, Russian language and Russian history" (awarded on June 2, 1999)
• 1998 - Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called - for outstanding services to the Fatherland and a great contribution to world literature Refused the award ("... from the supreme power, which has brought Russia to its current disastrous state, I cannot accept the award»).
• 1998 - on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church, the writer was awarded the Order of the Holy Blessed Prince Daniel of Moscow
• December 13, 2000 - awarded the Grand Prize of the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences (Institut de France)
• 2003 - Honorary Doctor of Lomonosov Moscow State University
• 2004 - Order of St. Sava Serbian 1st degree (the highest award of the Serbian Orthodox Church); awarded November 16, 2004
• 2004 - winner of the national award "Russian of the Year" in the nomination "Spiritual Leader"
• 2006 - State Prize of the Russian Federation - "for outstanding achievements in the field of humanitarian activity."
• 2007 - Prize of the Zivko and Milica Topalovic Foundation (Serbia) (presented on March 7, 2008): "to a great writer and humanist, whose Christian truthfulness gives us courage and consolation."
• 2008 - Botev Prize (Bulgaria) "for creativity and citizenship in the defense of the moral and ethical principles of civilization"
• 2008 - Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania (posthumously)

Addresses

• In the 1970s, he lived in Moscow in apartment 169 at number 12 on Gorky Street.

perpetuation of memory

On September 20, 1990, the Ryazan City Council awarded A. Solzhenitsyn the title of honorary citizen of the city of Ryazan. Memorial plaques commemorating the work of the writer in the city are installed on the building of the city school No. 2 and residential building No. 17 on Uritsky Street.

In June 2003, a museum dedicated to the writer was opened in the main building of the Ryazan College of Electronics.

On the day of the funeral, President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree "On perpetuating the memory of A. I. Solzhenitsyn", according to which, since 2009, personal scholarships named after Solzhenitsyn for students of Russian universities were established, the Moscow government was recommended to assign the name of Solzhenitsyn to one of the streets of the city, and the government of the Stavropol Territory and the administration of the Rostov region - to carry out measures to perpetuate the memory of Solzhenitsyn in Kislovodsk and Rostov-on-Don.

On December 11, 2008, a memorial plaque was unveiled in Kislovodsk on the building of the central city library, which was named after Solzhenitsyn.

On September 9, 2009, by order of the Minister of Education and Science of Russia, the mandatory minimum content of the main educational programs on Russian literature of the 20th century was supplemented by the study of fragments of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's artistic research "The Gulag Archipelago". The “school” version, abbreviated four times, with the full preservation of the structure of the work, was prepared for publication by the writer's widow. Earlier, the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and the story "Matryonin's Yard" were already included in the school curriculum. The writer's biography is studied in history lessons.

On August 3, 2010, on the second anniversary of Solzhenitsyn's death, the abbot of the Donskoy Monastery, Bishop Kirill of Pavlovsk-Posad, together with the brethren of the monastery, performed a memorial service at the grave of the writer. Before the memorial service, Kirill consecrated a new stone cross erected on Solzhenitsyn's grave, designed by the sculptor Dmitry Shakhovsky.

Since 2009, the scientific and cultural center of the Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russian Abroad in Moscow (from 1995 to 2009 - the Russian Abroad Library-Foundation) has been named after him - a museum-type scientific and cultural center for the preservation, study and popularization of history and modern life Russian abroad.

On January 23, 2013, at a meeting of the Ministry of Culture, it was decided to create a second museum in Ryazan dedicated to Solzhenitsyn.

On March 5, 2013, the authorities of the American city of Cavendish (Vermont) decided to create the Solzhenitsyn Museum.

In 2013, the name of Solzhenitsyn was given to the Mezinovskaya secondary school (Gus-Khrustalny district of the Vladimir region), where he taught in 1956-1957. On October 26, a bust of the writer was unveiled near the school.

On September 26, a monument to Solzhenitsyn (sculptor Anatoly Shishkov) was unveiled on the alley of Nobel laureates in front of the building of Belgorod University. It is the first monument to Solzhenitsyn in Russia.

On December 12, 2013, Aeroflot put into operation a Boeing 737-800 NG named A. Solzhenitsyn.

In February 2015, a memorial room for Alexander Solzhenitsyn was opened at the Solotchi Hotel (Ryazan Region). In Solotch at various times Solzhenitsyn wrote In the First Circle, Cancer Ward, and several chapters of The Gulag Archipelago.

On December 12, 2014, the grand opening of the restored building of the Gorina estate took place in Kislovodsk, where Solzhenitsyn lived with his mother's sister from 1920 to 1924. On May 31, 2015, in the house of the aunt, where Solzhenitsyn spent his early years, the first museum of the writer in Russia and the world was opened, created in the format of an information and cultural center, where they plan to hold lectures, video screenings, seminars, round tables. The museum has a collection of books, manuscripts and photographs.

On September 5, 2015, a monument was unveiled on the Ship Embankment in Vladivostok (sculptor Pyotr Chegodaev, architect Anatoly Melnik).

An ice-class tug for mooring ships in the Magadan Commercial Sea Port is named after the writer.

In 2016, a children's library was opened in Rostov-on-Don, which was named after Solzhenitsyn.

On December 11, 2017, on the day of the writer’s 99th birthday, at house 12 (building 8) on Tverskaya Street, where Solzhenitsyn lived and worked in Moscow in 1970-1974 and 1994-2002, a memorial plaque by sculptor Andrei Kovalchuk was installed.

Toponyms

On August 12, 2008, the Government of Moscow adopted a resolution "On perpetuating the memory of A.I. Solzhenitsyn in Moscow", which renamed Bolshaya Kommunisticheskaya Street into Alexander Solzhenitsyn Street and approved the text of the commemorative plaque. Some residents of the street protested in connection with its renaming.

In October 2008, the mayor of Rostov-on-Don signed a decree naming the central avenue of the Liventsovsky microdistrict under construction after Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Since 2009, an alley in the Roman park Villa Ada has been named after the writer.

In 2010, the name of Alexander Solzhenitsyn was given to the central square of the city of Crai ( fr:Crest (Drôme)) in southeastern France.

In 2012, the city authorities of Paris decided to give the name of the writer to the garden on Porte Maillot Square (fr. Porte Maillot).

Since 2013, streets in Voronezh and Khabarovsk have been named after Solzhenitsyn.

In September 2016, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation applied to UNESCO with a request to declare 2018 the "Year of Solzhenitsyn", at the 39th session of UNESCO, a decision was made on this.

On stage and screen

Solzhenitsyn's works in the drama theater

• Republic of Labor. Moscow Art Theater named after Chekhov. Moscow (1991; updated version - 1993)
• "The Feast of the Winners". State Academic Maly Theater of Russia. Moscow. Premiere of the play - January 1995

Drama theater adaptations of Solzhenitsyn's works

• "One day of Ivan Denisovich". Chita Drama Theater (1989)
• "One day of Ivan Denisovich". Kharkiv Ukrainian Drama Theater named after Shevchenko. Directed by Andrey Zholdak. 2003
• "Matryonin's Yard". Russian spiritual theater "Glas". Director (stage version and production) Vladimir Ivanov. Starring Elena Mikhailova ( Matryona), Alexander Mikhailov ( Ignatich). May 11 and 24, June 20, 2007
• "Matryonin's Yard". State Academic Theater named after E. Vakhtangov. Directed by Vladimir Ivanov. Starring Elena Mikhailova ( Matryona), Alexander Mikhailov ( Ignatich). Premiere April 13, 2008.
• "Matryonin's Yard". Yekaterinburg Orthodox Theater "Laboratory of Dramatic Art named after M. A. Chekhov" - performance in January 2010. Directed by Natalya Milchenko Matryona- Svetlana Abasheva.
• The Gulag Archipelago. Moscow Youth Theater under the direction of Vyacheslav Spesivtsev. Moscow (1990).
• "Word of Truth" Dramatization based on the works of Solzhenitsyn. Theater-studio "Credo". Pyatigorsk (1990)
• "Sharashka" (staged chapters of the novel "In the First Circle"; premiered on December 11, 1998). Performance of the Moscow Theater on Taganka. Director (composition and staging) Yuri Lyubimov, artist David Borovsky, composer Vladimir Martynov. Starring Dmitry Mulyar ( Nerzhin), Timur Badalbeyli ( Ruby), Alexey Grabbe ( Sologdin), Valery Zolotukhin ( Uncle Avenir, Pryanchikov, Spiridon Egorov), Dmitry Vysotsky and Vladislav Malenko ( Volodin), Erwin Haas ( Gerasimovich), Yuri Lyubimov ( Stalin). The performance was staged for the 80th anniversary of Solzhenitsyn
• "Cancer Corps". Hans Otto Theatre, Potsdam, Germany. 2012. Stage version by John von Düffel. Directed by Tobias Wellemeyer. Wolfgang Vogler as Kostoglotov and Jon-Kaare Koppe as Rusanov.
• "Cancer Corps. Exiled forever." Vladimir Academic Regional Drama Theatre. Premiere September 29, 2017. Dramatization and staging - Vladimir Kuznetsov. Viktor Motyzlevsky as Kostoglotov.

Solzhenitsyn's works in musical theater

• "In the first circle." Opera. Libretto and music by Gilbert Ami. National Opera of Lyon (1999).
• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is an opera in two acts by Alexander Tchaikovsky. The world premiere took place on May 16, 2009 in Perm on the stage of the Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after Tchaikovsky (stage conductor Valery Platonov, stage director Georgy Isahakyan, stage designer Ernst Heidebrecht (Germany), choirmasters Vladimir Nikitenkov, Dmitry Batin, Tatyana Stepanova.

Works by Solzhenitsyn in concert programs

• Reading fragments of the novel "In the First Circle" by artist N. Pavlov at the evening of the Maly Theater (Moscow) "Returned Pages".
• "One day of Ivan Denisovich". Solo performance by Alexander Filippenko. Moscow theater "Practice" (2006). Public reading of the story within the framework of the joint project "One book - two cities" of the All-Russian Library for Foreign Literature (Moscow) and the public (public) library of Chicago; and on the Day of Political Prisoners (2008).
• "The case at the station Kochetovka". Solo performance by Alexander Filippenko. The television adaptation was made by Clio Film Studio CJSC (Russia) (directed by Stepan Grigorenko) commissioned by the Kultura TV channel (2001). The first broadcast on television on the TV channel "Culture" on August 4, 2008.
• "Solzhenitsyn and Shostakovich" (2010). Alexander Filippenko reads "Tiny" Solzhenitsyn (including on the radio), the music of Dmitry Shostakovich is performed by the ensemble of soloists "Hermitage".
• “After reading the opuses of Solzhenitsyn. Five views on the Gulag country” (“Zone”, “Walking Stage”, “Thieves”, “Lesopoval”, “Godfather and Six”). Performance of the five-part suite by the Ukrainian composer Viktor Vlasov by the Bayan City Ensemble on the stage of the Prokofiev Concert Hall (Chelyabinsk) (solo concert - October 2010).
• "Reflection in the Water" Program for a dramatic actor, soloist and chamber orchestra, including Solzhenitsyn's "Tiny" performed by Filippenko and Shostakovich's "Preludes" performed by the State Academic Chamber Orchestra of Russia conducted by Alexei Utkin. Premiere - December 10, 2013 at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

Solzhenitsyn's works in film and television

• Teleplay based on the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", English television company NBC (November 8, 1963).
• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Feature Film. Directed by K. Wrede. Screenplay by R. Harwood and A. Solzhenitsyn. Norsk Film (Norway), Leontis Film (Great Britain), Group-B Production (USA) (1970).
• An incident at the Krechetovka station. Short film by Gleb Panfilov (1964).
• "Ett möte på Kretjetovka Stationen". Screenplay Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Sweden (TV 1970).
• "Thirteenth Corps" ("Krebsstation"). Dir. Heinz Schirk, screenplay by Karl Wittlinger. FRG (TV 1970).
• Candle in the wind. Television film (screen version of the play "Candle in the Wind"). Directed by Michel Wien; screenplay Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Alfreda Aucouturier. Production on ORTF French TV (1973).
• In 1973, a one and a half hour picture based on the novel "In the First Circle" was shot by the Polish director Alexander Ford; script: A. Ford and A. Solzhenitsyn. Denmark-Sweden.
• In the early 1990s, the two-part French film The Fist Circleru was released. TV movie. Directed by Sh. Larry. Screenplay by Ch. Cohen and A. Solzhenitsyn. CBC. USA-Canada, jointly with France (1991). The film was shown in Russia in 1994.
• "In the first circle." Solzhenitsyn co-wrote the script and reads voice-over from the author. Directed by G. Panfilov. TV channel "Russia", film company "Vera" (2006).
• Almost simultaneously with the series, the filming of a feature film based on the novel (the plot basis of A. Solzhenitsyn) took place, the script for the film version was written by Gleb Panfilov. The premiere of the film "Keep Forever" took place on December 12, 2008 in cinemas in Moscow and London (with subtitles).

In an interview, Alexander Solzhenitsyn admitted that he devoted his life to the Russian revolution. What did the author of the novel "In the First Circle" mean? contains hidden tragic twists and turns. The writer considered it his duty to testify about them. Solzhenitsyn's works are a significant contribution to the historical science of the 20th century.

short biography

Solzhenitsyn Alexander Isaevich was born in 1918 in Kislovodsk. He has been active in literature since his youth. Before the war, he was most interested in the history of the First World War. The future writer and dissident devoted his first literary works to this topic.

The creative and life path of Solzhenitsyn is unique. To become a witness and participant in important historical events is happiness for a writer, but a great tragedy for a person.

Solzhenitsyn met the beginning of the war in Moscow. Here he studied at the correspondence department of the Institute of History, Philosophy and Literature. Behind him was Rostov University. Ahead - officer school, intelligence and arrest. In the late nineties, Solzhenitsyn's works were published in the literary magazine Novy Mir, in which the author reflected his military experience. And he had a big one.

As an artillery officer, the future writer went from Orel to the events of this period, years later he dedicated the works “Zhelyabug settlements”, “Adlig Schvenkitten”. He ended up in the very places where the army of General Samsonov once passed. Solzhenitsyn devoted the book The Red Wheel to the events of 1914.

Captain Solzhenitsyn was arrested in 1945. This was followed by long years of prisons, camps, exile. After rehabilitation in 1957, he taught for some time in a rural school, not far from Ryazan. Solzhenitsyn rented a room from a local resident - Matrena Zakharovna, who later became the prototype of the main character of the story "Matryona Dvor".

Underground Writer

In his autobiographical book A Calf Butted an Oak, Solzhenitsyn admitted that before his arrest, although he was drawn to literature, it was quite unconscious. In peacetime, at large, he was upset that it was not easy to find fresh topics for stories. What would have been if he had not been imprisoned?

Themes for short stories, novels and novels were born in transit, in camp barracks, in prison cells. Unable to write down his thoughts on paper, he created entire chapters of the novels The Gulag Archipelago and The First Circle in his mind, and then memorized them.

After his release, Alexander Isaevich continued to write. In the 1950s, publishing your works seemed an impossible dream. But he did not stop writing, believing that his work would not be lost, that at least descendants would read plays, stories and novels.

Solzhenitsyn was able to publish his first works only in 1963. Books, as separate editions, appeared much later. At home, the writer was able to print stories in the "New World". But it was also an incredible blessing.

Disease

To memorize what was written and then burn it - a method that Solzhenitsyn used more than once to preserve his works. But when the doctors told him in exile that he had only a few weeks left to live, he was afraid, first of all, that the reader would never see what he had created. There was no one to save Solzhenitsyn's works. Friends are in the camps. Mother died. His wife divorced him in absentia and married another. Solzhenitsyn rolled up the manuscripts that he managed to write, then hid them in a champagne bottle, buried this bottle in the garden. And he went to Tashkent to die ...

However, he survived. With a difficult diagnosis, recovery seemed like an omen from above. In the spring of 1954, Solzhenitsyn wrote "The Republic of Labor" - the first work, during the creation of which the underground writer knew the happiness not to destroy passage after passage, but to be able to read his own work in full.

"In the first circle"

In the literary underground, a novel about a sharashka was written. The prototypes of the main characters of the novel "In the First Circle" were the author himself and his acquaintances. But, despite all the precautions, as well as the desire to publish the work in a light version, only KGB officers had a chance to read it. In Russia, the novel "In the First Circle" was published only in 1990. In the West - twenty-two years earlier.

"One day of Ivan Denisovich"

The camp is a special world. It has nothing to do with the one in which free people live. In the camp, everyone survives and dies in their own way. In the first published work of Solzhenitsyn, only one day in the life of the hero is depicted. The author knew firsthand about camp life. That is why the reader is so struck by the rough and truthful realism present in the story written by Solzhenitsyn.

The books of this writer caused a resonance in the world society, primarily due to their authenticity. Solzhenitsyn believed that a writer's talent fades, and then dies altogether, if in his work he seeks to bypass the truth. And therefore, being in absolute literary isolation for a long time and not being able to publish the results of his many years of work, he did not envy the success of the representatives of the so-called socialist realism. The Union of Writers expelled Tsvetaeva, rejected Pasternak and Akhmatova. Did not accept Bulgakov. In this world, talents, if they appeared, quickly perished.

Publication history

Solzhenitsyn did not dare to sign the manuscript sent to the editors of Novy Mir with his own name. There was almost no hope that One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich would see the light of day. Long agonizing months have passed from the moment one of the writer's friends sent several sheets, written in small handwriting, to the staff of the country's main literary publishing house, when an invitation from Tvardovsky suddenly arrived.

The author of "Vasily Terkin" and part-time editor-in-chief of the journal "New World" read the manuscript of an unknown author thanks to Anna Berzer. An employee of the publishing house invited Tvardovsky to read the story, uttering a phrase that became decisive: "This is about camp life, through the eyes of a simple peasant." The great Soviet poet, author of a military-patriotic poem, came from a simple peasant family. And therefore, the work, in which the narration is conducted on behalf of a "simple peasant", he was very interested.

"The Gulag Archipelago"

The novel about the inhabitants of Stalin's camps Solzhenitsyn has been creating for more than ten years. The work was first published in France. In 1969, the Gulag Archipelago was completed. However, publishing such a work in the Soviet Union was not only difficult, but also risky. One of the writer's assistants, who reprinted the first volume of the work, became a victim of persecution by the KGB. As a result of the arrest and five days of uninterrupted interrogation, the now middle-aged woman testified against Solzhenitsyn. And then she committed suicide.

After these events, the writer had no doubts about the need to print the Archipelago abroad.

Abroad

Solzhenitsyn Alexander Isaevich was expelled from the Soviet Union a few months after the release of the novel The Gulag Archipelago. The writer was accused of treason. The nature of the crime allegedly committed by Solzhenitsyn was widely reported in the Soviet media. In particular, the author of The Archipelago was accused of aiding the Vlasovites during the war. But nothing was said about the content of the sensational book.

Until the last days of his life, Solzhenitsyn did not stop his literary and social activities. In an interview with a foreign periodical in the early eighties, the Russian writer expressed confidence that he would be able to return to his homeland. Then it seemed unlikely.

Return

In 1990 Solzhenitsyn returned. In Russia, he wrote many articles on current political and social topics. The writer transferred a significant part of the fees in support of prisoners and their families. One of the awards is in favor of nuclear power plants. But it should be noted that the writer nevertheless refused the Order of the Holy Apostle, motivating his act by unwillingness to accept an award from the supreme power, which brought the country to its current deplorable state.

Solzhenitsyn's works are a valuable contribution to Russian literature. In Soviet times, he was considered a dissident and a nationalist. Solzhenitsyn did not agree with this opinion, arguing that he was a Russian writer who above all loves his Fatherland.

Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn

Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn was born on December 11, 1918 in Kislovodsk. This is a great writer, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, politician and social activist, famous historian, dissident, Nobel laureate.
Father is a working peasant, and mother is a Cossack. A poor family from a hard life in 1924 moved to Rostov-on-Don.
Alexander's education begins in 1926, when he is sent to a local school. It is such an early age that becomes the beginning of his formation as a writer - at school he creates his debut poems and essays.
After 10 years, in 1936, Alexander continues his studies, entering the university in Rostov at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, but, at the same time, without giving up active literary activity. At the end of the university, in 1941, and having received a red diploma, Alexander Isaevich decides not to complete his education on this. In 1939, he submitted documents to the Institute of Philosophy in Moscow at the Faculty of Literature and History, but, due to the outbreak of hostilities, Alexander could not receive a diploma from this institute.
During the war, Alexander really wanted to go to the front, and, not paying attention to poor health, in 1941 he entered the service in the transport and horse-drawn direction. The military school of Kostroma meets the writer in 1942, where Alexander receives the rank of lieutenant. Already in 1943, the writer serves as commander of sound intelligence. The merits during the war years of Alexander were so noticeable that for them he received two honorary orders and the main rank for him - senior lieutenant, and after - captain.
Stalin's policy was alien to Alexander, which is why in 1945 he was convicted and sentenced to an eight-year stay in the camp and life exile. In the winter of 1952, doctors diagnosed Alexander with an incurable diagnosis - cancer.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn was married twice, and both times to girls named Natalia. The first wife was Natalya Reshetovskaya, and the second - Natalya Svetlova. From the marriage with Natalia Svetlova, the writer Alexander left three sons, not deprived of talents and gifts - Stepan, Ignat, and Yermolai Solzhenitsyn.
It is impossible to hide the fact that Alexander Isaevich, during his lifetime, was certified by more than twenty honorary awards, as well as the Nobel Prize, which he was awarded for his work The Gulag Archipelago.
In literary circles, he is very often spoken of as Tolstoy or Dostoevsky, but in his era.
Starting from 1975 and up to 1994, Alexander managed to visit Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Great Britain, the USA, France and Canada.
And already in 1994, the writer returned to his homeland, where he continued his literary activity. The first thirty volumes of the collected works of Alexander Solzhenitsyn are published in the period 2006-2007.
Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn died on August 3, 2008 in Moscow. The funeral of the writer took place at the Donskoy Monastery in the necropolis.
A stone cross stands on the grave of Alexander, which was created according to the design edition of the famous sculptor Shakhovsky.

Russian writer, publicist, and public figure Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn was born on December 11, 1918 in Kislovodsk. Solzhenitsyn's parents were peasants, but received a good education. When the First World War began, his father, Isai Solzhenitsyn, left Moscow University as a volunteer for the front, and was awarded three times for bravery. He died hunting six months before the birth of his son. To support herself and the child, Solzhenitsyn's mother, Taisiya Zakharovna (née Shcherbak), worked as a typist after her husband's death, and when the boy was six years old, she moved with her son to Rostov-on-Don.

In 1936, Solzhenitsyn graduated from high school and entered the Physics and Mathematics Department of Rostov University. In 1939 he entered the external study of the art history department of the Institute of Philosophy, Literature and History in Moscow. After graduating from university, Solzhenitsyn worked as a mathematics teacher at a Rostov high school.

In 1941 he was mobilized and served in the artillery. In 1943 he received the Order of the Patriotic War of the second degree, in the next - the Order of the Red Star, already being a captain.

On February 9, 1945, at the front in East Prussia, Solzhenitsyn was arrested for harsh anti-Stalinist statements in letters to his childhood friend Nikolai Vitkevich. On July 27, 1945, he was sentenced to eight years in labor camps under article 58 of the Criminal Code, paragraphs 10 and 11.

During the year Alexander Solzhenitsyn was in a Moscow prison, and then he was transferred to Marfino, a specialized prison near Moscow, where mathematicians, physicists, scientists of other specialties conducted secret scientific research. The experience of these years is reflected by the writer in such works as "The Deer and the Shalashovka", "Dorozhenka", "In the First Circle", "The Gulag Archipelago". Since 1950, Solzhenitsyn was in the Ekibastuz camp (the experience of "general work" is recreated in the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"); here he fell ill with cancer (the tumor was removed in February 1952). Since February 1953, Solzhenitsyn was in the "eternal exile settlement" in the village of Kok-Terek (Dzhambul region, Kazakhstan).

In February 1956, Solzhenitsyn was rehabilitated by the decision of the Supreme Court of the USSR, which made it possible for him to return to Russia.

In 1956-1957 he was a teacher in a rural school in the Vladimir region. Since 1957, Solzhenitsyn lived in Ryazan, where he taught at the school.

In May-June 1959, Solzhenitsyn wrote the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" (originally titled "Sch-854"), the manuscript of which was handed over to Alexander Tvardovsky, editor-in-chief of the Novy Mir magazine. Tvardovsky understood that censorship would not give permission for publication, and he applied for permission personally to Nikita Khrushchev. Solzhenitsyn made his journal debut in 1962. "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" became the first published work on the camp theme.

In 1963, the stories "Matryona Dvor" and "The Incident at the Krechetovka Station" were published in the January "New World".

From 1965 to 1968, The Gulag Archipelago was written, and in 1966, the novel Cancer Ward was completed.

After the fall of Khrushchev, Solzhenitsyn was criticized by the authorities, a campaign was launched against the writer: in September 1965, the KGB seized his author's archive; the possibilities of publications were blocked, only the story "Zakhar-Kalita" ("New World", 1966) was printed. The triumphant discussion of "The Cancer Ward" in the prose section of the Moscow branch of the Writers' Union did not bring the main result - the story remained banned. In 1969 Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Writers' Union.

In 1970, Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for the moral force with which he continued the tradition of Russian literature."

In February 1974, Solzhenitsyn was arrested, charged with high treason, and, by decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU, was deprived of Soviet citizenship. For some time the writer and his family lived in Switzerland, in Zurich, after which he moved to the USA, where he settled in the state of Vermont, near the town of Cavendish. Over the next three years, Solzhenitsyn, trying not to draw attention to himself, visited various American universities with Russian archival funds, and worked on the epic "The Red Wheel", reworked the first "knot" of "August the Fourteenth", and also created two new novels. "October the Sixteenth" and "March the Seventeenth". In addition to artistic creativity, Solzhenitsyn was actively engaged in journalism, reflecting on the past and future of Russia, trying to find an original Russian path based on national moral values.

The chapters from The Gulag Archipelago were printed in the USSR only in 1989, after the start of perestroika, and in August 1990 Solzhenitsyn was returned to Soviet citizenship. In 1994, the writer returned to his homeland, but his arrival was perceived ambiguously, causing a lot of controversy around the work and life position of the writer. After his arrival, Solzhenitsyn settled near Moscow in the property allocated to him in the village of Troitse-Lykovo, where he continued to engage in literary work. In 1998, the autobiographical work "A grain fell between two millstones. Essays on exile" was published. Stories and lyrical miniatures ("Tiny") were published. In 2001-2002, the two-volume edition of the writer "Two Hundred Years Nearby" (Study of Recent Russian History) was published, dedicated to Russian-Jewish relations. The book received controversy. In 2006, the 30-volume Collected Works of Alexander Solzhenitsyn began to appear.

The writer died on August 3, 2008 at his home in Troitse-Lykovo from acute heart failure. He was buried in the cemetery of the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation. In 1998 he was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, but refused the award. He was awarded the Big Gold Medal named after M.V. Lomonosov (1998). In 2007 he was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation for outstanding achievements in the field of humanitarian work.

Shortly after the author's return to the country, a literary prize named after him was established to reward writers "whose work has high artistic merit, contributes to self-knowledge of Russia, and makes a significant contribution to the preservation and careful development of the traditions of Russian literature."

In 1974, the writer founded the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Russian Public Foundation and transferred to him all the world's royalties for the Gulag Archipelago. Since then, the Foundation has provided systematic assistance to the victims of the Gulag, and also financed projects related to the preservation of Russian culture.

Solzhenitsyn was married for the second time (his first marriage to Natalya Reshetovskaya was annulled in 1973). From marriage with his second wife Natalya Svetlova - three sons: Ermolai (born in 1970), Ignat (born in 1972) and Stepan (born in 1973). Solzhenitsyn's adopted son, Dmitry Tyurin, eldest son of Natalia Solzhenitsyn from his first marriage, died in 1994.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources