Discovering Russian Literature discussion

Howdy,
I am interested in some discussion regarding the place of Solzhenistsyn in the pantheon of Russian authors and even more so his availability in English. While searching the internet an article from The Guardian from the time of his death basically says Solzhenitsyn is to be admired for his courage and for some of his earlier work but less so for later work from a literary viewpoint. This author suggests that even Solzhenitsyn's supporters find some of his work such as August 1914 (Red Wheel 1) difficult. I found this an incredible statement since I have just finished this particular book. While I will agree that the book is very long for someone who is interested in this time period and in Russian history this work is outstanding. I am no academic (well not in this field for sure) but I found August 1914 significantly more fascinating and enlightening than War and Peace!
Long post but if anyone is interested to discuss I would be interested in other opinions.

It seems that his star faded with the death of the Soviet Union. I believe that, rightly or wrongly, the public saw his animus as the USSR. Upon its collapse, then, they weren't too interested in what he had to say anymore. Maybe they felt he would only be a backwards-looking author at that point, attacking old ghosts, with little insight into a post-Communist Russia.

His strong feelings of Russian nationalism probably alienated him a bit from non-Russians, too.

I don't know how much he gets his due, because I'm not an academic, either. I think, though, that to Anglophones (and probably many other Westerners) he is probably the most well-known Russian author of the 20th century--assuming we exclude writers like L. N. Tolstoy or Chekhov who wrote primarily in the 19th century but whose works spilled into the 20th. Who could we say achieved greater fame? Most educated people know Doctor Zhivago, but Pasternak wasn't a household name like Solzhenitsyn. Far less know of The Master and Margarita than Doctor Zhivago, I'd guess. Who else is there? Nabokov I suppose, but he seems to be a special case, since he wrote quite a few of his books in English and lived outside of Russia far longer than he did inside of it. Gorky's name has some notoriety, but I'd venture that even most educated people couldn't name a single work of his. Only the most well-read among us will know anything by Bunin, Brodsky, or Babel, and only complete Russophiles Platonov and Kharms.

I'm rambling, sorry. None of that proves or disproves that Solzhenitsyn got his due, only that he got more than any other writer in the past century.

Outside of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Cancer Ward, The Gulag Archipelago, In the First Circle, and maybe the first two "knots" of The Red Wheel, availability seems pretty poor. The last two knots weren't even translated into English; I know there are at least a few other works of his not translated for us, though I don't know exactly how many.

Here's an article about his "lost works" and an interview with his son, Ignat. http://publishingperspectives.com/201...

I think that Solzhenitsyn was very much a man of his time. I admire him for writing what he did, when he did. And his certainly the Russian wrirer if that period whom it is easiest to obtain in an English translation. But I think he was lionized because of his availibility in the West - he is a great writer, but not THE great writer.
His later writings "Apricot Jam and Other Stories", I found repetitive and hackneyed.
As a chronicler of the GULag, Shalamov is by far the better writer. But he spent much longer in the camps than Solzhenityn's four years, so his total output is smaller.
It is true that Solzhenitsyn's nationalism was an impediment to those who wanted to use him as part of a Westernising agenda (he criticized his country's flaws, but never idolized another).
But the attitude I find hard to stomach was his views on women - in particular that the women - German, Jewish, Polish or Russian - raped by the victorious Red Army should not complain! His view was that after all the soldiers had been through, they deserved sexual solace and so patriotic Russian women, and all who had been liberated by the Red Army and so should be grateful to them, should have been glad to have been 'of service'....

Thank you both for your comments. Alexandra, I am shocked at his views of women-one would think that having gone through what he did he would be the last one to say such a thing! What was this in?

I may have an exaggerated view of Solzhenitsyn because I have read more of him than Tolstoy for example (only read War and Peace one time, some short stories and the Kruuetzer Sonata).

Regarding the Red Wheel and to some degree The Gulag triology I do think what he writes about applies to more than just the USSR. I think his thoughts on revolutionaries, totalitarianism and the course of history are transcendent. History is full of similar tails, just not on the typically Russian grand scale.

In looking for the last two knots in the Red Wheel series in English I ran across a web site called The Wilson Center (wilsoncenter.org) and noted that they said that the last 2 knots will be translated into English beginning this summer. I emailed them and got this reply:

Dear Van –
I want to thank you for your interest in the translation.
The various volumes are currently being translated by several translators, and will be finished in various stages from late 2015-17.
There are currently no plans for publication, but the Solzhenitsyn literary estate is working on this issue. The fact that the translations will be complete will make the project more attractive to publishers.
I hope this information has been of use.

I (now Van) do find this encouraging, but not as much as I hoped to hear. I wanted to hear they would in the pipeline to publication. I guess I have plenty of time to start and finish November 1916:)

I must admit every time I turn around I find another Russian author's work I want to jump into. Indeed I expect to finish most of Gogol before I start on the second knot. But I still think The Red Wheel is the equal of anything i have read so far-even if I have only read the first volume.

That's great to hear they're being translated. Thanks for the info.

I am embarassed that I cannot remember where I encountered that opinion, Van - although it surprised me so much that I have never forgotten it. I am pretty sure it was in an interview or correspondence, rather than a fictional context. It us worth remembering to what extent Solzhenitsyn WAS a soldiers' advocate: after all, his own sentence was due to writing a letter criticizing the treatnent of those who had been taken prisoner by the Germans (who were treated as traitors on their return).
I can see why you would prefer Solzhenitsyn to Tolstoy. I much prefer Dostoevsky, in both political opinions and psychological insight.
I would strongly recommend to you both Dostoevsky's "House of the Dead" and Shalamov's "Kolyma Tales".
But as an analysis of the effect of the revolution on Russia, I would recommend Pasternak's "Doctor Zhivago". It took a long time before I got around to reading that, because of its reputation as a 'great romantic novel' - but that is a complete misrepresentation of what it is about.
I also rate the great satirists like Saltykov-Schedrin, Babel and the masterly Bulgakov!
For more modern perspectives, one should not omit Platonov and Kurkov, or Pelevin, as a couple of examples (I have a particular fondness for the sheer genius of the latter.
Obviously, those writers who remained within the USSR have to phrase their critiques more obliquely than Solzhenitsyn, in the safety of exile. But this limitation, in ny opinion, resulted in sone truly brilliant writing.
I would never deny that Solzhenitsyn deserves his reputation as a great Russian writer. But I can easily think of four or five other Russian authors of the twentieth century who I would consider better.
So I do think that he stood out simply because during the Cold War he was by far the most accessible to a Western public. Maybe as his full political views have become known he has lost some popularity from that, but I think it is more that people have become better acquainted with the competition.

I am aware that I am defining "Russian writers" as "authors writing in Russian". In the current political situation, that is a delicate issue. Andrey Kurkov is Ukrainian. But then, so was Chekhov!

Alexandra, hearing that Solzhenitsyn had a chauvinistic attitude towards "comfort women" is a bit shocking to me. His long poem Prussian Nights [Прусские ночи] was an emotional piece that partly dealt with the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers as they moved westward--rape was a major theme, and it was by no means countenanced by the author. Here's a few lines, which I think captures the tenor of the poem:

The little daughter’s on the mattress,
Dead. How many have been on it
A platoon, a company perhaps?
A girl’s been turned into a woman,
A woman turned into a corpse.
It's all come down to simple phrases:
Do not forget! Do not forgive!
Blood for blood! A tooth for a tooth!

Now, this poem was written many decades ago, but it'd be surprising (and saddening) if Solzhenitsyn went from being a harsh critic of the atrocities committed by soldiers against women (particularly his own comrades) to an apologist for wartime rape.

I agree that does seem strange, Azzageddi. I am not familiar with his poetry. From the context, what nationality are the victins?

I think the key is possibly in the age od the victim. It is one thing to argue that women ought to give themselves willingly, but a step further to condone the rape of a child.

Th attitude that Soviet women ought to be available to heroic Red Army soldiers is not peculiar to Solzhenitsyn. I remember seeing a televised interview with a female Red Army veteran who had driven a tank in combat. She had been the only female member of her tank crew and she quite matter-of-factly added that of course she had been expected to also satisfy their sexual needs! Her tone suggested that she had not liked this, but it was simply another factor in her mental list of " unpleasant things one has to do in qartime". Her other reminiscences showed that she considered herself an integral apart of the tank crew; they were her comrades, not 'oppressors'.

If I remember correctly, the victims were ethnic Germans. Unfortunately I don't own the book and it was some time ago that I read it, so I'm not 100% sure; that's my general recollection, though.

Despite him saying "little daughter," I don't think the rape victim that the story focused on most was what we would consider a child--just a young woman. I don't believe her age was explicitly mentioned, but my impression was that she was probably about 20 or thereabouts.

If you want to check it out in Russian, it's available for free on Solzhenitsyn's site: http://www.solzhenitsyn.ru/proizveden...

It's his only foray into poetry, I think, so it may be of interest to you for that reason alone.

Thank you very much for that link Azzageddi. I shall enjoy exploring it.

I agree with you completely that дочь-девчёнка is likely to be a diminutive of affection rather than a guide to her age.

It was actually the "girl becomes a woman" aspect that gave rise to my previous comment. But I need to read the poem in more detail.

Old thread but good news-first english translation of The Red Wheel, knot 3 is coming out soon. See link:
http://undpress.nd.edu/books/P03388?k...

I am pumped!!!

Vanjr wrote: "Old thread but good news-first english translation of The Red Wheel, knot 3 is coming out soon. See link:
http://undpress.nd.edu/books/P03388?k...

I am pumped!!!"

My copy has arrived. I will start is as soon as I clean up my "currently reading" list-certainly no later than the first of the year.

I'm really surprised to learn that Solzhenitsyn was such a bad man: condoning war-time atrocities against woman. Of the four or five 20th-century Russian authors deemed here as better than S. I am only familiar with Bulgakov. I thought M & M was great. I read August 1914 years ago and enjoyed it. I was never able to located the other two books that were suppose to complete The Red Wheel. My favorite Solzhenitsyn book is One Day in the LIfe....