The work of Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, whose biography will be presented to your attention in the article, can be treated completely differently, but it is worthwhile to unequivocally recognize his significant contribution to Russian literature. In addition, Solzhenitsyn was also a fairly popular public figure. For his manuscript work “The Gulag Archipelago”, the writer became a Nobel laureate, which is a direct confirmation of how fundamental this work became. Briefly, the most important thing from Solzhenitsyn’s biography read on.
Interesting facts from childhood and adolescence
Solzhenitsyn was born in Kislovodsk in a relatively poor family. This significant event took place on December 11, 1918. His father was a peasant, and his mother was a Cossack. Due to the extremely difficult financial situation, the future writer, together with his parents, was forced to move to Rostov-on-Don in 1924. And since 1926 he goes to study in one of the local schools.
Having successfully graduated from high school, Solzhenitsyn in 1936 entered the University of Rostov. Here he is studying at the Faculty of Physics and Metallurgy, but at the same time he does not forget to simultaneously engage in active literature - the main calling of his whole life.
Solzhenitsyn University graduated in 1941 and received a diploma of higher education with honors. But before that, in 1939, he entered the Faculty of Literature at the Moscow Institute of Philosophy. Solzhenitsyn was supposed to study here in absentia, but his plans were hindered by the Great Patriotic War, which the Soviet Union entered in 1941.
And in Solzhenitsyn’s personal life, changes were taking place during this period: in 1940, the writer would marry N. A. Reshetovskaya.
Heavy war years
Even taking into account his poor health, Solzhenitsyn did everything he could to the front to protect his country from fascist capture. Once at the front, he serves in the 74th transport and horse-drawn battalion. In 1942 he was sent to study at a military school, having passed which received a lieutenant title.
Already in 1943, thanks to his military rank, Solzhenitsyn was appointed commander of a specialized battery engaged in sound reconnaissance. Conducting his service in good faith, the writer earned honorary awards for him - this is the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree. In the same period, he was assigned another military rank - senior lieutenant.
Political position and difficulties associated with it
Solzhenitsyn was not afraid to openly criticize the activities of Stalin, completely not hiding his own political position. And this is despite the fact that totalitarianism at that time flourished so vehemently throughout the USSR. This could be read, for example, in letters that the writer addressed in the name of Vitkevich - his friend. In them he zealously condemned the whole ideology of Leninism, which he considered distorted. And for these actions, he paid with his own freedom, having ended up in camps for 8 years. But I did not lose time in places of deprivation of liberty. Here he wrote such famous literary works as “Tanks Know the Truth”, “In the First Circle”, “One Day of Ivan Denisovich”, “Love the Revolution”.
Health situation
In 1952, shortly before his release from the camps, Solzhenitsyn had health problems - he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. In this regard, the question arose about the operation, which the doctors successfully carried out on February 12, 1952.
Life after imprisonment
A brief biography of Alexander Solzhenitsyn contains information that on February 13, 1953 he left the camp, having served a prison sentence for criticizing the authorities. It was then that he was sent to Kazakhstan, in the Dzhambul region. The village where the writer settled was called Berlik. Here he got a job as a teacher and taught mathematics and physics in high school.
In January 1954 he arrived in Tashkent for treatment in a special cancer building. Here, doctors carried out radiation therapy, which gave the writer faith in the success of the fight against a terrible fatal illness. And indeed, a miracle happened - in March 1954 Solzhenitsyn felt much better and was discharged from the clinic.
But the situation with the disease remained in his memory for the rest of his life. In the story “The Cancer Corps,” the writer describes in detail the situation with his unusual healing. Here he makes it clear to the reader that faith in God, the dedication of doctors, and also the inexhaustible desire to desperately fight for his own life helped him in a difficult life situation.
Final rehabilitation
Solzhenitsyn was finally rehabilitated by the communist state regime only in 1957. In July of the same year, he became a completely free person and no longer fears various persecutions and oppressions. For his criticism, he received from the USSR authorities full of hardships, but this did not completely break his spirit and did not in any way affect his subsequent work.
It was during this period that the writer moved to Ryazan. There he successfully gets a job at school and teaches astronomy to children. A school teacher is that profession for Solzhenitsyn that did not limit his ability to do what he loved — literature.
New conflict with authorities
Working at the Ryazan school, Solzhenitsyn actively expresses his thoughts and views on life in numerous literary works. However, in 1965, new tests await him - the KGB seizes the entire archive of the writer's manuscripts. Now, for him, there is already a ban on creating regular literary masterpieces, which is a fatal punishment for any writer.
But Solzhenitsyn does not give up and is trying during this period with all his might to correct the current situation. For example, in 1967, he sets out in an open letter, which is addressed to the Congress of Soviet Writers, his own position on what is set out in the works.
But this action produced a negative effect, which turned against a famous writer and historian. The fact is that in 1969 Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Union of Writers of the USSR. A year earlier, in 1968, he was finishing writing the book “The Gulag Archipelago,” which made him popular all over the world. It was published in mass circulation only in 1974. It was then that the public was able to familiarize themselves with the work, since up to this time it remained inaccessible to a wide range of readers. And then this fact happened only when the writer lived outside his country. The book was first published not in the author’s homeland, but in Paris, the capital of France.
The main stages and features of life abroad
Solzhenitsyn for a rather long period did not return to live at home, because, probably, deep down he was greatly offended by her for all the repressions and deprivations that he had to experience in the USSR. In the period from 1975 to 1994, the writer managed to visit many countries of the world. In particular, he successfully visited Spain, France, Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada and the USA. The very broad geography of his travels in no small measure contributed to the popularization of the writer among the wide readership of these states.
Even Solzhenitsyn’s shortest biography contains information that the Gulag Archipelago was published in Russia only in 1989, shortly before the final collapse of the Soviet empire. It happened in the magazine "New World". His famous story Matrenin Dvor is also published there.
Homecoming and a new creative impulse
Only after the USSR collapsed, Solzhenitsyn still decided to return to his homeland. It happened in 1994. In Russia, the writer is working on his new works, fully devoting himself to all his beloved work. And in 2006 and 2007, whole volumes of all Solzhenitsyn's collections in modern binding are published. In total, this literary collection has 30 volumes.
The death of a man of letters
Solzhenitsyn died already at an advanced age, having lived a very difficult life, filled with many different difficulties and hardships. This sad event occurred on May 3, 2008. The cause of the fatal outcome was heart failure.
Literally until his last breath, Solzhenitsyn remained faithful to himself and constantly created the next literary masterpieces, which are very highly regarded in many countries of the world. Probably, our descendants will also appreciate all that is bright and righteous that the writer wanted to convey to them.
Little known facts
Now you know a short biography of Solzhenitsyn. It's time to highlight some little-known, but no less interesting facts. Of course, the whole life of such a popular writer around the world can hardly remain unnoticed by his admirers. After all, Solzhenitsyn’s fate is very diverse and unusual in its essence, perhaps even tragic somewhere. And during a cancer illness, he did for a certain time just a hair's breadth from premature death.
But there are a number of facts about which far from all sources telling about the writer can be read. Among the main ones, the following can be distinguished:
- By mistake, Isaevich entered the world literature with an erroneous patronymic. The real middle name sounds a little different - Isaakievich. An error occurred while filling out Solzhenitsyn's passport page.
- In junior classes, Solzhenitsyn was ridiculed by his peers only because he wore a cross on his neck and attended church services.
- In the camp, the writer developed a unique method of memorizing texts using rosaries. Due to the fact that he was sorting out this subject in his hands, Solzhenitsyn managed to keep the most important moments in his memory, which he then fully reflected in his own literary works.
- In 1998, he was awarded the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, but unexpectedly for all he nobly refused this recognition mark, motivating his action by the fact that he could not accept the order from the Russian authorities, which led the country to its present sad state of development.
- The writer called Stalin "godfather" with a distortion of "Leninist norms." Such a term clearly did not appeal to Joseph Vissarionovich, which contributed to the inevitable further arrest of Solzhenitsyn.
- At the university, a writer wrote many poems. They were incorporated into a special "Poetry Collection", which was released in 1974. The publication of this book was undertaken by the publishing company Imka-Press, which actively worked in exile.
- The favorite literary form of Alexander Isaevich should be considered the story "Polyphonic novel."
- In the Tagansky district of Moscow there is a street that was renamed in honor of Solzhenitsyn.