To the 100th anniversary of the literary Vlasov
colonelcassad
December 11, 11:01
Vladimir Bushin about the current madnesses with Solzhenitsyn.
There are two main views on Solzhenitsyn’s figure, two sharply opposing assessments of him. The current Russian government’s attitude towards it is known. Not only on his own behalf, the notorious Mr. Shvydkoy, the plenipotentiary representative of the president of our country abroad on the cultural part, on the eve of 2018, he proposed to UNESCO to declare it the Year of Solzhenitsyn. In connection with the 100th anniversary of the birth of this writer. The name chosen is not Gorky, Mayakovsky or Turgenev, whose significant anniversaries also fell on the 2018th. Solzhenitsyn is considered, judging by all, higher and more worthy.
What are the criteria? If you ask those who do not accept such an assessment and are outraged by it (there are, of course, a lot of such people), the answer is actually one: "This is thanks to him for his special role in the destruction of the Soviet government and the Soviet Union."
Well, for the majority it should be obvious: yes, it is this, and not real services to Russian and world literature, that are based on the halo that was created by constant efforts and continues to be created around a clearly exaggerated figure. And what is it genuine, in reality? The well-known writer Vladimir Bushin devoted his detailed research to this, with whom I decided to talk on the topic of interest to many.
- Recently, Vladimir Sergeyevich, your book about Solzhenitsyn has been published in the Moscow Algorithm publishing house. You can say the next one.
- Yes, this is the fifth edition. Each time they are replenished somewhat, for life throws up some previously unknown facts for reflection.
- And how do you assess all the exaltation of Solzhenitsyn with the present power of Russia? So, the “Year of Solzhenitsyn” announced in advance, and extensively developed preparation for its 100th anniversary, which will be fulfilled the other day ...
- A very strange, in my opinion, triumph is being performed. On the one hand, the president said that the collapse of the Soviet Union is the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century. And on the other hand, they are excitedly honoring someone who has done so much to destroy our great country and promote all the terrible things that have happened to us.
- Why, not one of his, such, honored. Is it not from the same opera Yeltsin Center? Or, say, the fame given to Sobchak?
- I think Putin should have (sometimes, at least) a certain inconvenience, feeling the extreme inconsistency of such situations. However, what is, that is. And that's what I think. It is time for the powers that be to understand that some individuals and events splitting society, causing a negative reaction in most people, are better not to bulge and not to inflate, but on the contrary - what is called, to let the brakes go down, deaden, hold their anniversaries without noise and cod. It was necessary to start this tramtararam in connection with the round date of Solzhenitsyn? The government, after all, says everything about the need for unity, the consolidation of society, although with the oligarchs can there really be unity ?! But, moreover, they throw up such a potent apple of discord as Solzhenitsyn.
- This, again, not only applies to the anniversary. His figure has long, constantly and strongly imposed on people, starting from school age. In the curriculum he is a classic! Well, after that all the means and methods available to the bourgeois state work to extol it: television, cinema, radio, newspapers, books ... In a word, an aura is created, almost a nimbus of saint, which does not imply the slightest critical reflection only admiration, delight and even more embellishment. So, the authorities, he is in a special way and need.
- Absolutely. And the reason, as you understand, is clear. I have already spoken about this more than once. What power do we have today? Anti-Soviet. She came up on the denial and vilification of everything that was in the Soviet era. And Solzhenitsyn for this is an invaluable accomplice. That was not just a tool, but a kind of symbol of anti-Sovietism. Militant ...
- Probably, for many of our readers, especially young ones, it is worth considering how such a phenomenon arose.
- This story at one time was widely known. The magazine Novy Mir on the pages of the November issue of 1962 printed a novel by an unknown author called One Day by Ivan Denisovich. And she was perceived as a real sensation. It was then that this name was sounded: Solzhenitsyn.
- Sensation of sensation remember well. At that time I was the editor of the regional youth newspaper in Ryazan. And for Ryazan people, the impression was reinforced by the fact that the newly appeared “literary nugget”, about which the main national newspapers wrote in the most enthusiastic tones, turns out to live in our city and work as a teacher in one of the schools ...
- You said correctly about the central newspapers. Why, and what authoritative voices admired in them the new author and his work! For example, in Izvestia - Konstantin Simonov, in Pravda - Marshak and so on. I note that I also did not resist, having printed my article about this story in the Leningrad magazine Neva. Then I also had an article in another journal, about the first published stories of Solzhenitsyn. We even established correspondence with him, and then personally communicated. He praised me very much as a literary critic.
- Do you regret today that you wrote those articles?
- No, I was sincere. But when he revealed himself deeper and when I realized how much he was lying, our relationship broke off.
- But still, Vladimir Sergeyevich, I will linger a few more on what made the phenomenon of the writer Solzhenitsyn such a loud event, as happened in the early 1960s. Artistic merits of the mentioned story? Or, perhaps, to a much greater extent its theme, which was completely closed up before? I remember that first of all in everyday life, then it was said: “Oh, this is about prisoners in the camp ...” They spoke so intrigued, even without reading. And after reading (I also remember well), many frankly expressed their disappointment.
- The theme, of course, played a big role. It turned out that in our literature Solzhenitsyn became, as is customarily expressed, its pioneer. In addition, after the Twentieth Party Congress, held in 1956, that is, against the background of the anti-Stalinist campaign launched by Khrushchev, this story acquired in a certain sense an opportunistic character. After all, because Khrushchev himself sanctioned the publication of Solzhenitsyn’s work, which saw in him the literary support of his report on the “personality cult”. The report, as is known, made a shock impression in society. It was later, when they began to really understand, it turned out how much the most shameless lies are in it. So they didn’t start to figure out Solzhenitsyn’s figure right away. At first, he even charmed many people with the circumstances of his biography. Well, of course! A combat officer, for no reason injured,
- Sorry, but I will allow myself one more remark. You correctly said about prominent Soviet writers who welcomed the first Solzhenitsyn publication. However, in the greetings of those, among other things, a certain “guilt complex”, or rather increased conscientiousness, affected, in my opinion. He, he says, was TAM, and we prospered ...
That was what I felt, for example, in conversations with the famous Soviet film actress Marina Ladynina already at the end of her days, if she was talking about the once-famous the conclusion. Marina Alekseevna responded with pain to her sufferings, and spoke about her successes with some awkwardness, almost with shame ...
- But to him, Solzhenitsyn, a sense of shame, in my opinion, was unknown. Or almost unknown. Otherwise, he would hardly have been born with a striking edification, which he proclaimed, and I cited as an epigraph to my book about him. You listen: “To wash is always more difficult than to spit. We must be able to spit quickly and at the right moment first. ”
What is it ?! In the subtitle of the book “The Unknown Solzhenitsyn” I also pronounced: “The genius of the first spit ...” If a genius, as some call it, then, without a doubt, only in this sense, he himself formulated.
And just imagine, he teaches everyone to "live not according to lies"!
- Almost universal attention to the new name in literature and enthusiasm for his personality, his publications, over time, did not simply decline. Unambiguous plus in relation to him, many have changed to a categorical minus. At one earlier, at others later. You noted that this happened to you. Let's take a closer look at the reasons.
- I have already told you about the most important one. Someone faster, and someone after a longer time began to reveal that he was lying a lot. And this was especially unbearable in conjunction with his annoying calls to "live not by lies." Even the whole article was called that way. As a result, the slogan invented by him was picked up and raised in order to apologize him, was quoted to the place and out of place, turning into a kind of advertising. But meanwhile, as it turned out more and more, the author of the good call himself lived and lives very differently!
It became clear to me soon enough. Already by the way he introduced himself in the first publications about himself. Say, all four military years, without leaving the front line, commanded the battery. When you read or hear such things, you naturally think about an artillery battery. A combat fire battery on the front line is a serious danger for both the fighters and the commander. But suddenly I find out: he was in a very different position. He was in command of the battery is not guns, and sound intelligence, and this, as they say in Odessa, two big differences. Because the sound battery is usually located at a significant distance from the front. He calls it advanced.
- It is known that his wife even came to him then, and she lived with him in an officer's dwelling. In my opinion, an unprecedented, unique case ...
- Exactly! Indeed, the sound reconnaissance battery, which Solzhenitsyn headed, was located at that time on the territory of Belarus. So he sends an orderly to Rostov-on-Don, and he brings a spouse on him with false documents. They live in the dugout of the commander, read their favorite books aloud, his wife rewrites his writings, which they then send to Moscow - to different editors, to writers Boris Lavrenyov, Konstantin Fedin, literature professor Leonid I. Timofeev, from whom I studied at the Literary Institute. .. Such is the "advanced".
- In a word, he tried to portray his stay at the front much more militant than it was in reality. And then in the right direction he began to aggravate in every possible way and the burden of being in captivity? Intensify horrors and nightmares, incredible torment and senseless cruelty ...
- Of course. The thicker the better. That is the task. For this, the main work was carried out on the image of the GULAG. Sometimes his fantasies go all the way. For example, throwing in passing, as if sentenced to death, it happened, did not shoot, and gave to be eaten by wild animals in the zoo. Well what is it?
- And of course, no concrete facts confirming such inventions.
- In fact of the matter! Allow me to take his word for it - without names, without a place of action, without dates. At the level of rumors. "For what I bought, for what I sell." Uncertain references: one Uzbek said, from two students heard, everything like that.
Handling numbers is absolutely irresponsible! And when he writes about our losses in the war, and when he names the numbers of the repressed. Here he went incrementally, and in the end, a fantastic 106 million appeared. But who, then, wondered, fought and then restored the country? About the lies of his frantic a lot has been written and convincingly, and not by me alone. So I noticed that. Recently, the famous widow of this hero of the day performed an unusual operation with the main work of his life - the GULAG Archipelago. I decided to adapt, that is, adapt, this huge text for perception by schoolchildren, having reduced it four times. And at the same time, as I noted, she lowered the most odious places that reasonably caused the greatest protests and outrage.
“Perhaps this can be considered an indirect admission that the criticism of particularly glaring Solzhenitsyn absurdities is fair.” However, such an adjustment does not change the overall picture. All the same, it turns out that completely innocent people (literally everything!) Are thrown into the gulag and suffer there supposedly for nothing. After all, the author of “One Day, Ivan Denisovich” himself immediately so sympathetically entered the public consciousness precisely as an innocent martyr, a victim of unlimited arbitrariness, which requires categorical condemnation.
- The goal is obvious. Only about innocence ... I'm afraid many still have such a misconception about Solzhenitsyn himself, and in general. No way everyone sat? He was arrested for nothing? By no means!
“You have a whole chapter in the book, The Mystery of Solzhenitsyn's Arrest.”
- I have been working on this problem for a long time, because there were different versions. In addition, it was very important to understand the psychology of the main character.
The arrest took place on February 9, 1945, when our troops had already entered the territory of East Prussia. Suddenly, they took him away? No, he should have expected it. Apparently, he counted on it. Because for a long time in letters to his school mate with might and main, he denounced the strategy of the Soviet Supreme Command. It is in the midst of war! And, let me emphasize, when a strict stamp was put on each letter: “scanned by military censorship”. He could not not know what his writings lead to.
- It turns out, roughly speaking, he tried to arrest himself?
- I came to this conclusion. It seems to be illogical: after all, the end of the war is near. However, the originality of Alexander Isayevich, about which one Solzhenitsyn biographer wrote, said: “Always, when it seems that his actions are in flagrant contradiction with common sense, sober calculation stands behind the insanity”.
- What was the calculation this time?
- Imagine, he painted a completely different picture of the end of the war than the absolute majority of us at the front and in the rear. When in 1944 the Red Army drove the invaders from our land, he wrote to his wife: "We stand on the borders of the Patriotic War and the Revolutionary War." That is, I was sure that the worst tests were still ahead, and therefore I seriously thought about how personally he would avoid them. I wondered: would you rather go to jail? The term can give a big, but in the new war the Soviet Union will quickly collapse - "and I am free."
- In some ways, by the way, his intuition was not groundless. If we recall what we know now. Already in May - June 1945, that is, immediately after the Victory, our yesterday's ally, Churchill, planned to launch the operation under the code (very expressive!) Title "The Unthinkable." The surviving German units together with the Anglo-Saxon troops were supposed to strike at the Red Army soldiers who were pretty tired in battles ...
- Yes, that was planned. And it didn’t take place only because the Americans refused to support such a blow then: they needed our help to defeat Japan.
- Well, in 1945, the "Unthinkable" did not happen. However, the respite given to us was extremely short. Very soon, from the American Fulton, Churchill's speech will be heard to the whole world, which became the signal for the beginning of an intense "cold war" against the Soviet Union. Without question, I must say - the war of annihilation. And here, as during the Great Patriotic War, before everyone inevitably there was a question: with whom are you, for whom are you, on which side? Over the course of time, Solzhenitsyn was called his “literary Vlasianist” by his deeds. Do you think the correct name?
- Absolutely accurate! Like Lieutenant General Vlasov, he became a traitor to his homeland. And, like Vlasov, a traitor to a landmark. They have the same excuses. Say, I am not against Russia, but against the communist regime. But how did this turn out in relation to the native country as a whole and to its people? Let us recall at least what the novel “In the first circle” is based on, which, in our time, in 2005-2006, was filmed and shown on the main channel television titled ten-serial (!) film. In the novel and the film, diplomat Volodin rushes around Moscow to run into a pay phone booth and call from there to the American embassy. He has the most important information for the US authorities: in New York, Soviet intelligence officers are preparing the abduction of one of the key secrets of the atomic bomb, and he wants to prevent this.
This is the favorite hero of Solzhenitsyn, who is shown from the current television screen as an example for everyone. And what empathy the author has so that the diplomat-traitor does not fall into the hands of the KGB! After all, both of them, the hero and the author, are equally disgusted that their country will have the opportunity of atomic opposition to the United States itself.
“Once in the USA and living in the state of Vermont, Solzhenitsyn constantly appeals to the leadership of this main imperialist power and even to the entire capitalist West, so that they increase the pressure on the hated Soviet Union. And about his people, he does not think ...
- He really is not very worried if this people even undergo a total destruction. In the GULAG Archipelago there is a scene of distemper among the prisoners somewhere on the shipment, when, as he puts it, “we screamed:“ Truman will be at you with an atomic bomb! ”I don’t know about others, but he certainly screamed the loudest. For him, over time, this became a really obsessive idea - to raise the West, and above all, of course, the United States for the most decisive actions against its own Motherland. Now his fans like to emphasize that he, as a Russian patriot, spoke out with criticism of the Western way of life. For lowering moral standards, for example ...
- Yes, quite recently, Dmitry Kiselyov on the TV channel "Russia" issued in his Sunday program a plot called "Call up". As I understand it, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Solzhenitsyn’s speech at Harvard University, where he called on students to raise the level of moral demands. He spoke critically about the marked moral decay of Western society.
- More often, I will emphasize this in particular, his criticism was directed to the fact that the West is weak, too weak acts against the USSR. Against communism in Russia, it sounded like that.
“But at the same time, he did not forget to give respectful obeisances to his patrons:“ The United States of America has long shown itself to be the most generous and most generous country in the world. ” Here is how! The most generous and most generous ... This is from his speech in Washington in 1975. And this kind of statements he has a lot.
- They have now acquired additional topicality. After all, after the departure of the “Vermont prophet” into the other world, we all had the opportunity to once again be convinced of the extraordinary “generosity” of this overseas power, including in relation to our country. It turned out that destroying the “communist regime” on the territory of the Soviet Union was not enough for the rule of American imperialism. Appetite inflamed for more.
And the "prophet" in this regard looks very pitiful. And it is amazing that the Russian authorities do not seem to understand to whom she is singing her hosanna today and for what! After all, anti-Sovietism, “decommunization”, which Solzhenitsyn furiously preached, are now organically intertwined with Russophobia in the same Ukraine (and not only). But the most important thing is what all this led to in our own country. The “prophet” returned to Russia and managed to see the bitter fruits of his efforts. The paradox is that his last book, which he published in 1998, has the title “Russia in a landslide”. That's what ended - the collapse!
- It would seem that Alexander Isaevich should repent. From all he demanded repentance. And you? Have you found in his latest writings even a hint that he regrets something in his destructive activities?
- Nothing like this. As if he had nothing to do with the catastrophe into which our country was plunged.
- Moreover, he fully justifies himself! Here is the beginning of his well-known work "How to equip Russia," written in 1990: "The clock of communism - they beat off their own. But the concrete structure had not yet collapsed. And how would we, instead of liberation, not be crushed under its ruins. ”
Eight years later, in the new work “Russia in a fall,” he already presents those words as a fulfilled prophecy. Here, they say, I warned - it just happened: they got flat under the ruins of communism. That is, in the current troubles are not the ones to blame for the demolition, but again communism: it is painfully heavy, you see, its construction! Although, if it is so heavy, it means that it has a weighty content, and not just a “black hole” ...
- He continued to viciously condemn communism until the end of his days. He supported the execution of the Supreme Council in 1993, because it seemed to him “the return of communism”. For 70 Soviet years, he did not want to recognize anything good and considered his main merit to be that he “shouted the truth about our post-revolutionary history”. Shouted - this is probably true. Is it the truth? He should have thanked the Soviet authorities at least for curing him of cancer in a difficult post-war period. And completely free. But now, if there is no money, then you will not be able to cure the disease more easily ...
- Solzhenitsyn's hatred for the Soviet government and Soviet time truly knows no limits. Here he is so fixated that he completely loses the slightest objectivity. I will cite for example one fact. In the fall of 1994, speaking in the State Duma, he declared the following: “And we know how catastrophically our advanced and brilliant science is falling, how our education is falling, how medicine is falling ...” Correctly stated! But this science, advanced and brilliant, was created in the Soviet years. And this education, medicine, too. We must admit the reality directly, but he keeps quiet.
- Like the current government. She uses everything that was created by Soviet socialism, but at the same time, she is silent about the enormous achievements or, worse, throws mud at her.
What can we say about Solzhenitsyn, who for many years, in fact, literally thoroughly imbued with hatred of all Soviet. Changing to him, obsessed with anti-communism, and even more so, to repent at the end of life was already difficult. And it hardly came to his head - with his utter pride, mind-blowing ambition, most real megalomania. This mania comes to ridiculous. Especially in the confessions that sometimes break through. It is necessary, for example, to imagine yourself not only a “prophet”, but also a “Sword of God”!
Or, say, asks: “Do you know who is the number one writer in Russia today? Do you think Sholokhov? No, Solzhenitsyn.
- You sounded next to these two names, and I had thought about this before. There is a shameful story for the “Sword of God”, for its participation in which he simply had to make public repentance. I mean his disgusting role in defaming Sholokhov. It happens that one kind of event unusually brightly highlights the essence of a person. In my opinion, in this case Solzhenitsyn was highlighted. Probably need to talk about it for those who do not know.
- I agree. The story that you remembered is really blatant and, of course, reveals the very essence of the current hero of the day.
I will begin with a letter written by Solzhenitsyn after a meeting with Sholokhov at a reception at Khrushchev in 1962: “Dear Mikhail Alexandrovich! I very much regret that the whole setting of the meeting on December 17 is quite unusual for me, and the fact that just before you I was introduced to Nikita Sergeyevich prevented me from expressing to you then my constant feeling, how much I appreciate the author of the immortal “Quiet Don ". From the bottom of my heart I would like to wish you successful work, and for that, above all - health. Your Solzhenitsyn.
Pay attention: “Yours”, and his feeling is supposedly high and unchanging ...
However, I will quote an excerpt from Solzhenitsyn’s memoir composition “The Calf with an Oak”, which appeared later. This is about the same day and about the same meeting:
“Khrushchev passed Sholokhov by the side, I had to go straight to him, nothing else. I took a step, and so the handshake took place. To quarrel at first was useless. But also - it became melancholy, and there is absolutely nothing to say, even an amiable one.
- Countrymen? - he smiled under his small mustache, confused, and pointing the way of rapprochement.
- Donets! - I confirmed coldly and somewhat threateningly.
- You are in my book is good commented: "Oh, my God, this Donets, you see more and threatened ..."
- And then what Solzhenitsyn: "The ordinary-looking Sholokhov ... It was malorostok silly smile ... On the podium, he looked even more insignificant ".
After all, with what black malice in the soul, it turns out, Solzhenitsyn wrote a letter to Sholokhov the next day, pouring out false, hypocritical feelings!
“It’s amazing ...
” In the same book, we read: “My archive and my heart were torn by Chekist claws — that same autumn they shoved the Nobel Prize into Sholokhov’s palical arms.” Butchers!
Well, it seems, Mr. Solzhenitsyn said everything about himself here. However, there is even more serious. After recognizing Sholokhov in love, he, with his characteristic fierce recklessness, joined the vilest campaign to prove that Mikhail Alexandrovich was not the author of The Quiet Don, but a plagiarist.
This campaign, as we know, suffered a complete collapse. But repentance from Solzhenitsyn's world did not wait ...
http://gazeta-pravda.ru/issue/133-30776 ... ga/?fbclid = IwAR2asBFBiVFC7dQgtfSRS2Hd4elFItD7pMGADcLVOs7sCjIpBGAelC3cP_I - Zinc
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