“Native on Fatherland”: A. Solzhenitsyn in V. Astafiev’s view (on the material of letters and journalism)

The article examines the view, assessment, interpretation of the personality scale, the direction of A. Solzhenitsyn’s work in the letters and journalism of V. Astafiev. The importance of the research is due to the attention of modern literary criticism to the historiosophical and sociopolitical issues of Russian prose, the necessity to research the creations of Russian literature of the 20th century in its brightest performances and assessments. The purpose of the research is an attempt to determine the similarity of aesthetic positions, which became the basis for assessing and interpreting the personality and work of A. Solzhenitsyn in the V. Astafiev’s epistolary and journalism. The publications of letters and journalism by V. Astafyev, the writer’s reaction to publication of the first story by A. Solzhenitsyn are analyzed. The main arguments of V. Astafyev’s letter in defense of A. Solzhenitsyn, the motives for applying to the Writers’ Union are considered.  V. Astafyev’s reaction to the “Vermont hermit” return to Russia is considered, the scale of A. Solzhenitsyn’s personality is characterized, and his public position is assessed. As a result of the analysis, it is established that in the letters and journalism of V. Astafiev a vivid image of A. Solzhenitsyn is created as an unbending fighter, an authoritative thinker, one of the founders of village prose, a patriot of Russia. It is concluded that the creative behavior of the writer V. Astafiev is determined by the specifics of his personality, the characteristics of his marital status, and the sociopolitical life of Russia in the 1960s – 1990s. The scope of application of the work results is research on the modern literature, teaching literature in higher and secondary schools.