CC BY
53The Human Being and the System: The Fate of an Individual in Russian Literature of XX century
E.N. Polyudova1, O.V. Stukalova2
1 Santa Clara County Library (USA: California) 14600 Winchester Blvd., Los Gatos CA 95032-1817 e-mail: [email protected]
2. Federal State Research Institution of the Russian Academy of Education «Institute of Art Education»
Pogodinskaya str. 8, building 1, Moscow 119121 Russia; e-mail: [email protected]
Key words: totalitarian regime, Russian literature, fate of individual, moral sense. Ключевые слова: тоталитарный режим, русская литература, судьба личности, нравственное чувство.
Abstract: This article analyzes one of the most burning questions of Russian literature of the twentieth century - "de-humanization" in a totalitarian regime that destroys the dignity and honor. This question has deep roots in Russian classical literature - in addition to "Notes from the House of the Dead" by Fyodor Dostoevsky, here are some examples of Leo Tolstoy thoughts about the impact of individual scenes of humiliation at the identity of the hero in the story "After the Ball" and a book that was born after the trip of Anton Chekhov to Sakhalin Island, a place of penal servitude, etc. Features of perception of the topic in the twentieth century are defined by a considerable bitterness treatment and inhumane conditions in which there were people in Stalin's camps. In Russian literature it was established body of prominent texts that describe examples of human cruelty, cynicism and total degeneration of the moral sense - like the prison guards and prisoners (V. Shalamov, E. Ginzburg, A.Solzhenitsyn, G. Vladimov etc.). Meanwhile, the authors' attitude to the problem of preserving human dignity in the camps and prisons varies dramatically. If A. Solzhenitsyn, G. Vladimov and others consider it possible to preserve the feelings of warmth and readiness to interact ("The First Circle", "Faithful Ruslan"), the V. Shalamov is categorical: anti-human conditions lead to the degeneration of human origin. A special place in this topic is "Requiem" by Anna Akhmatova. Means of the great Russian poet poetry reveals the spiritual pain of an entire society, linking into a single different historical epochs. Subject to preserve human dignity and develop in the XXI-st century - in recent years have created several highly artistic works, which solved the problem. Among them, first and foremost it should be noted L. Ulitskaya novel "Daniel Stein, Translator". Резюме: Статья посвящена анализу одной из наиболее острых тем русской литературы ХХ века - «расчеловечиванию» человеческого в условиях тоталитарного режима, уничтожающего достоинство и честь. Эта тема имеет глубокие корни в русской классической литературе - помимо «Записок из Мертвого дома» Федора Достоевского, здесь можно привести примеры
размышлений Льва Толстого о влиянии сцен унижения личности на самосознание героя в повести «После бала», а также книгу, которая родилась после путешествия Антона Чехова на Сахалин, место каторги и др. Особенность восприятия этой темы в ХХ веке определяется значительным ожесточением режима и нечеловеческими условиями, в которых оказались люди в сталинских лагерях. В русской литературе был создан корпус выдающихся текстов, в которых описаны примеры человеческой жестокости, цинизма и тотального вырождения нравственного чувства - как у тюремщиков, так и у заключенных (В. Шаламов, Е. Гинзбург, А. Солженицын, Г. Владимов и др.). Между тем отношение авторов к самой проблеме сохранения человеческого достоинства в условиях лагерей и тюрем кардинально разнится. Если А. Солженицын, Г. Владимов и др. считают возможным сохранение чувств теплоты и готовности к взаимодействию («В круге первом», «Верный Руслан»), то В. Шаламов категоричен: античеловеческие условия приводят к вырождению человеческого начала. Особое место в этой теме занимает «Реквием» А. Ахматовой. Средствами поэзии великий русский поэт раскрывает духовную боль целого общества, связывая в единое различные исторические эпохи. Тема сохранения человеческого достоинства развивается и в XXI веке - за последние годы создано несколько высоко художественных произведений, в которых решается эта проблема. Среди них в первую очередь следует отметить роман Л. Улицкой «Даниэль Штайн, переводчик».
[Полюдова Е.Н.1, Стукалова О.В.2 Человек и система: судьба личности в русской литературе ХХ века]
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, was the reaction to the outrageous annihilation of people during World War II. It was the reaction to the existed contradiction between an individual and the System in different countries in the world. State System creates closed, formal, anonymous, irrational environment leaving behind a human being's individual space.
One of the most burning questions of Russian literature of the twentieth century - "de-humanization"- in a totalitarian regime is considered as the destruction of self-respect and honor. A conflict between a human being and the System becomes apparent inside of an individual as a contradiction between a person's inner space and the System's pressure and formal restrictions. The twentieth century's Russian writers pose pointed questions that might have no solutions, but should excite the human conscience. How can an individual stand against all pressure of the System preserving an inner-world and self-esteem? How can people withstand an assault to their rights and save their inward lives? These questions have deep
roots in traditions of Russian classical literature of the XIX century in works of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, and Anton Chekhov.
Thus, Tolstoy claimed that "Violence can not be adjusted and used only until a certain limit. If only to prevent violence - it always goes over the border, we would like to set for him" ("Насилие нельзя регулировать и употреблять только до известного предела. Если только допустить насилие - оно всегда перейдет границы, которые мы хотели бы установить для него") [7, 57].
In the XX century the inhumane conditions of people in Stalin's camps is a particular reason to preserve the individual human rights as a personal resistance against the cruel System. Despite of the inhuman conditions of living, people should stay humans in their thoughts, behavior, and personalities.
The Russian literature's brave loyalty to humanistic traditions, even in the situation of total governmental pressure, severe censorship and the destruction of spiritual values generates the deep respect.
There are prominent texts in the XX-th century Russian literature that describe examples of human brutality, cynicism, and total degeneration of the moral sense - like the prison guards and prisoners (V. Shalamov, E. Ginzburg, A. Solzhenitsyn, G. Vladimov etc.). Meanwhile, the authors' attitude to the problem of preserving human dignity in the camps and prisons varies dramatically. A. Solzhenitsyn and G. Vladimov consider preserve the feelings of warmth and readiness to interact as a possible way to go through the camps' life ("The First Circle", "Faithful Ruslan") [3].
Otherwise, V. Shalamov is categorical. He is fully assured that anti-human conditions lead to the degeneration of human species.
The slogan of this remarkable writer, who had been lived the painful life full of humiliation, torture, indifference and injustice, we can call his poetic line "I was looking for rights of the humiliated and beaten-up people" [1].
Despite the unbearable living conditions, Varlam Shalamov never crossed the barriers of moral, rejecting any adjustment to the censorship. The main guideline of life and creativity for him was the truth without boundaries, without conditionality that is the absolute truth.
Just as T. Adorno said that after Auschwitz you can not write poems, Shalamov believed "that after the Kolyma literature must radically change" [1,154].
The writer had the right to say so. More than 20 years he had spent in Kolyma. Their conditions for prisoners were designed for physical destruction.
Only in 1954 the writer was released from the camp. He began working on his major work - "Kolyma Tales", which includes six collections of short stories and essays: "Kolyma Tales", "Left Bank", "Artist of spades", "Sketches of the underworld," "Resurrection of larch," "Glove, or the CD-2 ". In these tragic works Shalamov gave in-depth assessment of the terrible camp experience that survived millions of Soviet people. He was convinced that in the Kolyma camps there was not purification, but the corruption of human souls: "The camp could not ever give something positive nobody. At all - prisoners and civilians - the camp influences terribly as the child molester" («Никому никогда ничего положительного лагерь не дал и не мог дать. На всех - заключенных и вольнонаемных - лагерь действует растлевающе») [4].
Shalamov peace camp is the world of evil and irrationality. In stories with tremendous force Shalamov disclosed psychology condemned to death. They are saved not by faith, hope and love, but primal instinct, which makes to forget about the other human beings.
The haggard "goner" remains alive only through deception: instead of him to the mine, to certain death, there was sent someone else ("Typhoid Quarantine"). The writer reflects on the mighty power of "animal instincts" that lead the world. In the story "Berdy Onzhe" instead of the lost prisoner guards are put in prison the first Turkmen caught in the bazaar. Outrage is administered over a man just because he does not speak Russian and therefore defenseless.
"In Shalamov's gift of a great writer - a modern scholar writes - folk tragedy had received its uncompromising witness of the martyr-chronicler who by his own soul and blood paid for the terrible knowledge. So it has found clear and powerful voice "(«В лице В. Шаламова, в его даре большого писателя, - пишет современный исследователь, - народная трагедия получила своего бескомпромиссного свидетеля, мученика-летописца
собственной душой и кровью заплатившего за страшное знание. В нем она обрела чистый и мощный голос») [8, 5].
V. Shalamov was convinced that the theme of the camp coul be called "the main issue of our day," because "the camp is the mirror of the world." This thesis emphasizes that the issue of resistance to inhumane circumstances, "the teeth of the state machinery," is universal and everlasting. Hence it was made his conclusion: "My stories are in fact the person advice as to keep yourself in the crowd" («Мои рассказы - в сущности советы человеку, как держать себя в толпе») [6, 31].
According to Shalamov, "... any hell can return, alas." His dark vision he based on the fact that Russia has not grasped the main lesson of the twentieth century. "Lesson of exposure the animal instincts in the time when the most humanistic concepts were created" («урок обнажения звериного начала при самых гуманистических концепциях») [2, 154].
The living forces of Russia and the guarantee of its abilities for normal development writer has seen in half-forgotten, nameless millions martyrs, killed by regime. All those people who sincerely believed in justice and began a new life, are became the victim of terror, preserved human feelings, in his eyes, could deserve compassion. In the warmth of understanding there is the high moral rightness of Shalamov, which calls not to seek "enemies" in the past and the present, not to new division of society, but to the realization the true tragedy of Russia's historical path in the twentieth century.
Anna Akhmatova's "Requiem" takes a unique position in the issue. Akhmatova's concept reveals the spiritual pain of an entire society, linking an individual tragedy with the historical epoch of the motherland. In XXI century the problem of human dignity preserving remains relevant in Russian literature. First and foremost it should be noted L. Ulitskaya novel "Daniel Stein, Translator" [3, 460-463].
For the purpose of the modern generation's efficient understanding of human rights, we offer an educational approach to the content of the Russian literature development.
Analyzing the conditions of human self-resistance and self-protection against the System pressure, the youths will be able to apply the general humanistic principles to their lives a.k.a. the Humankind future. We argue that the course of the Russian literature
studying from such perspective should be a valuable part of a curriculum [5]. It will allow relating the issue of human rights to the modern world from general and individual angle.
REFERENCES
1. Shalamov V.T. 1998. Sobranie sochineny v 4-kh t. Moskva: Khudozhestvennaya
literatura, Vagrius.
2. Shalamov V.T. 1993. A.A. Kremenskomu. Iz perepiski. - «Znamya», No 5.
3. Mann Yu.V., Zaytsev V.A., Stukalova O.V., Olesina E.P. 2008. Mirovaya
khudozhestvennaya kultura. ХХ vek. Literatura. SPb: Piter, 464 p.
4. Politzeki V.Sh. http://politzeki.mypeople.ru/users/politzeki/wiki/varlam_shalamov
5. Polyudova E.N. 2009. «Sovremennye modeli razvitiya esteticheskogo opyta v
amerikanskoy i kanadskoy pedagogicheskoy literature». - «Sovremennye issledovaniya esteticheskogo vospitaniya i khudozhestvennogo obrazovaniya v kontekste Burovskoy nauchnoy shkoly». M.:IKhO RAO, 336 p.
6. Tetrad V.T. 1997. Shalamova 1968 g. - Shalamovsky sbornik, Vypusk 2.
Vologda.
7. Tolstoy L.N. 2009. Vyskazyvaniya i aforizmy. Moskva: Ripol Klassik. 63 p.
8. Shklovsky E.A. 1990. Varlam Shalamov. Moskva.
Получена /Received: 10.02.2012 Принята/Accepted: 15.02.2012
