Solzhenitsyn, Brutens, Zenkovich, Karamzin. The no

Solzhenitsyn, Brutens, Zenkovich, Karamzin. The note.


After reading the biography and autobiographical books of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the memoirs by Karen Brutens, the chronicle-memoirs by Nikolai Zenkovich, questions arise: what unites and what distinguishes the authors of these books. (Alexander Solzhenitsyn “The Oak and the Calf”, “The Grain Between the Millstones”, Lyudmila Saraskina “Alexander Solzhenitsyn”, K.N. Brutens “Thirty years on Old Square” [К.Н. Брутенц «Тридцать лет на Старой Площади»], Nikolai Zenkovich “The Central Committee [of the CPSU] is closed. All are gone out ...”) [Николай Зенькович «ЦК закрыт. Все ушли…»].

And Solzhenitsyn, and Brutens, and Zenkovich are people with literary talants who able to prepare a large volumes of texts in a relatively short periods of time.

Solzhenitsyn was close to the Soviet elite for a short period of time. Brutens and Zenkovich worked (were employees) in the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Solzhenitsyn of the three named authors was the most self-sufficient - he was led by some Higher Powers. Brutens and Zenkovich needed to be members of some kind of organizational structure. Solzhenitsyn, himself, generated organizational structures, albeit not numerous in composition.

All three loved to read.

Solzhenitsyn loved dictionaries. “For some reason, a small elegant brown Latin dictionary, bought just before the war, is in my thoughts. I would have kissed him directly now ... ”. (A quote from the book: Lyudmila Saraskina "Alexander Solzhenitsyn"). Moreover, Solzhenitsyn himself compiled and published the Dictionary of Language Expansion. “I love the masculine composure of Latin, / Clearness of phrases and the powerful ringing of verbs. / I love when from under the visor / The initiated man will sparkle onto me by Latin [language] ". [unofficial translation]

Solzhenitsyn is even, in a sense, the most unproblematic writer. Learning - it's easy! School, Rostov-on-Don University (which has not yet lost the cultural traditions of Warsaw University), Artillery School. He is the first everywhere. No problem getting a job. His material needs are modest. And school teachers are always and everywhere needed ... Alexander Isaich lived for six months in Torfoproduct [settlement] in the house of Matryona Vasilyevna Zakharova on a folding bed -  later he wrote "Matryona's Place" ["Matryona's Home", "Matryona's House"]...

In Brutens's book, declassified documents from official US departments are repeatedly presented.

Zenkovich, if one is guided by the named book, treats the transcripts with respect. The more years will pass - the more value the transcripts will acquire….

The person,  most focused on literary work, was Solzhenitsyn, who appreciated and saved time, and strove to use every minute in the interests of literary creativity. But he also had confidence in the future - he saw his future success "through the years" ...

Solzhenitsyn, Brutens, and Zenkovich knew history and were interested in it. On the pages of Zenkovich's book, Kastu; Kalino;ski (Konstanty Kalinowski) even appears, other members of the liberation movement ...

All three - Solzhenitsyn, Brutens, Zenkovich - express some disappointment with how historical events began to develop (especially after 1991) ...

As well as Brutens' book, I did not read Zenkovich's book in full ...

I did not manage to meet in the books (neither Solzhenitsyn's, nor Brutens', nor Zenkovich's) mentions of Rzeczpospolita or the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

Russia is great, but there is no one [no people] (or almost no one) to step over Karamzin's "The History" ...


January 12, 2021 21:04


Translation from Russian into English: January 13, 2021 19:35.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский “Солженицын, Брутенц, Зенькович, Карамзин. Заметка”.