Human behavior under conditions of limited freedom in the novel by A.I. Solzhenitsyn’s “In the first circle”

Abstract

The work is devoted to the study of the image features of the people’s behavior in the conditions of camp imprisonment in the A.I. Solzhenitsyn’s novel “In the first Circle”. We study the forms of artistic embodiment of the theme of inner and outer freedom of the individual. We compare the principles of depicting the daily life of prisoners in the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” and the novel “In the First Circle”. We pay attention to the meaning of the titles of these works by A.I. Solzhenitsyn. We consider the writer’s portrayal of events and actions of people in the absence/limitation of physical freedom. We emphasized the role of creative endeavors in the self-preservation of human dignity. We outline the main parameters of the depiction of love storylines and family stories in the novel. We are clarifying the meaning of the author’s font emphasis in the text. We focus on the enduring relevance of the topic of preserving the mental strength of a person during periods of forced bondage and limited living conditions, which is one of the priorities in the work of A.I. Solzhenitsyn. The results of this study contribute to the expansion of ideas about the ideological and artistic specifics of the writer’s “camp prose” and can be applied when studying the history of Russian literature in universities, at special seminars and special courses on the work of the classic of the 20th century.