Solzhenitsyn

Lukács hails Solzhenitsyn as the true heir to the socialist-realist writers of post-revolutionary Russia and as a major novelist on a world scale.

In the first essay Lukács examines One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and shows how this novella fits into the tradition of classic literature from Homer onwards.

In the second, larger section he discusses The First Circle and Cancer Ward and praises them more highly than any other twentieth-century writing. He also briefly describes Matriona’s House, An Incident at the Kretchetovka Station, and For the Good of the Cause.

Lukacs urges: ‘If socialist writers were to reflect upon their task, if they were again to feel an artistic responsibility towards the great problems of the present, powerful forces could be unleashed leading in the direction of relevant socialist literature. In this process of transformation and renewal, which signifies an abrupt departure from the socialist realism of the Stalin era, the role of landmark on the road to the future falls to Solzhenitsyn’s story.’