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The Theme of Fate in Solzhenitsyn’s August 1914

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Kevin Windle
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Extract

“Truth, Beauty, Good, Evil: ethical imperatives,” runs the line that Innokentii Volodin finds in his mother’s papers on the day of his arrest. As ever, these are the aims to which Alexander Solzhenitsyn aspires in his latest novel. His account of the events in East Prussia as World War I begins is more than an extensive compilation of historical facts, more than their transmutation into fictional form. It is an attempt to capture the truth about certain elusive laws governing the movement and development of human society, best observed in times of crisis. In War and Peace Tolstoy attempted to expound and test a philosophy of history. Solzhenitsyn’s purpose in August 1914 is substantially the same. Some comparison of the two works is inevitable.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , June 1972 , pp. 399 - 411
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1972

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References

1. Solzhenitsyn, A. I., The First Circle (New York: Harper and Row, 1968, p. 343.Google Scholar

2. “(And here we might find consolation in Tolstoy’s conviction that it is not generals who lead armies, not captains who direct ships or companies of troops, not presidents or political leaders who rule nations and parties—but the twentieth century has shown us all too often that we are led by precisely these people.) ” Solzhenitsyn, A. I., Avgust chetyrnadtsatogo (Paris: YMCA Press, 1971, p. 350 Google Scholar. All quotations in the text are from this edition.

3. “History lives and grows like a tree. For history, reason is an axe. You can’t cultivate it with reason. Or, if you like, history is a river. It has its own laws governing its currents, its bends, its eddies. But these smart alecks come along and say it’s a stagnant pond and that it must be redirected into another channel, a better one. All we have to do is choose the right place to dig the trench. But the flow of the stream can’t be broken off. If you move it just one inch the stream no longer exists. And they tell us to uproot it and move it a mile. The flow of generations, institutions, traditions, customs, is the flow of the stream” (p. 377).

4. “But an intelligent man cannot support revolution, because revolution is prolonged, mindless destruction. No revolution renews a country. It lays it in ruins first, and for a long time. And the bloodier it is, the longer it lasts, the dearer the country has to pay for it—the closer it comes to the title of GREAT” (p. 536).

5. “After two or three such defeats in succession the spine would be bent forever. A nation a thousand years old would perish. There had already been two defeats in succession— the Crimean War and the Russo-Japanese War… . So the war which had just begun could become either the beginning of a great Russian renaissance or the end of the Russian nation” (p. 109).

6. “Samsonov felt that he was not a leader, not in command of the situation, but merely a representative of events. Events were taking their own independent course” (P. 85).

7. “You bear in your breast a burning wound: / there is no escape from fate“ (P. 132).

8. “FATE DOESN’T NEED TO LOOK FOR YOUR NECK—YOUR NECK GOES TO ITS FATE BY ITSELF” (p. 299).

9. “It made no difference whether or not you marked the divisional arrows on the maps at headquarters—the outcome of the battle was being decided inaudibly by these cartwheels” (p. 108).

10. “LIKE A FIERY WHEEL ROLLING THROUGH THE AIR.

And—it’s crumbling,

It’s crumbling into pieces,

Into fiery fragments” (p. 228).

11. “A WHEEL!! growing inexplicably bigger and bigger,

It’s growing still bigger!

It fills the whole screen!

A WHEEL!—rolling, lit up by the fire!

—self-propelled!

uncontrollable!

crushing everything.

A WHEEL!!!…

A WHEEL rolling, colored by the flames!

= By the joyfully dancing flames!!

= A crimson WHEEL!!

= And—the faces of little frightened people: why is it rolling by itself? why is it so big?

= No, it still hasn’t stopped. It’s getting smaller.

There, it’s getting smaller.

= It’s an ordinary wheel from an ambulance wagon,

and now it has run itself out. It has fallen on its side” (pp. 287-88).

12. “The giant flails ran through their ranks, threshing out the seeds of their souls for purposes unknown to them—and the victims could do nothing but wait their turn” (p. 226).

13. “In the village they did not discuss the war, or question its causes, as if it were something within their power, something which could or could not be permitted. The war and the summonses from the conscription officer were accepted as the will of God, like a dust storm, like the violent winter snowstorms” (pp. 18-19).

14. “His brow was broad and defenseless as never before: a white target above a defenseless face” (p. 325).

15. “Lord. Forgive me if you can, and receive me. You see, there was nothing else I could do. There is nothing else I can do” (p. 430).

16. “It was a universal law: everyone who acts breeds both good and evil. With some it’s more good, with others more evil.” Solzhenitsyn, A. I., Rakovyi korpus (London: Bodley Head, 1968), vol. 1, p. 101 (the italics are in the original).Google Scholar

17. “Maybe everyone wants to do good or thinks he wants to, but not everyone is free of guilt or error, and some are totally conscienceless, and they do each other so much harm. They convince themselves they are doing good, but in fact it turns out to be evil. As you might say, they sow rye and grow weeds.” Solzhenitsyn, A. I., V kruge pervom (New York: Harper and Row, 1968), p. 356 (italics in the original).Google Scholar

18. “But what if love isn’t so strong? What if it isn’t so compelling in everyone and can’t overcome everything else? Then won't your teaching turn out to be … pointless?” (P. 23).

19. “We must join in the unhurried process of history. We must work, convince others, and move things gradually” (p. 537).

20. “That’s man’s only calling—to perfect the harmony of his own soul” (p. 376).

21. “One must try to temper, to cut, to polish one’s soul in order to become a human being. And thereby become a tiny particle of one’s own people” (V kruge pervom, p. 346; italics in the original).

22. “YOU SHOULD SEEK NOT IN THE VILLAGE, BUT IN YOURSELF” (p. 505).

23. “It was not the money, it was not the estate which had gone to ruin—Roman was not a scatterbrain. But the most important thing, the crux of the matter, had given way—his soul. In order to inherit, and to manage one’s inheritance properly, one soul must continue another. But why had everything been arranged and prepared for this dark, alien spirit?” (p. 70).

24. “Only the very last one could not be seen, the one right at the back, with a crooked smile of pity on his face, not joining in the chanting. He had, however, bared his head. It was Lenartovich” (p. 451).

25. “In their thousands of proverbs the Russian people were more candid about themselves than Tolstoy and Dostoevsky in their confessions” (V kruge pervom, p. 507).

26. “WE DID NOT INVENT UNTRUTHS, AND WE CANNOT DESTROY THEM” (p. 571).