Publicism of A. I. Solzhenitsyn in the Dialogue with Ideas of F. M. Dostoevsky about Orthodoxy

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Kseniya A. Kulko

PhD student at the Chair of the History of Journalism, St.-Petersburg State University, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, St. Petersburg, Russia

e-mail: shapovalova1994@yandex.ru

Section: History of Journalism

The aim of this article is to conduct a comparative analysis of the conservative ideas of A. I. Solzhenitsyn and F. M. Dostoevsky about the Orthodoxy. A detailed text analysis of Dostoevsky’s “The Diary of the Writer” and of Solzhenitsyn’s publicism allows to understand that the issue of the Orthodox faith was a key idea for the authors. Research results show that both authors consider the issues of monarchy, national idea, conduct polemics with socialism through the prism of Orthodoxy. However, different historical epochs explain the specificity of the theme of Orthodoxy in the publicism of Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn and make it possible to see in their “dialogue” not only consonance, but also disagreement. Each of them connected the national idea with faith, but Dostoevsky proved Russia’s global mission of carrying Orthodoxy to the whole world. Solzhenitsyn urged to concentrate on internal problems. Dostoevsky’s journalism focuses on the ideas of Christ. For Solzhenitsyn, faith becomes the central theme but religious issues are considered in a more abstract way.

Keywords: F. M. Dostoevsky, A. I. Solzhenitsyn, Orthodoxy, Christianity, journalism, socialism, monarchy, national idea
DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.5.2021.162183

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