A.I. Solzhenitsyn about Peter I

Abstract

In the article on the material of A.I. Solzhenitsyn’s publicistic works and his “narration in the measured terms of the “Red Wheel” the image of Peter I was analyzed, whose evaluation coordinate system in the writer’s work is based on the author’s historiosophical concept of causal relations of Russian history explaining the 1917 catastrophe; it is proved that the monologue nature and one-sidedness of the characteristics of Peter I and his transformations, which are present in the texts of A. Solzhenitsyn’s publicistic works, begin to change, integrate into the complex historiosophical author’s paradigm, obey the artist’s historical-philosophical strategy organizing the artistic “Red Wheel”. The image of Peter I in the situation of Solzhenitsyn’s assessment of the phenomenon of the royal authority acquires a positive connotation due to the principle of historical analogy used by the artist.

Keywords

• A.I. Solzhenitsyn
• Peter I
• artistic historiosophy
• “The Red Wheel”
• historiosophy of royal power