Essay - Russian Literature Introduction the Purpose of This Paper is to...

RUSSIAN LITERATURE

INTRODUCTION

***** purpose of this paper is to introduce and discuss the book "Generations ***** Winter," by Vassily Aksyonov. Specifically, it will discuss the author's background, and how the work reflects the political and social environment of the time. Aksyonov was familiar with ***** atrocities of socialist Russia firsth*****. He spent time in *****n prisons and was expelled from his country because of ***** writing. The his*****ry of Russia is full with such stories of oppression and censure, and "***** of Winter" recounts only some of these atrocities, and how they affect the people of Russia, ***** pathos, humor, and insight.

GENERATIONS OF WINTER

Author Vassily ***** knows the h*****tory he writes about so eloquently in this novel. ***** was expelled from his home country of Russia ***** 1980. His mother and father lived through much ***** the Stalin regime, spent ***** in pri*****n, ***** in the Crimea (Reid).

Aksyonov ***** born in Kazan in 1932, when Stalinism had really begun to take hold. Both of his parents eventually became victims ***** the terror. Although they both survived the camps, their marriage did not. Aksyonov was brought up by various relatives and lived with his mother in Magadan for two years while he was finishing school. He first appeared in *****t ***** 1959. Although his career as a writer and edi*****r met ***** many political and bureaucratic obstacles, he still managed to publish a gre*****t deal in the Soviet Union ***** had considerable opportunity to travel abroad (Reid).

Aksyonov's book opens in 1925, ***** "eighth year of the revolution." While it so*****imes reads like a history of ***** Russian people, it is ***** a *****, written in the sweeping style of "War and Peace" by Tolstoy. ***** novel follows ***** Gradov family through twenty years of modern Russian *****, with which they always manage to become involved. Mixed in with the ***** are real historical characters, so it sometimes becomes muddy between what is fact and what is fiction in th***** *****.

Aksyonov ***** ***** "Generations of Winter" of some of the excesses and terror of the Stalin regime, and does so ***** humor ***** candor. "In 1951, [after this first book in a trilogy t*****kes place] Mr. Aksyonov points out, the slave-labor force within the Soviet Union exceeded 14 million. 'To the camps were sent even the bumblers who s*****ed ***** late for ***** - in other words, who committed a crime th*****t amounted to sabotage of reconstruction'" (Jacoby 35).

His book is an ideal example of the political and social ***** of the times. There was extreme unrest in Russia, ***** were revolting against the government, and then war struck. Lives were uncertain and distorted forever ***** of the war, ***** because ***** the brutality of the Stalin regime. By following the lives of this family and their friends and lovers, Aksyonov shows first h***** the lack of political and personal freedoms, how ***** people were always afraid, and how ***** ********** ***** lives would never