Memory of the War on the Basis of Viktor Astafyev’s Novels "The Cursed and the Slain" and "The Jolly Soldier"

Abstract

The literary works of Viktor Petrovich Astafyev (1924–2001) is full of biographical elements. The category of memory occupies an important place in it. The writer was a participant of World War II. In his prose the tragic experience of war was showed. Astafyev’s main goal was not to capture the heroic image of the victorious war. Such a picture of war is present in collective memory. Astafyev looked at war through the prism of individual memory from a distant temporal perspective. This artistic strategy is implemented in the famous novels The Cursed and the Slain (1990–1994) and The Jolly Soldier (1998). The analysis of these works suggests that Astafyev did not forget about Stalinist totalitarianism, which destroyed humanistic and religious values. Moreover, respect for the truth forced the writer to recreate the dark picture of a war, which for ideological reasons was forgotten.