BORIS VASILIEV IS A BRIGHT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE "LIEUTENANT'S PROSE"

БОРИС ВАСИЛЬЕВ – ЯРКИЙ ПРЕДСТАВИТЕЛЬ «ЛЕЙТЕНАНТСКОЙ ПРОЗЫ»

Захаров Сергей Дмитриевич

курсант, кафедра перевода и переводоведения, Новосибирский военный ордена Жукова институт имени генерала армии И.К. Яковлева войск национальной гвардии РФ,

РФ, г. Новосибирск

Далецкая Татьяна Анатольевна

научный руководитель, доц. кафедры перевода и переводоведения, Новосибирский военный ордена Жукова институт имени генерала армии И.К. Яковлева войск национальной гвардии РФ,

РФ, г. Новосибирск

ABSTRACT

This paper is devoted to defining the notion of “lieutenant's prose”, in particular to describing the life of the writer Boris Vasiliev. Great attention is paid to analyzing significance of Boris Vasiliev’s literary works.

АННОТАЦИЯ

Данная статья посвящена определению понятия «лейтенантская проза», в частности описанию жизни писателя Бориса Васильева. Особое внимание уделено анализу значимости литературных произведений Бориса Васильева.

Ключевые слова: литературные произведения, проза, лейтенантская проза, писатель-фронтовик.

Keywords: literary works, prose, lieutenant’s prose, frontline writer.

2024 is of great significance for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. First, it is the centenary of the outstanding Soviet and Russian frontline writer Boris Vasiliev. Secondly, it is 55 years since the release of the Vasiliev’s novel "The dawns here are quite". Finally, it is a year of preparation to commemorate the great date for the whole country: the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 which is celebrated in May 2025.

It is necessary to define the term «lieutenant’s prose». According to the Great Russian Encyclopedia «Lieutenant’s Prose» is «a corpus of fiction writing about the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, created by Russian forntline writers (G. J. Baklanov, V. O. Bogomolov, V. V. Bykov, K. D. Vorobyov and others) mainly in the 1950s-1960s» [3].

N. Alexandrov – the literary critic – stressed “It was a time of the so-called "lieutenant prose", when the "trench truth" – the reality of war – began to displace or even mitigate the existing ideology and false bravado. A hardship and distress of a person and ordinary inconspicuous heroism of people took a center stage» [1].

However, the origin of this term is still not known. Some consider the writer Y. V. Bondarev to be the founder, while others emphasize the contribution to the development of this concept of I. I. Vinogradov, Soviet and Russian critic, literary writer and journalist.

The main motive of this literary movement was to describe the life of a soldier, his personality development under tough conditions. While writing frontline writers were primarily based on their personal experience and paid great attention to describing the moral values of a man: when fighters had to make sometimes difficult decisions and stood on principle not on orders. «All the stories were about maximum concentration: one fight, one unit, one bridgehead, one moral situation. Such a narrow focus allows you to highlight the dramatic experiences of a person, the psychological truth of his behavior in the reliably shown frontline life more sharply and contrastly. The story of the spiritual formation of the heroes was taken beyond the framework of the novels» [2, p. 405-406].

Boris Vasiliev like many other writers of that time was severely criticized for describing the events of the WW II too realistically and sometimes, in the opinion of Soviet leaders, for belittling the heroism and feat of the Soviet people.

Today, it is clear that this criticism is not justified. The frontline writers in their works reflected the heroism of the people who did not lose their moral character in a difficult external and internal struggle for freedom and with themselves. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the «Lieutenant’s Prose» continued its existence in the works devoted to events in Afghanistan, Chechnya and, of course, the SMO (special military operation).

Born in a hereditary military family in Smolensk and having gone through almost the entire war Boris Vasiliev proved with all his works that despite the censorship in literature it was of great importance to talk about an ordinary man with all his mental struggles and about a man who didn’t bow to circumstances.

References:

1. Александров Н. Пронзительная правда Бориса Васильева // РИА Новости. 11.03.2013. [электронный ресурс]. – Режим доступа. – URL: https://ria.ru/20130311/926762813.html (дата обращения 10.11.2024)
2. Бочаров А. Г. Человек и война. М.: Советский писатель, 1973. – 456с.
3. Левицкая Т. В. «Лейтенантская проза» // Большая Российская Энциклопедия: научно-образовательный портал. [электронный ресурс] – Режим доступа. – URL: https://bigenc.ru/c/leitenantskaia-proza-b416eb/?v=10487502 (дата обращения 10.11.2024)