The evolution of Iurii Trifonov as a writer

Abstract

The thesis chronologically examines the works of Iurii Trifonov (1925-81) to show his evolution as a writer, from his first novel, the Socialist Realist Studenty, awarded a Stalin Prize in 1950, to his works of the 1970s and 1980s, in which he truthfully portrayed contemporary Soviet society and questioned the residual Communist ethic of the Brezhnev era. Trifonov occupied an interesting postion in Russian literary history, somewhere between the 'official' Soviet writers and the dissidents, trying to publish honest works under strict censorship in the USSR. I shall examine how under different political climates his works were republished and their content changed, while the final chapter covers post-humous works published thanks to glasnost, which show what he was forced to omit during his own lifetime. As he changes with time as a person, so do his works. The first chapter looks at Trifonov's family background and the death of his father during Stalin's purges. This was to have a great influence on Trifonov's life and works, in many of which he tried to understand his father's fate and that of his nation. Throughout his often heavily autobiographical works, Trifonov examines his country’s past and present while trying to understand himself too. He showed the roots of the degeneration of his society both before and after the Russian Revolution, but also showed the beginnings of the current consumerism of post-communist Russia. Trifonov speaks for many of his fellow countrymen in his works and shows the totality of the Soviet experience over six decades, and beyond.