“Rephrasing Freedom/Resisting Authority: Physical and Mental Confinement in Russian-American Literature by Ayn Rand”
Bildiriler > Özet Bildiri · 2013
Yazarlar: Olena BOYLU
14th International Cultural Symposium: Confinement, Resistance, Freedom, Türkiye, İzmir, Uluslararası, Sözlü Sunum, Özet Bildiri, 2013-2013, ss 59-59
Özet
<p>The ideological pressure of a totalitarian regime that blossomed with the birth of a new government after the Russian Revolution in 1917 drained out the individualism, uniqueness and aesthetic senses of the individuals forcing them towards clichés and restrictions articulated by the dictatorship. A new kind of so-called freedom formulated for the society was profoundly imposed, a freedom within the borders. Those who preferred to cross the red lines had to endure harassment, intimidation and even detention in concentration camps or prisons, while the fortunate ones got their opportunity to decamp. The rest of the society was “existing”<em> </em>accordingly, working for the good of their government and community. This sociopolitical struggle lasted for decades on physical as well as mental levels and the frontline of it was represented by intellectuals, writers and philosophers. Several important authors expressed harsh criticism towards the system what caused imprisonment, deportation or even expatriation. Among them such Soviet dissidents like Alexandr Soljenitsin and Boris Pasternak are particularly well known names. Similarly, a Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand, who migrated to the USA in 1926, became one of the prominent critics of this dictatorial order and its effect on the human psyche and life in general. Analyzing her <em>Anthem</em> and <em>We The Living</em>, which are known for their anti-totalitarian stance, will project the gravity and intensity of the external as well as internal crisis generated by the totalitarian regime and its burden for the humanity.</p>