DESTINATION OF ART: VARLAM SHALAMOV’S CONCEPT

In the article Varlam Shalamov’s ideas of the role and tasks of art and literature are analyzed, his conception of writer and poet’s moral duty is revealed. Proved that Shalamov’s creation is the organic continuation of specific directive of Russian literature, when the main tasks of the writer are the assertion of moral values and answer ethic questions - for Varlam Shalamov it is, in the first place, the question about conservation of personality in the inhuman conditions. Based the statement that in Varlam Shalamov’s creativity the traditional for Russian world outlook perception of literature as the central element of culture is continued. The author of the article supposes, how Varlam Shalamov’s ideas of mental significance of literature are adjusted with his well-known expressions that he does not believe in art. Shalamov denied the role of literature as a political instrument but acknowledged its indisputable value for moral consciousness of personality.

Shalamov, Shalamov’s ideology, literature as the central element of culture, tasks of art, moral problems in literature