Ehrenburg: An Attempt at a Literary Portrait

Applying Hegel’s dialectical method, Professor Klimenko detects three stages in Ehrenburg’s intellectual and literary development corresponding to thesis, anti-thesis and synthesis. In the first stage, Ehrenburg displays highly skeptical views on human nature in general, and life in the Soviet Union and the West. Then, at the end of the 1920’s he experiences a crisis, undergoes an intellectual transformation and becomes a believer in the Communist ideology accepting the Soviet political and social realities. He vehemently condemns Western society and its way of life. In later years, following Stalin’s death, he again modifies his views. In a number of critical essays he aligns himself with the worldviews of Stendhal and Chekhov, his two favorite authors. His hope was that history would view him as he had viewed these two outstanding men.