ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some closing thoughts of the key concepts covered in this book. There is hardly another nation in the life of which literature, and especially the novel, has played a more important part than it has among the Russians in the last hundred years. The vagaries and contradictions of Russian life during that period were almost incredible. The Russian novel reached the height of its perfection during the intelligentsia period, when the cleavage between the intellectuals and the people was acute and tragic. The revolution of 1917 made a change in the entire structure of society. Yet the importance of literature as a living social factor remained. In Soviet Russia there seems to be no essential gap between the author and his background, between literature and life. As always, Russian literature tries to keep in contact with reality and the vital values of life.
