Background
Belinkov, Arkadii was born in 1921 in Moscow.
Belinkov, Arkadii was born in 1921 in Moscow.
Studied at Leningrad University (Gorkii Literary Institute). Studied at Leningrad University (Gorkii Literary Institute).
Arrested for his dissertation, sentenced to death in 1942, commuted to 8 years imprisonment in the camps. Inmate of Karaganda Gulag in the 1950s. Returned to prison and sentenced to 25 more years for three books which he had written in the camps and was trying to smuggle out.
The books were destroyed before his eyes. Released in 1956. Lecturer at Gorkii Literary Institute in Moscow. Dismissed in 1958. Wrote on Bulgakov, Olesha (Sdacha i gibe! sovetskogo intelligenta, 1976), Platonov.
Some of his manuscripts were circulated in samizdat. Allowed to go with his wife to Yugoslavia, from where he defected in 1968. Settled in the USA, and taught at the universities there.
One of the First Soviet dissidents.
Religion is bad because it imposes irrational rules of good and bad behaviour.
Every Soviet citizen has rights to express his or her opinion, but it should be in accordance with the general interests of the society.