Abstract
The article analyzes A.I. Solzhenitsyn's philosophical, social and literary features. As the basis there are taken his political essays and the main work of life - The Red Wheel. In it, he shows his critics of enlightenment rationalism, superficial humanism and spiritual impoverishment of a technocratic civilization. It reveal his dispute with the basic thoughts of Lev Tolstoy's art and attitude towards F. Dostoevsky. It considers the symbolism of The Red Wheel through the prism of which the writer analyzes the events of both - the beginning and the end of the XX century.