Alexander Solzhenitsyn 1918-2008
By Wyatt Earp | August 4, 2008
The world has lost one of the truly great men of literature.
The fact that he was declared an “unperson” by the Soviet Union offends me to this day.
Russian novelist and historian Alexander Solzhenitsyn, whose works detailed the horrors of Stalin’s Soviet labor camps, has died at 89, Russian news agencies reported Monday.
His son, Stepan Solzhenitsyn, told The Associated Press his father died of heart failure late Sunday at his home near Moscow, Russia.
Awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970 for “The First Circle,” Alexander Solzhenitsyn was considered a moral voice for Russia. His works centered on issues of good and evil, materialism and salvation.
His three-volume “Gulag Archipelago” unveiled the horrors of the Soviet labor camps, where he himself was imprisoned for eight years. (H/T – CNN)
After reading the normal drivel interspersed with pictures of hot babes, you wouldn’t think I would be a fan of Solzhenitzyn’s work. You would be wrong. The man was, in a word, brilliant. “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” is one of my all-time favorite novels, and I have read and re-read it many times. I still have a paperback copy in my home library.
Better bloggers have said better than I, but I must agree: he will be sorely missed.
Topics: Literature | 6 Comments »
August 4th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
I’ve read The Cancer Ward and most of The Gulag Archipelago. Read his commencement speech at Harvard – talk about speaking truth to Power.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/solzhenitsyn/harvard1978.html
August 4th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
While we might not always agree with the lifestyles and ideologies of artist, writers, and the like, from time to time, there are those that do very brave things to bring injustices to light.
August 4th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Read. Who has time? I see the movie. I’m in and out in two hours.
August 4th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Ky Person – As I said: brilliant.
RT – And he had the nerve to go to the gulag for his beliefs. How many people today have the cojones to do that?
Randal – Wow, a Solzhenitsyn movie. I figure people will be slitting their wrists in the aisles afterwards. Too damned depressing. And it would still be better than a Gwyneth Paltrow film.
August 4th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I have not read any of his works, but it appears Aleksandr was accused of being a right wing extremist. We are all so noted, in the new communist Obama movement.
August 5th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Insol – But I can’t go to the gulag! I chafe!