Aleksander Solzhenitsyn Dies at 89

[lisab]

What an interesting life he had! He studied physics and math as a young man, was an officer in the Soviet Army, became a Soviet dissident...and won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26000555/

RIP.

 

[humanino]

His writings had a strong influence on me as a teenager.

 

[hypatia]

I read much of his work also. What a great legacy of writing he has left to the world.

 

[OAQfirst]

I just started on "The Gulag Archipelago." We lost a great man.

 

[Fearless]

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

There needs not to say anything more. That is just horrible. The man was a genious. He rightly deserved the nobelprice.

 

[Gokul43201]

Nice eulogy by Hitchens: http://www.slate.com/id/2196606/

 

[Oberst Villa]

Nice eulogy by Hitchens: http://www.slate.com/id/2196606/

Yes we lost a great man.

Thank you very much for the link, Gokul43201. I don't agree with all that Hitchens wrote, e.g. that Solzhenitsyn later turned into a "classic Russian Orthodox chauvinist". Shortly before he returned to Russia he wrote some kind of a very short summary of Russian History. One of his central topics is a bitter accusation against most of the Russian tsars that they wasted so much Russian blood in wars that did not serve the interests of the Russian people. These are not the thoughts of a chauvinist.

As for "Two Hundred Years Together", it does definitely not show any dislike against jewish people. I have the book (2 volumes in fact), in the preface he makes it clear that his intention is the mutual understanding between Russians and Jews, and I have no doubt that he is absolutely honest (like he always was, in everything he did and said.)

I don't think of him as much as a genius but as the greatest moral authority of our time, only Mandela and Ghandi come close. He has always searched for the truth and spread the truth. He has never compromised with those that were in power and he has never compromised with public opinion.