FreeTime Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the noted Russian writer has died at 89: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/03/arts/04solzhenitsyn.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Fascinating man ... and a good one. He was arrested himself late in WWII for writing a letter criticising the way the Red Army was treating civilians as it advanced into East Prussia. This made him subversive. He knew about the gulags from personal experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Ok, but if I recall, after he fled to the USA, held up in Vermont or some place, with his Stradivarius, he then went back to Russia, when it was frwee/safe, and I believe had a few not so nice things to say about how we do things here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dddave Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 I owned a delivery service in Boston during the "80's; two of my clients were HOUGHTON-MIFFLIN and LITTLE-BROWN: both major publishing houses. They sometimes sent manuscripts to Solzhenitsyn in Cavendish, VT via my service, a $250 trip. The first time we were called, I did the trip myself, selfishly grabbing the opportunity to check out the reclusive literary celebrity. There are few rides more beautiful than the secondary routes of Vermont in the early fall and I took the long way to Cavendish, a quintessential Vermont village of simple white churches and red barns. He lived in an expansive and rather gloomy compound provided to him by God knows who: the main house a large wood and fieldstone Victorian. The entrance was guarded by a locked gate and I had to wait quite a long time before an older man, clearly a local Vermonter came and opened it. I was expected and was ushered into a small foyer and offered a cup of tea which I accepted. Five minutes later, to my surprise, Solzhenitsyn himself appeared from the back of the house accompanied by a stocky, middle aged woman. She handed me a stack of manuscripts to be returned to the publisher while he signed for the ones I had brought. He looked like a character from a 19th century novel: a severe and sallow face with no humor in it, his beard heightened the effect. It surprised me when he gave my shoulder a gentle pat and he murmured "Tsank you for come." That was it. The woman walked me to the door, also thanking me. I listened Rachmaninoff on the return ride. Later; when the Soviet government collapsed and he was able to return to Russia, he didn't have particularly kind words to say about the USA. He was appreciative for the refuge but thought the culture frivolous and the government petty. He didn't like the new Russia any better and in his last years, railed against its' rampant consumerism and rejection of Orthodox values. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogueyam Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a deep and complex man who changed the world with his writings. Certain people often mischaracterize and exaggerate Solzhenitsyn's criticisms of the West and of America in particular. We'll probably hear a lot of this over the next few days and it is no surprise to me that it has already started here on this board. Those who want to judge this issue carefully for themselves will do well to return to "the speech". Here, also, is a nice commentary on "the speech" published in National Review five years ago on the speech's twenty-fifth anniversary. May God bless Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Some how I just knew you'd go that route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogueyam Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Some how I just knew you'd go that route. That is, you knew I'd suggest judging Solzhenitsyn by his own words rather than by leftist characterizations thereof? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khun_khon_neua Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 I read the The Gulag Archipelago years ago. The scope what Stalin did to the Soviet Union is staggering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Some how I just knew you'd go that route. That is' date=' you knew I'd suggest judging Solzhenitsyn by his own words rather than by leftist characterizations thereof? [/quote'] Reread his comments on America, you will see they are right in line with the Kremlin's view. "...the west is weak and decadent..." blah blah... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samak Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Ok, but if I recall, after he fled to the USA, held up in Vermont ... nonsense! he did not flee, he was expelled from the USSR! Before he went to USA, he was in Germany, Switzerland and Norway. has anybody on this board actually READ some of his (rather large) books? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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