Solzhenitsyn is often considered as greatest Russian writer of the 20th-century. He is famous for his books based on his own experiences of life under the communist dictator Joseph Stalin. In 1970, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. His novel Gulag Archipelago is extremely popular and his other best known books are One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, The First Circle and Cancer Ward.
Life of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in a Nutshell
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was born on December 11, 1918 in Kislovodsk, in the mountain region of Central Russia. He did well at school, graduating in mathematics and physics, but studied literature by correspondence. In 1945, he was arrested for criticizing the Russian leader Joseph Stalin in letters to a friend.
He served eight years in hard labour in a prison camp, followed by three years exile in Kazakhstan, a desolate region of the Soviet Union. He came out of exile and began writing when he was 38 years old.
His middle son, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, is an acclaimed Russian-American pianist and conductor.
Russian Labour Camp and Solzhenitsyn Major Books
His first novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, appeared in 1962, and was made into a movie in 1970, starring Tom Courtenay as Ivan Denisovich. This disturbing story, is set in a Soviet labour camp in the 1950s, and describes the horrors in a single day of Ivan, an ordinary prisoner. It was an enormous success but within a year Solzhenitsyn was banned in Russia
His major books, smuggled out of Russia and published abroad, were The First Circle and Cancer Ward. The First Circle is about imprisoned research scientists forced to work for the secret police, and Cancer Ward, was based on his treatment for cancer.
In 1973, the first volume of The Gulag Archipelago appeared, a detailed account of the enormous network of prison and labour camps during Stalin’s Russia. It angered the Soviet government, and as a result, Solzhenitsyn was deported.
Solzhenitsyn's Life in Exile and Final Years
Living briefly in Switzerland, Solzhenitsyn eventually settled in the United States where he continued writing but was critical of the West’s concern with wealth. In 1994, after communism collapsed, Solzhenitsyn returned to his homeland as a hero. He died at the age of 89, August 3, 2008, in Moscow.
Awards and Legacy of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, the Templeton Prize in 1983 and the Laureate of the international Botev Prize, 2008. Solzhenitsyn is celebrated for his speech on accepting his Nobel Prize in literature; he spoke of the writer’s obligation to bear witness to the truth, as “the lie” according to him allowed violence to thrive.
Solzhenitsyn believed that revolutionary violence comes from the teachings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, arguing that Marxism is violent. Later in life, he embraced Christianity, demanding of political systems that they be founded on love, compassion and humility.
Works by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, 1962
- The First Circle, 1968
- Cancer Ward, 1968
- August 1914, 1971
- The Gulag Archipelago, 1973-1976 (3 volumes)
- The Oak and the Calf, 1975
- Rebuilding Russia, 1991
- Invisible Allies, 1996
- November, 1999
Sources:
McGovern, Una, Ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers, 2002.
Ousby, Ian. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Oxford Who's Who in the 20th Century. Oxford: OUP, 1999.
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