Solzhenitsyn dead

[Jaga]

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.

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.

edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/03/solzhenitsyn.dead/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

[george]

I have a different opinion of Solzhenitsyn. I always thought he was a rude pain in the butt. He was anti communist but wasn't anti totolatarian, He wanted to it seemed to bring back Russia to Tsarist times with the Orthodox Church involved in government.
He was rude to John Paul during his meeting with him ( John Paul was a big fan of him ). He kept on bringing up that Rome was trying to convert Russia to the Catholic Church. He lived in Vermont for 20 years and yet never spoke English. He was against modern society in general. He lived as a hermit in Vermont and never socialized with the locals. When he finally moved back to Russia, he bitched and moaned about society there. The guy was just an old reactionary and i doubt if many will miss him.

[kaima]

George,

I pretty well agree. I read most of the man's books with great interest until I got to Gulag. With Gulag I forced myself about 1/2 way through it before I gave up on it forever. It was like reading a Manhattan phone book: X was tortured by methods A, B and C, and suffered D, E and F injuries. Then it was reported for prisoner Y and then Z. Perhaps great for a historical document, but not for informative reading.

I also was impressed with his continuous dis-content with every place and every system he encountered. It seems his own values only came out when he espoused Holy Russia ruled by the Orthodox Church.

Yes, reactionary seems to be a proper term for him.

[uncltim]

Victor Frankl anyone?