Solzhenitsy n e xile, a rtist, prophet

22  INTERCOLLEGIATE REVIEW

 

· Spring 2014

intercollegiatereview.com

FREEDOM 

HALL

ALEKSANDR 

SOLZHENITSY N

E XILE , A RTIST, PROPHET

Y

ou’ve probably heard of the “Gulag” before, that 

Soviet agency whose labor camps were responsible 

for the oppression and death of millions during 

communism’s reign. 

It’s less likely that you’ve 

heard of the man who intro-

duced the West to the ter-

rors of the Gulag: Aleksandr 

Solzhenitsyn. 

Born in 1918, Solzhenitsyn 

enthusiastically supported 

Marxism and the Soviet 

Union as a teenager and 

young adult. While serv-

ing in the Soviet Red Army 

in World War II, he began 

corresponding with a friend 

about mismanagement of the 

war, and in 1945 Solzhenitsyn 

was arrested for writing a 

letter in which he cryptically 

criticized Joseph Stalin. From 

1945 to 1953 he was a politi-

cal prisoner. During this time 

Solzhenitsyn rejected Marx-

ism and, most important, 

converted to Christianity.

Following his imprison-

ment, Solzhenitsyn embarked 

on a prolific literary journey. 

He wrote novels and short 

stories, poems and memoirs, works of political analysis 

and historical scholarship. Published in 1962, his novella 

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was revolutionary: 

the first published depiction of Stalinist oppression and 

Soviet prison life. In 1970 Solzhenitsyn was awarded the 

Nobel Prize in literature. 

Then, in 1973, his landmark 

book The Gulag Archipelago 

was published in the West, 

offering an eyewitness nar-

rative of the expansive and 

dehumanizing Soviet prison-

camp system. 

With the collapse of 

Soviet communism, it might 

seem tempting to regard 

Solzhenitsyn as a figure of 

a bygone age whose warn-

ings have little relevance 

to our world. This couldn’t 

be further from the truth. 

He wrote on man’s  capacity 

for both good and evil, on 

the stifling power of the 

omnicompetent state on 

human flourishing, and on 

the dangers confronting an 

increasingly secular West. 

He charges all of us who care 

about preserving ordered lib-

erty and Western principles 

to restore the moral fabric of 

civilization. 

Here are just a few examples of Solzhenitsyn’s timeless 

wisdom.

INTERCOLLEGIATE REVIEW

 

· Spring 2014  23

intercollegiatereview.com

MATERIALISM  

AND THE 

SOUL

GOD

 AND 

 

ECONOMICS

ON 

GOOD  

AND

 EVIL

NIHILISM: 

THE ROOT 

OF 

ATROCITY

Understanding Solzhenitsyn:

 Where to Start

Books available at isibooks.org

T

he human soul longs for things higher, warmer, 

and purer than those offered by today’s mass 

living habits, introduced as by a calling card 

by the revolting invasion of commercial advertis-

ing, by TV stupor, and by intolerable music.

—“A World Split Apart,” commencement address 

delivered at Harvard University, June 8, 1978

I

f only there were evil people somewhere insidi-

ously committing evil deeds, and it were neces-

sary only to separate them from the rest of us 

and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil 

cuts through the heart of every human being. And 

who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? 

—The Gulag Archipelago

U

ntouched by the breath of God, unre-

stricted by human conscience, both capi-

talism and socialism are repulsive.

—Interview with Joseph Pearce, 2003

I

f I were asked today to formulate as concisely as 

possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution 

that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I 

could not put it more accurately than to repeat: “Men 

have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.”

—Interview with Joseph Pearce, 2003

The imprint of the

Intercollegiate Studies Institute

Wilmington, Delaware

www.isibooks.org 

T

he Russian writer and Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was one of the truly monumental 

      figures of our time. After spending time in the Soviet gulag and pursuing the life of an under-

ground writer, he was catapulted to international fame with the unexpected publication of One Day in 

the Life of Ivan Denisovich in 1962. His unyielding and courageous opposition to the twentieth cen-

tury’s most powerful totalitarian regime eventually led to his exile to the West in 1974, where he spent 

20 years before returning to his native Russia in 1994.

This reader, compiled by the distinguished Solzhenitsyn scholars Edward E. Ericson, Jr., and Daniel J. 

Mahoney with the cooperation of the Solzhenitsyn family, provides in one volume a rich and represen-

tative selection of Solzhenitsyn’s voluminous works. Reproduced in their entirety are early poems, early 

and  late  short  stories,  early  and  late  “miniatures”  (or  prose  poems),  and  many  of  Solzhenitsyn’s  fa-

mous—and  not-so-famous—essays  and  speeches.  The  volume  also  includes  excerpts  from  Solzhenit-

syn’s great novels, memoirs, books of political analysis and historical scholarship, and the literary and 

historical masterpieces The Gulag Archipelago and The Red Wheel. More than one quarter of the mate-

rial has never before appeared in English. 

“[The Solzhenitsyn Reader] provides a . . . textured picture of the writer as an unrelenting artist (he be-

gan to compose poetry again in his last years); a flexible and theologically minded philosopher (more 

than worthy of his Templeton prize); an often daring stylist; and a political and nationalist ‘ideologue’ 

only in the eyes of predisposed critics.”                                —Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer

“[A]  superb  volume  with  a  terrific  introduction  that  places  Solzhenitsyn’s  life  and  thought  in  clear 

context.”                                                                                         —John Barron, Chicago Sun-Times 

“As both an introduction to Solzhenitsyn and a collection of some of his best writing, the book will be a 

splendid resource for many years. . . . The editors’ good judgment derives from their extensive knowl-

edge of Solzhenitsyn, which probably matches that of any American scholar or journalist alive today.” 

—David L. Tubbs, Claremont Review of Books

Edward  E.  Ericson,  Jr., is Professor Emeritus of English at Calvin College. He abridged The 

Gulag Archipelago with Solzhenitsyn’s cooperation and is co-author with Alexis Klimoff of The Soul and 

Barbed Wire: An Introduction to Solzhenitsyn.

Daniel  J.  Mahoney is Professor of Politics at Assumption College. An expert on French political 

philosophy and on antitotalitarian thought, his books include Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Ascent from 

Ideology and Bertrand de Jouvenel: The Conservative Liberal and the Illusions of Modernity.

Cover design by Sam Torode

Cover photograph courtesy Corbis Images

literature/history/politics                                                                                                       $22

“I welcome the appearance in print of the Reader, and especially

of those selections previously inaccessible to English-language 

readers. It serves the demand of the modern age for capsule

form, yet preserves the integrity of the texts.” 

—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The 

Soul

 and 

Barbed Wire

a n   i n t r o d u c t i o n   t o   s o l z h e n i t s y n

Edward E. 

Ericson

 Jr. & Alexis 

Klimoff