ok he aint SF but lets mourn the loss of A. Solzhenitsyn

[AlexM]

Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn passed away on 8-3-2008. he was 90. he was one of the only major russian lit. figures who wasnt born before the Bolshevik revolution. Ive read a few of his books, and I recommend 'The First Circle'.

 

[Mojo]

By all means, I think this forum should include discussion of non-sci-fi writers.

I've never read anything by Solzhenitsyn, but I recognize his contribution to the modern political world.

 

[AlexM]

i agree

 

[Kevin]

AlexM,

I am not familiar with the author (may he in RIP). What types of works is he known for?

 

[Kevin]

By all means, I think this forum should include discussion of non-sci-fi writers.

I'm open to renaming the forum; if you come up with a new name & description, hit me up in the staff forum.

 

[Webster]

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn bibliography - Wikipedia
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Wikipedia
~~(1963)One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
~~(1963)We Never Make Mistakes: Two Short Novels[includes the novellas An Incident at Krechetovka Square and Matryona's Place
~~(1968)[novella]For the Good of the Cause
~~(1968)The First Circle
~~(1968)Cancer Ward
~~(1971)Stories and Prose Poems
~~(1972)The Nobel Lecture on Literature
~~(1972)August 1914
~~(1973)Candle in the Wind
~~(1974)A Letter to the Soviet Leaders
~~(1974-1978)The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956
~~(1976)Warning to the West
~~(1976)Lenin in Zurich
~~(1977)Prussian Nights
~~(1978)Harvard Commencement Address
~~(1980)East & West: The Nobel Lecture on Literature, A World Split Apart, Letter to Soviet Leaders and an Interview with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn by Janis Sapiets
~~(1980)The Oak & the Calf: Sketches of Literary Life in the Soviet Union
~~(1981)The Mortal Danger: How Misconceptions About Russia Imperil America
~~(1985)The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956[authorized abridgment by Edward E. Ericson, Jr.]
~~(1986)Three Plays: Victory Celebrations, Prisoners, The Love-Girl and the Innocent
~~(1990)March 1917
~~(1991)Rebuilding Russia: Reflections and Tentative Proposals
~~(1995)Invisible Allies
~~(1995)The Russian Question at the End of the Twentieth Century
~~(1999)November 1916
~~(2006)Russia in Collapse

The first link of the two has a bibliography list of Solzhenitsyn's works; some of the works listed above, however, are found on the second link[scroll down 'til it says 'Published Works and Speeches']

 

[Webster]

If there was one overriding point Solzhenitsyn put forth through all of his works, it was to criticize both the United States and his native Russia for their various weaknesses........in the case of the U.S., he was highly critical of western/American culture and was also critical of the West's moral failings, as evidenced in his commencement address at Harvard. In the case of his native Russia, one need only read The Gulag Archipelago to understand a good portion of his criticisms toward Russia; Gulag lays out, in a 3-part process, the beginnings, makings and operations of the Soviet prison system(of which Solzhenitsyn was himself a guest of for part of his life). The other major portion of his criticism towards Russia lay in what he felt/believed was Russia's slide toward "Western values" and a decline in morals similar to those he saw in the West....