The great Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) is
widely recognized as one of the most consequential human beings of
the twentieth century. Through his writings and moral witness, he
illumined the nature of totalitarianism and helped bring down an
'evil empire.' His courage and tenacity are acknowledged even by
his fiercest critics. Yet the world-class novelist, historian, and
philosopher (one uses the latter term in its capacious Russian
sense) has largely been eclipsed by a caricature that has
transformed a measured and self-critical patriot into a ferocious
nationalist, a partisan of local self-government into a
quasi-authoritarian, a man of faith and reason into a narrow-minded
defender of Orthodoxy. The caricature, widely dispensed in the
press, and too often taken for granted, gets in the way of a
thoughtful and humane confrontation with the "other" Solzhenitsyn,
the true Solzhenitsyn, who is a writer and thinker of the first
rank and whose spirited defense of liberty is never divorced from
moderation. It is to the recovery of this Solzhenitsyn that this
book is dedicated. This book above all explores philosophical,
political, and moral themes in Solzhenitsyn's two masterworks, The
Gulag Archipelago and The Red Wheel, as well as in his great
European novel In the First Circle. We see Solzhenitsyn as analyst
of revolution, defender of the moral law, phenomenologist of
ideological despotism, and advocate of "resisting evil with force."
Other chapters carefully explore Solzhenitsyn's conception of
patriotism, his dissection of ideological mendacity, and his
controversial, but thoughtful and humane discussion of the "Jewish
Question" in the Russian - and Soviet twentieth century. Some of
Solzhenitsyn's later writings, such as the "binary tales" that he
wrote in the 1990s, are subject to critically appreciative
analysis. And a long final chapter comments on Solzhenitsyn's July
2007 Der Spiegel interview, his last word to Russia and the West.
He is revealed to be a man of faith and freedom, a patriot but not
a nationalist, and a principled advocate of self-government for
Russia and the West. A final Appendix reproduces the beautiful
Introduction ("The Gift of Incarnation") that the author's widow,
Natalia Solzhenitsyn, wrote to the 2009 Russian abridgment of The
Gulag Archipelago, a work that is now taught in Russian high
schools.
General
Imprint: |
St. Augustine's Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
2021 |
First published: |
2014 |
Authors: |
Daniel J Mahoney
|
Dimensions: |
232 x 152 x 17mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
256 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-58731-617-3 |
Categories: |
Books >
Sport & Leisure >
Miscellaneous items >
General
|
LSN: |
1-58731-617-X |
Barcode: |
9781587316173 |
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