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Solzhenitsyn: a Soul in Exile

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There are lengthy biographies of Solzhenitsyn by Scammell and Thomas, and specialized studies (e.g. Ericson's). Pearce's book meets the need of public and undergraduate libraries for a very readable, concise, and up-to-date biography of this controversial Nobel Prize winner. Pearce's book includes some otherwise unavailable recent material by Solzhenitsyn -- the prose poems at the end of the book -- so graduate libraries ought to have it, also.

Individuals who have read Solzhenitsyn's own autobiographical works and open letters might not need this book, but for most readers it will be a good introduction. It has the salutary effect of prompting one to go and (re)read works such as The First Circle. Pearce doesn't go into depth in discussion of Solzhenitsyn's books, but says enough to quicken interest in them.

Pearce shows affinity between Solzhenitsyn's positive ideas and those of people such as E. F. Schumacher (Small Is Beautiful). The critique of Enlightenment progressivism and positivism isn't detailed, but there's enough to remind me of writers as otherwise diverse as Phillip Sherrard (The Eclipse of Man and Nature), Russell Kirk, and the author of Ideas Have Consequences. I was also reminded a little of C. S. Lewis's prophetic novel That Hideous Strength, where Lewis presents a distinction between Britain and Logres, as I read Solzhenitsyn as quoted by Pearce, on the souls of nations. Familiarity with these writers -- who are often not known, or well known, to persons who presume to speak of their ideas -- can help one to understand where Solzhenitsyn is coming from.

Pearce's biography of A.I. Solzhenitsyn may leave off the man's rougher edges, but manages to bring to the fore the centrality of Solzhenitsyn's religious convictions. This seems to be Pearce's forte and his mission in life. In today's cultural wasteland, when nearly no one looks past their momentary needs, it is very much needed. Very edifying.

Solzhenitsyn: A Soul In Exile is a new biography of Alexander Solzhenitsyn portraying a complex man of integrity and faith, and whose anti-materialist stance and call for a "moral revolution" are as relevant today as they were fifty years ago. Biographer Joseph Pearce reassess this influential Russian writer who gave voice to the more than sixty million victims of Soviet terror, and who won the Nobel Prize for "the ethical force" of his literary work. Even with the collapse of Communism, Solzhenitsyn continues to be an outspoken critic of Russian leadership's role in that country's economic collapse and consequent rise of lawlessness. This impressive, highly recommended biography showcases Solzhenitsyn's life and work as a courageous stand for truth rooted in Christian and moral beliefs as evidenced in his life, poetry, plays, novels, and pronouncements.

Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile is a fascinating look at one of the most unusual and influential writers of the late 20th Century. Marvellously written, it treks through his tumultuous life from start to finish, focusing on the interchange between Solzhenitsyn's faith and his writing and how the lifelong shaping of his beliefs is reflected in his stories and poems. Engaging from start to finish, this biography also contains 10 previously unpublished poems and a collection of 24 photographs from various periods of his life.

Alenandr Solzenitsyn is a man certainly worthy of full scale treatment by a biographer. DM Thomas' biography a couple of years ago was strangely unmoving,and barely mentioned Solzenitsyn's religious views, which are at the core of his beliefs. At one time.AI solzenitsyn was the darling of the right in America,a virulent anti-communist who scorned ANYTHING resembling a welfare state{his attacks on free-market capitalism was soft pedalded by these same people}.Slowly, though, he became more and more removed from the centre of attention, and his novels became more and more obscure{and ,truth be told,rambling and quite boring.The red wheel trilogy...}This Biography places solzenitsyn's religious beliefs front and centre and the core of his being{and the reason he was able to survive the hell of the gulag}. While these are quite interesting, and really have rarely been covered in the West, Solzenitsyn's disdain for the West, his dismissal of pope John Paul II during and audience,his Tsarist tendencies and his almost messianic xenonphobia are not touched{though all are of one piece.] Solzenitsyn in many ways reminds me of Gandhi{without the charm}: wanting Holy Mother Russia to rise again to her greatness without the taint of western Decadence through a spiritual revolution. While he is a moral giant and an extraordiany example of the resilience of the human spirit, he is not served well by fawning, uncritical praise. Alexandr I solzhenitsyn deserves a full ,massive critical biography covering all of his life{his return to Russia has been bittersweet,his tv show was canceled for LACK OF INTEREST.Amazing how short peoples memories are!} This is one small step in the process. Interesting,but...

This brilliant biography centers on one of the most fascinating men of the 20th century, Solzhenitsyn. It's based on a series of interviews with the man himself.

Solzhenitsyn was steeped, drenched in Communism as a boy. As were all Soviet children, since it was a crime to teach Christianity. So it was perhaps inevitable that Solzhenitsyn became an ardent Communist.

Everyone, especially leftist fools in the west, admired what Communism was trying to do. H G Wells, for example, practically dribbled over Stalin in his enthusiasm during his visit and interview with Stalin.

It was during World War II, when Solzhenitsyn was a soldier, that cracks in his faith in Communism began to occur. Everywhere, he began to see the cruel horror of the regime. He rashly penned a few "derogatory comments about Stalin in a letter" (p 69), for which he was condemned to prison.

Ah yes, the always awful Soviet justice system. Always eager to punish thought crimes, like all leftists.

Years passed in the cold, ugly reality of the Gulag. Even as such western intellectuals of the west, like G B Shaw, H G Wells, and Jean Paul Sartre heaped praise on the Soviet Union, innocent millions suffered and died in the Gulag.

One day Solzhenitsyn found a swelling on his groin. It turned out to be cancer. The long agony of his recovery after the operation, all in the crudest conditions possible in prison, proved to be a turning point for him.

"In facing death he had gained an immeasureably greater understanding of life" (p 115) and real hope for the first time--a belief in God.

He was a committed Christian by the time the Communists let him out of prison. He became a noted author, although frequently in trouble with the Communists, but it was his brilliant but all too revealing "Gulag Archipelago" which was to prove his undoing.'

He had to "camouflage the time I spent on the book..." (p 163) and only show the manuscript to his most trusted friends. After it was published in the west, the uproar was too great for the Soviets to send Solzhenitsyn into the Gulag again. Bested, they took the only option they had--sending the writer and his family into the west.

This is a moving account of a man who stared into the darkness but turned to the light.

Anyone interested in the subject of the Gulags will want to read this: "The Forgotten: Catholics of the Soviet Empire from Lenin Through Stalin" by Christopher Lawrence Zugger. It's the jaw-dropping history of how the Communists set out to destroy religion and believers. Lenin in 1918 began the the tragedy by his secret order calling for the mass execution of priests..

Nor were the killings of unarmed, frequently elderly, nuns and priests simple gun shots to the head. Archbishop Andronnik of Perm was buried alive. Archbishop Vasily was crucified and burned. The cruelty and viciousness of the Communists knew no bounds.

Here are some more good books on the subject: "The Black Book of Communism", "And God Created Lenin: Marxism vs Religion In Russia, 1917-1929", "The Voices of the Dead: Stalin's Great Terror in the 1930s", "Cry of the Spirit: Witnesses to Faith in the Soviet Union", and "Cannibal Island: Death in a Siberian Gulag".

This was a great introduction for me to Solzhenitsyn. While I have been familiar with him only through news media until now, I think that now I have a good beginning knowledge of him and his contribution to humanity. Joseph Pearce has a very clear style of writing as well as a knack for keeping your interest. I picked this book up for a summer read and I am glad that I did. While I had never had any inclination of reading Solzhenitsyn titles, I will probably now begin to do so. I enjoyed the mentions and tie-in's with Chesterton, Belloc and EF Schumaker. My read of this was during the "US Debt Crisis Spectacle". Pearce's presentation surely gave some insight into the ups and downs of the great experiment that we call the United States. Makes you wonder in this day and age what it is that really is supposed to be uniting us. I highly recommend the book.

I have had the pleasure of meeting one of the truly brilliant literary geniuses of our time, Joseph Pearce. What an extraordinary book this has been to read and savor. The irony is I would never pick up a book like this, but could not put it down. Do yourself a favor and buy this asap, and you will fall in love with the beauty of literature all over again. Joan Bradley

Joseph Pearce perfectly captures the essence of Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his updated biography. Solzhenitsyn's many works--One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Cancer Ward, and The Gulag Archipelago, to name just a few--garnered him both the 1970 Nobel Prize for Literature and his eventual arrest for "treason" and subsequent twenty-year exile from his homeland.

But if Solzhenitsyn was considered an "enemy" to the East, he proved to be just as much an enigma to the West. He was as disenchanted with the soul-less materialistic secularism of the West as he was with the atheistic totalitarianism of Communist Russia. Pearce alone among his biographers penetrates this seeming dichotomy. The key lies in both Solzhenitsyn's experience as a suffering pilgrim on this earth and his eternal hope as an Orthodox Christian. It is only in understanding Solzhenitsyn the man that his writings can be fully understood.

Pearce most accurately describes the famous author as "paradox personified: the pessimistic optimist. His pessimism sprang from the creeping knowledge that human history may be little more than a long defeat in a land of exlile. Yet such a defeat, however long, is rooted in time: temporal and therefore temporary...his exile in time, like his exile in the West, must eventually come to an end. Perhaps only then would the fullness of his destiny be revealed...for the time being, a temporary pessimist, but he was also, and remained, an eternal optimist."

Joseph Pearce, in this magnificent biography, more fully reveals Solzhenitsyn's destiny.