The Solzhenitsyn Reader: New and Essential Writings, 1947-2005 [Hardcover]

Jr. Edward E. Ericson (Editor), Daniel J. Mahoney (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2006

This reader, compiled by renowned Solzhenitsyn scholars Edward E. Ericson, Jr., and Daniel J. Mahoney in collaboration with the Solzhenitsyn family, provides in one volume a rich and representative 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 famous—and not-so-famous—essays and speeches. The volume also includes excerpts from Solzhenitsyn'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 material has never before appeared in English (the author’s sons prepared many of the new translations themselves). The Solzhenitsyn Reader reveals a writer of genius, an intransigent opponent of ideological tyranny and moral relativism, and a thinker and moral witness who is acutely sensitive to the great drama of good and evil that takes place within every human soul. It will be for many years the definitive Solzhenitsyn collection.     

Editorial Reviews

Review

“If a single figure summarizes the meaning of the twentieth century—in its magnificent highs no less than its miserable lows—it is Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Like all masters of culture both ancient and modern, his work transcends academic categories. As the editors make clear, Solzhenitsyn embraces the empirical and the ethical, the national culture of Russia and the global condition of Western civilization. The cloth of heroism is woven in respect for everyday life. Solzhenitsyn knows this, and this fine collection is a stark testament to the precious gift of his life and the enrichment he has given to ours.”— Irving Louis Horowitz, Hannah Arendt Distinguished University Professor of Sociology and Political Science, Rutgers University

“This book is a remarkable effort at clarifying and presenting a great oeuvre. In gathering together and choosing wisely from texts of different genres (poems, short stories, novels, essays, speeches, etc.), Edward Ericson and Daniel Mahoney give readers the means to appreciate the extraordinary amplitude of Solzhenitsyn’s art and thought. In addition, they provide masterly introductions that go to the heart of the matter and clear up many misunderstandings. This work is an exercice d’admiration that is also a considerable scholarly achievement.”— Philippe Bénéton, Professor of Law and Political Science, University of Rennes, France

“You want a Solzhenitsyn reader, because he is one of the greatest writers, and greatest men, of our times. And you want Edward Ericson and Daniel Mahoney to edit this reader, because no one has been more devoted to Solzhenitsyn, or is more knowledgeable about him, than they. This book is a perfect happening. It inspires deep gratitude.”— Jay Nordlinger, Managing Editor, National Review

About the Author

                Edward E. Ericson, Jr. is professor of English, emeritus, at Calvin College. A longtime Solzhenitsyn scholar, he is editor of the authorized abridgment of The Gulag Archipelago (1985, 2002) and author of Solzhenitsyn: The Moral Vision(1980) and  Solzhenitsyn and the Modern World (1993).
           Daniel J. Mahoney is Professor of Political Science at Assumption College in Worcester, MA. An expert on French political philosophy and anti-totalitarian thought, his books include: The Liberal Political Science of Raymond Aron: A Critical Introduction(1992) ; De Gaulle: Statesmanship, Grandeur, and Modern Democracy(1996 and 2000); Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Ascent from Ideology(2001); and Bertrand de Jouvenel: The Conservative Liberal and the Illusions of Modernity(2005).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 650 pages
• Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute; 1 edition (November 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933859008
• ISBN-13: 978-1933859002
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #919,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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73 of 75 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Major Step Forward for English Readers December 23, 2006

By Billyjack D'Urberville

Format:Hardcover

This set is a major step forward to the presentation and understanding of Solzhenitsyn to English speaking readers. It is a process that will still take years, but I suspect this volume will be pivotal.

In the early days, the writer's books were rushed into print with so-so or even poor translations because of their timelineness and importance. His exile to USA happened at the crest of his frame, but the political establishment was post-Watergate mediocority and the literary establishment not up to speed to help; we were not ready for him. Any great writer and/or polemicist is going to be controversial to somebody. And Solzhenitsyn's voice is a shrewd construct made of turning Soviet literary realism against itself, juiced up with a vocabulary simultaneously streetwise, grand, goading. Understand Russian or not, you really need hear him speak sometime. There is really no equivalent figure in English, modern or ancient, here or in Britain. You would have to conceive of Upton Sinclair as an experimental literary giant plus a man of subtle moral dimensions, then put him in the body of the old prize fighter John L. Sullivan, and finally put him on a soapbox with all the scary zeal of an early century 20 labor rabble rouser. The closest personal affinity Solzhenitsyn found in his own fiction (minus core belief, of course) was Lenin. Solzhenitsyn is the anti-Lenin. And even more. To our soundbite culture, he just looks crazy. We prefer our Rooskies to be chummy vodka drinkers with a wink in their eye, or comradely cosmonauts. In our own history we only produced such figures just before and during the civil war era. The experience scorched our national soul with fire for good and doubtless killed some brain cells; we want the benefit of being on the good side of such turbulence, but don't want to look into that well too deeply for those old issues anymore, whatever they may be. We cover the hallowed ground with platitude, and allow a black gospel singer to replicate the pitch for us on public occasion, then back to business. We in this nation are now so far into such denial as to risk a repeat along new fault lines. This sad and tragic process is known as history.

Professors Ericson and Mahoney have emerged in recent years as the key interpreters of the Solzhenitsyn cyclone for us, and let nobody convince you it is not a cyclone. Truth doesn't come easy; come here if you dare. If the headlines are old, the second fiery wind of artistic sophistication, fully schooled by the giants of literary modernism, is still to be experienced. For Solzhenitsyn resembles Tolstoy only in scope; in the great Russian tradition of literary engagement (unlike our consensus seeking) the game is to take such giants on, and Solzhenitsyn does on every level. Ericson and Mahoney here not only do an able job, but a superlative job of explication, choice, and presentation of the writer, fresh as if for the first time (in some sense it is). Each vital and core statement is here, many in new translations, plus new things from the entire career we haven't yet seen in English. Excerpts are made very well; the greater artistic treasures beyond this set are previewed. The volume works for both those coming new to the writer and those of us who have been following him for decades. I was especially gratified to find major doses of Cancer Ward, a great and dense modern novel wrestling with the nuclear core of what went haywire worldwide in century 20. Then Matryona's House -- is this the best story in any language for 200 years, or what? Yeah, Ivan Denisovich seems missing in action -- but that sui generis masterpiece has remained readily available everywhere at all times. Everybody now knows Ivan worldwide, as they also know the term GULAG. So Ivan does not require this volume, though oddly his creator still does.

The editors expand our understanding, but also set out verdicts in concise statement: "Solzhenitsyn is, in truth, a liberal conservative who wants to temper the one-sided modern preoccupation with individual freedom with a salutary reminder of the moral ends that ought to inform responsible human choice." The editors thus make the case that the writer is within, not without, the arena of modern political dialogue (ie., a liberal in the classic sense, not a traditionalist or nationalist). And within that dialogue, one bringing in the lessons of the past, not a mantra for endless "change" running clear off the tracks (like the "Red Wheel" of Soviet communism -- introduced metaphorically in filmic scenario as a burning wagon wheel broke loose early in August 1914). After a lot of misunderstandings still at large, then, it is both safe and sound to let Professors Ericson and Mahoney teach. Here is a writer worth inhabiting for your own lifetime, and may the wind be at your back -- you'll need it to stay ahead of the fire.

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars GREATEST LIVING WRITER November 14, 2006

By David F. Sczepanski

Format:Hardcover

In anticipation of adding this new volume to my library I heartily give it five stars, for two important reasons: 1) Solzhenitsyn -- I have read most of what appears in this book, and look forward to the new material; 2) Professor Ericson's capable handling of Solzhenitsyn's voluminous writings. (Among other things, he abridged the three volumes of "Gulag Archipelago".) In his 1980 book, "Solzhenitsyn: The Moral Vision" I was introduced to this great writer. It launched me into reading almost all of Solzhenitsyn's works, for me a profoundly moving experience.

How sadly prophetic of the direction our nation has taken was the chilly reception of Solzhenitsyn's address at Harvard in 1978 (and Gerald Ford's treatment of the dissident). I recall my consternation some years ago when a neighbor told me he was in that graduating class, but couldn't remember much of what Solzhenitsyn said.

I say "greatest living writer" not because he is clever or brilliant, but because, as Professor Ericson showed, he brought to bear upon the world great moral vision. We have many very clever minds in our time, but far fewer with keen moral vision.

A correction to the above book description -- he landed in the Gulag not because of his "unyielding and courageous dissidence" but because of a thinly-veiled disparaging remark about Stalin in a letter to a fellow officer on the Russian-German front during the war. Solzhenitsyn was an artillery officer. He believed Stalin was betraying Leninist ideals. The intercepted letter led to his arrest and a sentence in the Gulag. During his eight years in the brutal Soviet penal camps, Solzhenitsyn turned back to the God of his youth and emerged into the light of the last half of the Twentieth Century as a great prophetic voice.

I wonder how many students today even know his name?

39 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb collection of a Moral and Literary Giant.20 Stars************************** December 18, 2006

By A. Hogan VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Alexandr Solzhenitsyn is an intersting figure,a moral giant ,Shakespearean in his essence, equalled only by John PaulII and Nelson mandela among recent historical personage. Shamefully,disgustingly ignored by the left, exploited,shamelessly co-opted by the right,cafeteria style[much like JPII} he stradles above both camps,like Gulliver among Lilliputians. This collection, beautifully done considers the whole of the Canon,from stories written in the 1930's ending with his recent prose-poems[which are quite lovely and distinctive} A Large portion of the book are excerpts from THE RED WHEEL, his Magnum Opus,of which only the first two volumes[called Knots by the author] have been translated into English. The Red Wheel has been chewed and spit out by critics,though I cannot see why. It is in the great Russian literay tradition, long and varied and narrative and lovely. The overwhelming Chapter from the Gulag ArchipelagoII,THE ASCENT, is here, as are his major novels, speeches{the Nobel, Harvard and templeton adresses are here}.An essential volume to understand no just the 20th century, but the hole which exists in our post-postmodern world.