Truth

[Renauda]

@Mik

Someone other than Solzhenitsyn penned that, or something practically identical, either during the French Revolution or during the Napoleonic era. Cannot remember who. Will do some digging; I know I have it somewhere in my bookshelves.

In any case, I wouldn’t put much on Solzhenitsyn’s world view. Much of the problem with Putin’s Russia in the world today can be traced back to that bearded reactionary’s platitudes.

[Mik]

It’s the internet. Has to be true.

[George K]

@Renauda said in Truth:

I wouldn’t put much on Solzhenitsyn’s world view. Much of the problem with Putin’s Russia in the world today can be traced back to that bearded reactionary’s platitudes.

Care to elaborate?

[Horace]

"The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart" - Solzhenitsyn

Maybe he is the patron saint of both sides are equalizers.

[Renauda]

@George-K

I have written about it here before. In short he was proponent of Russia’s destiny as the moral centre of Christianity or Third Rome and the unifier of all Slavs under Orthodoxy. The same nonsense that Putin now peddles to justify his imperialist ambitions.

One of the reasons the Soviets sent Solzhenitsyn into exile was they understood he disliked the West and few if any, in West would not have any idea what he was actually talking about and believed. They were right, he lived a secluded life in exile and when he did speak out he was disparaging of all the things Western, American in particular..

[Doctor Phibes]

I tried reading one of his books once. It made The Three Body Problem feel like a Marx Brothers comedy by comparison. It was only the hope that all of his characters might die that kept me reading.

[Renauda]

He was very useful for Khrushchev in the destalinization drive. Initially Solzhenitsyn was focussed on exposing the crimes of the Stalinist regime. Soon though he moved on to criticising Leninism and the revolution. That was a bridge too far for the regime. He was a blight on Brezhnev and company and he had to go. It was Andropov who recommended he go into exile rather than incarceration in the USSR. Indeed Andropov knew that Solzhenitsyn would be more miserable and minimally dangerous outside the country than anywhere inside it.

[Mik]

I read the Gulag Archipelago in 85.

[George K]

@Mik said in Truth:

I read the Gulag Archipelago in 85.

Yeah, when I read "One Day..." I didn't appreciate the political overtones of the book. I must've been 14- 16 or so.

[taiwan_girl]

@George-K said in Truth:

@Mik said in Truth:

I read the Gulag Archipelago in 85.

Yeah, when I read "One Day..." I didn't appreciate the political overtones of the book. I must've been 14- 16 or so.

Great minds are alike. :couple_with_heart:

I read that book also. From what I remember, I thought it was quite good.