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April 27, 2006
The Cranky Prophet
In the early 1980s I discovered the writings of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russian author and Nobel Prize winner. In 1983 I sped through all three volumes of "The Gulag Archipelago" the way teenagers go through Harry Potter books. Solzhenitsyn's historical detail and moral vision made him an inspiration for me. Only Charles Dickens rivaled him, in my view, as a writer with a total understanding of a society and era -- a prophet.
Even prophets have their cranky sides, even (or especially) Solzhenitsyn. He showed his recently in an interview published in Moscow News.
Solzhenitsyn, known for his conservative nationalist views, lashed out at the pro-Western government in Ukraine for its drive to obtain NATO membership and said Russia would "never betray in any way the multimillion Russian population in Ukraine and renounce our unity with it."The author accused former reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev of capitulating to the West, and Russia's first post-Communist president, Boris Yeltsin, of pursuing the same policy as well as presiding over the massive theft of state resources and a descent into chaos.
He said Putin, a former KGB career intelligence officer now in his second presidential term, was making efforts to restore Russia's shattered statehood.
"Foreign policy, considering our current situation and possibilities, is being conducted sensibly and ever more forward-thinking," Solzhenitsyn said.
I know people have long debated Solzhenitsyn's positions on nationalism, anti-semitism and other topics. With Putin rolling out the old samovar to welcome Hamas to Moscow and doing brisk trade with Iran (while also dealing with Israel in some ways), at least we know indirectly Solzhenitsyn's views on the Terrorist War. If Putin does it, it's got to be "xorosho." Forward thinking, indeed, dealing with regimes in the same spirit as the Non-Aggression Pact signed by the USSR and Germany in August 1939. And we know what that led to for Mother Russia.
Van | 04/27/06 at 09:02 PM | Categories: WWIV
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Comments
Van,
I'm so glad you bring Solzhenitsyn up. He is a Titan of a writer and man. Even if problematic, any liberal Westerner cannot afford to ignore him. Discovering him on my own and reading him on my own -- many late years after I'd been infatuated with Marxism -- proved a powerful, sobering, mournful, and absolutely necessary part of my education.
I look forward to reading the material you've linked. I suggest also his Harvard Commencement Address (1979, I think) for a short introduction to his thinking (and in this case, his impressions of and lecture to privileged Westerners).
Jeremayakovka | April 28, 2006 12:51 AM
I'm with Jeremy. We do not look to Solzhenitsyn for systematic political thinking. We look to him because in the most important sense of the word, he told the truth--the great moral witness of our time.
Alex Bensky | April 29, 2006 10:05 AM
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