Born in 1918 in Kislovodsk, into a Cossack family. The father, Isaac Semenovich, died hunting six months before the birth of his son. Mother - Taisiya Zakharovna Shcherbak - from the family of a wealthy landowner. In 1925 (some sources indicate 1924) the family moved to Rostov-on-Don. In 1939, Solzhenitsyn entered the correspondence department of the Moscow Institute of Philosophy, Literature, and History (some sources indicate literary courses at Moscow State University). In 1941, Alexander Solzhenitsyn graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Rostov University (enrolled in 1936).
In October 1941 he was drafted into the army, and in 1942, after training at the artillery school in Kostroma, he was sent to the front as commander of a sound reconnaissance battery. Awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree and the Red Star. On February 9, 1945, for criticizing the actions of I.V. Stalin in personal letters to his childhood friend Nikolai Vitkevich, Captain Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn was arrested and on July 27 sentenced to 8 years in forced labor camps. He stayed in the camps from 1945 to 1953 in New Jerusalem near Moscow; in the so-called sharashka - a secret research institute in the village of Marfino near Moscow; in 1950-1953 he was imprisoned in one of the Kazakh camps. In February 1953 he was released without the right to reside in the European part of the USSR and sent to eternal settlement (1953-1956); lived in the village of Kok-Terek, Dzhambul region (Kazakhstan).
On February 3, 1956, by decision of the Supreme Court of the USSR, Alexander Solzhenitsyn was rehabilitated and moved to Ryazan. Worked as a mathematics teacher. In 1962, in the magazine New World, with the special permission of N.S. Russian writer, public figure. Alexander Solzhenitsyn was born on December 11, Khrushchev published the first story of Alexander Solzhenitsyn - One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich (the story Shch-854 was redone at the request of the editors. One day of one prisoner). The story was nominated for the Lenin Prize, which caused active resistance from the communist authorities. In September 1965, Solzhenitsyn’s archive fell into the hands of the State Security Committee (KGB) and, by order of the authorities, further publication of his works in the USSR was stopped; already published works were confiscated from libraries, and new books began to be published through samizdat channels and abroad. In November 1969, Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Writers' Union. In 1970, Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize in Literature, but refused to travel to Stockholm for the award ceremony, fearing that the authorities would not allow him back to the USSR. In 1974, after the publication of the book Gulag Archipelago in Paris (in the USSR, one of the manuscripts was seized by the KGB in September 1973, and published in Paris in December 1973), the dissident writer was arrested.
On February 12, 1974, the trial took place. Alexander Solzhenitsyn was found guilty of high treason, deprived of citizenship and sentenced to deportation from the USSR the next day. Since 1974, Solzhenitsyn lived in Germany, Switzerland (Zurich), and since 1976 - in the USA (near the city of Cavendish, Vermont). Despite the fact that Solzhenitsyn lived in the United States for about 20 years, he did not ask for American citizenship. He rarely communicated with representatives of the press and the public, which is why he was known as a Vermont recluse. He criticized both the Soviet order and American reality. During 20 years of emigration in Germany, the USA and France, he published a large number of works. In the USSR, Solzhenitsyn's works began to be published only in the late 1980s. In 1989, in the magazine Novy Mir, the first official publication of excerpts from the novel Gulag Archipelago took place. On August 16, 1990, by decree of the President of the USSR, the Soviet citizenship of Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn was restored. In 1990, Solzhenitsyn was awarded the State Prize for his book The Gulag Archipelago. On May 27, 1994, the writer returned to Russia. In 1997 he was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation. He died on August 3, 2008 at his dacha in Trinity-Lykovo.
The long life of Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), his selfless service to Russian literature, enormous talent and rare hard work, his consistent defense of humanistic ideals and ardent love for Russia and its people made the work of this writer one of the most original, large and noticeable phenomena of Russian and world literature of the second half of the 20th century, and this recognition for the writer resulted in the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1970), the deprivation of Soviet citizenship and his expulsion from the country (1974), a triumphant return to a renewed Russia twenty years later... These are the main milestones the literary and life path of a man who is quite rightly considered a classic of Russian literature.
Solzhenitsyn graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Rostov University in 1941, in October he was already in the army, after graduating from officer school he became an artillery officer, during the war years he traveled from Orel to East Prussia, receiving military awards and the rank of captain. And on February 9, 1945, he was arrested: his “seditious” statements about Stalin were discovered in Solzhenitsyn’s personal correspondence. Despite the brilliant characterization given to him by his boss, General Travkin, he was convicted, and until 1953 he was in various correctional institutions. In 1953, he was released - he was sent into exile in Kazakhstan, where he lived until rehabilitation, after which (1956) he settled in the village of Torfoprodukt near Ryazan. Here he worked as a teacher, rented a room in the house of Matryona Zakharova, who became the prototype for the heroine of the story “Matryona’s Dvor” (1959). In the same year, in three weeks he wrote the story “Shch-854 (One Day of a Prisoner),” which, when published in the magazine “New World” (1962), was called “One Day of Ivan Denisovich.” By the time of the publication of this work, which was nominated for the Lenin Prize (although Solzhenitsyn did not receive the prize), the writer was working a lot and fruitfully in literature: he began the novels “In the First Circle” (1955-68), “The Gulag Archipelago” (1958-68 ), several stories have been written. By the time of his debut in literature, Solzhenitsyn, who by this time had gone through a large and difficult school of life, was a mature, original writer, whose work continued the traditions of Russian classical literature.
In the 60s, Solzhenitsyn created the novel “Cancer Ward” (1963-67) and began work on the large historical novel “R - 17” (1964), which in the process turned into the historical epic “The Red Wheel”. However, the attitude of the authorities towards the writer in the 60s was already sharply negative, so Solzhenitsyn’s major works were published abroad: in 1968 the novels “Cancer Ward” and “In the First Circle” were published, and in 1971 (after the exclusion author from the Writers' Union in November 1969 and awarding him the Nobel Prize the following year), the book "August the Fourteenth" was published in Paris - the first part ("knot", as the writer calls them) of the epic "The Red Wheel".
After the publication of the first volume of The Gulag Archipelago in Paris in 1973, the leaders of the USSR tried to “solve the problem” of Solzhenitsyn using the usual means: in February of the following year he was arrested and imprisoned in Lefortovo prison, from where he probably would not have been released very soon if not the worldwide fame and influence that Solzhenitsyn enjoyed by this time. Therefore, he is deprived of Soviet citizenship and expelled from the country. At first, Solzhenitsyn and his family settled in Zurich; in 1975, he published an autobiographical book of memoirs, “A Calf Butted an Oak Tree,” in which he tells the story of his literary life and gives a picture of literary life in the USSR in the 60s and 70s. Since 1976, the writer’s family settled in the USA, in the state of Vermont, where he continues his active creative work and is engaged in historical research, the results of which are embodied in artistic form in the “knots” of the epic “The Red Wheel”.
In his numerous interviews abroad, from the very first days of his stay there, Solzhenitsyn repeatedly emphasized that he would definitely return to Russia. This return began in the late 80s; in 1988, the writer was returned to USSR citizenship, and in 1990, the novels “In the First Circle” and “Cancer Ward” were published in the New World magazine. The following year, the New World Publishing Center, together with the author, prepared a Small Collected Works of the writer in 7 volumes, published in a circulation of one million copies. It included the above-mentioned novels, a volume of short stories, and “The Gulag Archipelago.” Thus, the writer’s works were returned to his homeland, and he himself returned to Russia in 1994.
Researchers of the writer’s work, determining his contribution to the development of Russian literature, identify three central motives of his work, in the development of which he achieved the greatest heights. These motives are conventionally named by them as follows: “Russian national character; history of Russia in the 20th century; politics in the life of a person and a nation in our century.” The peculiarity of the disclosure of these motives in the writer’s work is Solzhenitsyn’s extreme subjectivity; he does not correlate his point of view with generally accepted ones, being in this regard a self-sufficient creative person who has his right to see the world as he sees it. Another thing is that his view of history, his worldly wisdom, his talent as a writer make his work a very significant phenomenon of literary and cultural life, which cannot be clearly perceived by everyone, but in his artistic work (as opposed to journalism and speeches of a socio-political nature ) he remains a writer open to a dialogical perception of the works he created.
Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn is an outstanding Russian writer and public figure, who in the Soviet Union was recognized as a dissident dangerous to the communist system, and served many years in prison. Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s books “The Gulag Archipelago”, “Matrenin’s Dvor”, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, “Cancer Ward” and many others are widely known. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was awarded this award only eight years after its first publication, which is considered a record.
Photo by Alexander Solzhenitsyn | No Format
The future writer was born at the end of 1918 in the city of Kislovodsk. His father Isaac Semyonovich went through the entire First World War, but died before the birth of his son while hunting. The boy’s further upbringing was carried out by one mother, Taisiya Zakharovna. Due to the consequences of the October Revolution, the family was completely ruined and lived in extreme poverty, although they moved to Rostov-on-Don, which was more stable at that time. Problems with the new government began for Solzhenitsyn in elementary school, since he was brought up in the traditions of religious culture, wore a cross and refused to join the pioneers.
Childhood photos of Alexander Solzhenitsyn But later, under the influence of school ideology, Alexander changed his point of view and even became a Komsomol member. In high school, he was absorbed in literature: the young man reads the works of Russian classics and even harbors plans to write his own revolutionary novel. But when the time came to choose a specialty, Solzhenitsyn for some reason entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Rostov State University. According to him, he was sure that only the smartest people study to become mathematicians, and he wanted to be among them. The student graduated from the university with honors, and the name of Alexander Solzhenitsyn was named among the best graduates of the year.
While still a student, the young man became interested in theater, even tried to enroll in a theater school, but to no avail. But he continued his education at the literary faculty of Moscow University, but did not have time to graduate due to the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. But the studies in the biography of Alexander Solzhenitsyn did not end there: he could not be drafted as a private because of health problems, but Solzhenitsyn the patriot won the right to study at officer courses at the Military School and, with the rank of lieutenant, entered an artillery regiment. For his exploits in the war, the future dissident was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War.
Arrest and imprisonment
Already with the rank of captain, Solzhenitsyn continued to valiantly serve his homeland, but became increasingly disillusioned with its leader -. He shared similar thoughts in letters to his friend Nikolai Vitkevich. And one day such written dissatisfaction with Stalin, and, consequently, according to Soviet concepts, with the communist system as a whole, came to the table of the head of military censorship. Alexander Isaevich is arrested, stripped of his rank and sent to Moscow, to the Lubyanka. After months of interrogation with passion, the former war hero is sentenced to seven years in forced labor camps and eternal exile at the end of his prison term.
Solzhenitsyn in the camp | Union Solzhenitsyn first worked in construction and, by the way, participated in the creation of houses in the area of current Moscow Gagarin Square. The state then decided to make use of the prisoner's mathematics education and introduced him into a system of special prisons under a closed design bureau. But due to a disagreement with his superiors, Alexander Isaevich was transferred to the harsh conditions of a general camp in Kazakhstan. There he spent more than a third of his imprisonment. After his release, Solzhenitsyn was prohibited from approaching the capital. He is given a job in Southern Kazakhstan, where he teaches mathematics at school.
Dissident Solzhenitsyn
In 1956, Solzhenitsyn’s case was reviewed and it was announced that there was no crime in it. Now the man could return to Russia. He began teaching in Ryazan, and after the first publications of his stories, he focused on writing. Solzhenitsyn’s work was supported by the Secretary General himself, since anti-Stalinist motives were very beneficial to him. But later the writer lost the favor of the head of state, and when he came to power he was completely banned.
Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn | Russia - Noah's Ark The matter was aggravated by the incredible popularity of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s books, which were published without his permission in the USA and France. The authorities saw a clear threat in the writer’s social activities. He was offered emigration, and since Alexander Isaevich refused, an attempt was made on his life: a KGB officer injected Solzhenitsyn with poison, but the writer survived, although he was very ill after that. As a result, in 1974 he was accused of treason, deprived of Soviet citizenship and expelled from the USSR.
Photo of Solzhenitsyn in his youth Alexander Isaevich lived in Germany, Switzerland, and the USA. Using literary fees, he founded the Russian Public Fund for Assistance to the Persecuted and Their Families, gave lectures in Western Europe and North America on the failure of the communist system, but gradually became disillusioned with the American regime, so he also began to criticize democracy. When Perestroika began, the attitude towards Solzhenitsyn’s work changed in the USSR. And the president already persuaded the writer to return to his homeland and transferred the state dacha “Sosnovka-2” in Troitse-Lykovo for lifelong use.
Solzhenitsyn's creativity
The books of Alexander Solzhenitsyn - novels, stories, stories, poetry - can be divided into historical and autobiographical. From the very beginning of his literary activity, he was interested in the history of the October Revolution and the First World War. The writer devoted this topic to the study “Two Hundred Years Together,” the essay “Reflections on the February Revolution,” and the epic novel “The Red Wheel,” which includes “August the Fourteenth,” which made him famous in the West.
Writer Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn | Russian abroad Autobiographical works include the poem “Dorozhenka”, which depicts his pre-war life, the story “Zakhar-Kalita” about a cycling trip, and the novel about the hospital “Cancer Ward”. The war is shown by Solzhenitsyn in the unfinished story “Love the Revolution”, the story “The Incident at Kochetovka Station”. But the public's main attention is focused on the work "The Gulag Archipelago" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn and other works about repression, as well as on imprisonment in the USSR - "In the First Circle" and "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich."
Alexander Solzhenitsyn's novel "The Gulag Archipelago" | Shop "Ukazka" Solzhenitsyn's work is characterized by large-scale epic scenes. He usually introduces the reader to characters who have different points of view on one problem, thanks to which one can independently draw conclusions from the material that Alexander Isaevich gives. Most of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's books contain people who actually lived, although most often hidden under fictitious names. Another characteristic of the writer’s works is his allusions to the biblical epic or the works of Goethe and Dante.
Meeting with President Vladimir Putin | Etoday Solzhenitsyn's works were highly appreciated by such artists as the storyteller and writer. The poetess highlighted the story “Matrenin’s Dvor”, and the director noted the novel “Cancer Ward” by Alexander Solzhenitsyn and even personally recommended it to Nikita Khrushchev. And the President of Russia, who communicated with Alexander Isaevich several times, noted with respect that no matter how Solzhenitsyn treated and criticized the current government, the state for him always remained an inviolable constant.
Personal life
Alexander Solzhenitsyn's first wife was Natalya Reshetovskaya, whom he met in 1936 while studying at the university. They entered into an official marriage in the spring of 1940, but did not stay together for long: first the war, and then the arrest of the writer, did not give the spouses the opportunity to be happy. In 1948, after repeated convictions by the NKVD, Natalya Reshetovskaya divorced her husband. However, when he was rehabilitated, they began to live together in Ryazan and married again.
With his first wife Natalya Reshetovskaya | Media Ryazan In August 1968, Solzhenitsyn met Natalya Svetlova, an employee of the laboratory of mathematical statistics, and they began an affair. When Solzhenitsyn's first wife found out about this, she tried to commit suicide, but the ambulance managed to save her. A few years later, Alexander Isaevich managed to achieve an official divorce, and Reshetovskaya subsequently married several more times and wrote several books of memoirs about her ex-husband.
But Natalya Svetlova became not only the wife of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, but also his closest friend and faithful assistant in public affairs. Together they experienced all the hardships of emigration, together they raised three sons - Ermolai, Ignat and Stepan. Also growing up in the family was Dmitry Tyurin, Natalya’s son from her first marriage. By the way, Solzhenitsyn’s middle son, Ignat, became a very famous person. He is an outstanding pianist, principal conductor of the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra.
Death
Solzhenitsyn spent the last years of his life at a dacha near Moscow, given to him by Boris Yeltsin. He was very seriously ill - the consequences of prison camps and poisoning during the assassination attempt took their toll. In addition, Alexander Isaevich suffered a severe hypertensive crisis and a complex operation. As a result, he only had one working arm left.
Monument to Solzhenitsyn on Korabelnaya embankment in Vladivostok | Vladivostok Alexander Solzhenitsyn died of acute heart failure on August 3, 2008, a few months before his 90th birthday. This man, who suffered an extraordinary but incredibly difficult fate, was buried at the Donskoye Cemetery in Moscow, the largest noble necropolis in the capital.
Books by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
- Gulag Archipelago
- One day of Ivan Denisovich
- Matryonin yard
- Cancer building
- In the first circle
- Red wheel
- Zakhar-Kalita
- The incident at Kochetovka station
- Tiny
- Two hundred years together
Solzhenitsyn Alexander Isaevich (1918 – 2008), writer.
Born on December 11, 1918 in Kislovodsk. Parents came from peasant backgrounds. This did not prevent them from getting a good education. The mother was widowed six months before the birth of her son. To support him, she went to work as a typist.
In 1938, Solzhenitsyn entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Rostov University, and in 1941, having received a diploma in mathematics, he graduated from the correspondence department of the Institute of Philosophy, Literature and History (IFLI) in Moscow.
After the start of the Great Patriotic War, he was drafted into the army (artillery).
On February 9, 1945, Solzhenitsyn was arrested by front-line counterintelligence: when examining (opening) his letter to a friend, NKVD officers discovered critical remarks addressed to I.V. Stalin. The tribunal sentenced Alexander Isaevich to 8 years in prison followed by exile to Siberia.
In 1957, after the start of the fight against Stalin’s personality cult, Solzhenitsyn was rehabilitated.
N. S. Khrushchev personally authorized the publication of his story about Stalin’s camps, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” (1962).
In 1967, after Solzhenitsyn sent an open letter to the Congress of the USSR Writers' Union calling for an end to censorship, his works were banned. Nevertheless, the novels “In the First Circle” (1968) and “Cancer Ward” (1969) were distributed in samizdat and were published without the author’s consent in the West.
In 1970, Alexander Isaevich was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
In 1973, the KGB confiscated the manuscript of the writer’s new work, “The Gulag Archipelago, 1918...1956: An Experience in Artistic Research.” The “GULAG Archipelago” meant prisons, forced labor camps, and settlements for exiles scattered throughout the USSR.
On February 12, 1974, Solzhenitsyn was arrested, accused of treason and deported to Germany. In 1976, he moved to the United States and lived in Vermont, pursuing literary creativity.
Only in 1994 was the writer able to return to Russia. Until recently, Solzhenitsyn continued his writing and social activities. Died on August 3, 2008 in Moscow.
The work of Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, whose biography will be presented to your attention in the article, can be treated in completely different ways, but it is worth unambiguously recognizing his significant contribution to Russian literature. In addition, Solzhenitsyn was also a fairly popular public figure. For his handwritten work “The Gulag Archipelago” the writer became a Nobel laureate, which is a direct confirmation of how fundamental this work has become. Briefly, read on for the most important things from Solzhenitsyn’s biography.
Solzhenitsyn was born in Kislovodsk into a relatively poor family. This significant event took place on December 11, 1918. His father was a peasant, and his mother was a Cossack. Due to an extremely difficult financial situation, the future writer and his parents were forced to move to Rostov-on-Don in 1924. And since 1926, he began studying at one of the local schools.
Having successfully completed his studies in high school, Solzhenitsyn entered Rostov University in 1936. Here he is studying at the Faculty of Physics and Metallurgy, but at the same time he does not forget to actively engage in literature - the main calling of his whole life.
Solzhenitsyn graduated from University in 1941 and received a diploma of higher education with honors. But before that, in 1939, he also entered the Faculty of Literature at the Moscow Institute of Philosophy. Solzhenitsyn was supposed to study here by correspondence, but his plans were interrupted by the Great Patriotic War, which the Soviet Union entered in 1941.
And in Solzhenitsyn’s personal life, changes took place during this period: in 1940, the writer married N.A. Reshetovskaya.
Difficult war years
Even taking into account his poor health, Solzhenitsyn strove with all his might to go to the front to protect his country from fascist takeover. Once at the front, he serves in the 74th transport and horse-drawn battalion. In 1942, he was sent to study at a military school, after which he received the rank of lieutenant.
Already in 1943, thanks to his military rank, Solzhenitsyn was appointed commander of a specialized battery engaged in sound reconnaissance. Conducting his service conscientiously, the writer earned honorable awards for him - the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War 2nd degree. During the same period, he was awarded the next military rank - senior lieutenant.
Political position and difficulties associated with it
Solzhenitsyn was not afraid to openly criticize without hiding his own political position. And this is even despite the fact that totalitarianism at that time flourished so fiercely throughout the entire USSR. This could be read, for example, in letters that the writer addressed to Vitkevich, his friend. In them, he zealously condemned the entire ideology of Leninism, which he considered distorted. And for these actions he paid with his own freedom, ending up in camps for 8 years. But he didn’t waste any time in prison. Here he wrote such famous literary works as “The Tanks Know the Truth”, “In the First Circle”, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, “Love the Revolution”.
Health situation
In 1952, shortly before his release from the camps, Solzhenitsyn experienced health difficulties - he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. In this regard, the question arose about the operation, which doctors successfully performed on February 12, 1952.
Life after prison
A short biography of Alexander Solzhenitsyn contains information that on February 13, 1953, he left the camp after serving a prison sentence for criticizing the authorities. It was then that he was sent to Kazakhstan, to the Dzhambul region. The village where the writer settled was called Berlik. Here he got a job as a teacher and taught mathematics and physics at a high school.
In January 1954, he came to Tashkent for treatment in a special cancer ward. Here, doctors carried out radiation therapy, which gave the writer faith in the success of the fight against a terrible fatal disease. And indeed, a miracle happened - in March 1954, Solzhenitsyn felt much better and was discharged from the clinic.
But the situation with the disease remained in his memory for the rest of his life. In the story “Cancer Ward,” the writer describes in detail the situation with his unusual healing. Here he makes it clear to the reader that he was helped in a difficult life situation by faith in God, the dedication of doctors, as well as an inexhaustible desire to desperately fight for his own life until the very end.
Ultimate rehabilitation
Solzhenitsyn was finally rehabilitated by the communist state regime only in 1957. In July of the same year, he becomes a completely free man and no longer fears various persecutions and oppressions. For his criticism, he received full hardships from the USSR authorities, but this did not completely break his spirit and did not in any way affect his subsequent work.
It was during this period that the writer moved to Ryazan. There he successfully gets a job at a school and teaches astronomy to children. A school teacher was a profession for Solzhenitsyn that did not limit his ability to do what he loved - literature.
New conflict with the authorities
While working at the Ryazan school, Solzhenitsyn actively expressed his thoughts and views on life in numerous literary works. However, in 1965, new trials await him - the KGB seizes the entire archive of the writer’s manuscripts. Now he is already prohibited from creating further literary masterpieces, which is a disastrous punishment for any writer.
But Solzhenitsyn does not give up and is trying with all his might to correct the current situation during this period. For example, in 1967, in an open letter addressed to the Congress of Soviet Writers, he set out his own position on what is stated in the works.
But this action produced a negative effect that turned against the famous writer and historian. The fact is that in 1969 Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Union of Writers of the USSR. A year earlier, in 1968, he finished writing the book “The Gulag Archipelago”, which made him popular throughout the world. It was published in mass circulation only in 1974. It was then that the public was able to familiarize themselves with the work, since until that time it had remained inaccessible to a wide range of readers. And this fact only happened when the writer lived outside his country. The book was first published not in the author’s homeland, but in the capital of France - Paris.
Main stages and features of life abroad
Solzhenitsyn did not return to live in his homeland for quite a long time, since, probably, deep down in his soul he was very offended by it for all the repressions and hardships that he had to experience in the USSR. In the period from 1975 to 1994, the writer managed to visit many countries of the world. In particular, he successfully visited Spain, France, Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada and the USA. The very wide geography of his travels greatly contributed to the popularization of the writer among the broad masses of readers in these countries.
Even the shortest biography of Solzhenitsyn contains information that in Russia “The Gulag Archipelago” was published only in 1989, shortly before the final collapse of the USSR empire. This happened in the magazine “New World”. His famous story “Matrenin’s Dvor” is also published there.
Return to homeland and a new creative impulse
Only after the USSR collapsed did Solzhenitsyn decide to return to his homeland. This happened in 1994. In Russia, the writer is working on his new works, completely devoting himself to his beloved work. And in 2006 and 2007, entire volumes of all Solzhenitsyn’s collections were published in modern binding. In total, this literary collection contains 30 volumes.
Death of a writer
Solzhenitsyn died at an old age, having lived a very difficult life, filled with many different difficulties and hardships. This sad event happened on May 3, 2008. The cause of death was heart failure.
Literally until his last breath, Solzhenitsyn remained true to himself and constantly created new literary masterpieces, which are highly valued in many countries around the world. Probably, our descendants will also appreciate everything that is bright and righteous that the writer wanted to convey to them.
Little known facts
Now you know a short biography of Solzhenitsyn. It's time to highlight some little-known, but no less interesting facts. Of course, the entire life of such a world-famous writer can hardly go unnoticed by his admirers. After all, Solzhenitsyn’s fate is very diverse and unusual in its essence, perhaps even tragic in some places. And during his illness with cancer, for a certain time he was only a hair's breadth away from premature death.
- By mistake, he entered world literature with the erroneous patronymic “Isaevich.” The real middle name sounds a little different - Isaakievich. An error occurred when filling out Solzhenitsyn's passport page.
- In elementary school, Solzhenitsyn was ridiculed by his peers simply because he wore a cross around his neck and attended church services.
- In the camp, the writer developed a unique method of memorizing texts using rosaries. Thanks to the fact that he handled this object in his hands, Solzhenitsyn was able to preserve in his own memory the most important moments, which he then fully reflected in his own literary works.
- In 1998, he was awarded the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, but unexpectedly for everyone, he nobly refused this sign of recognition, citing the fact that he could not accept the order from the Russian authorities, which had led the country to its current sad state of development.
- The writer called Stalin a “godfather” while distorting “Leninist norms.” Joseph Vissarionovich clearly did not like this term, which contributed to the inevitable further arrest of Solzhenitsyn.
- At the university, the writer wrote many poems. They were included in a special “Poetry Collection”, which was published in 1974. The publication of this book was undertaken by the publishing organization "Imka-Press", which actively worked in exile.
- The story “Polyphonic Novel” should be considered Alexander Isaevich’s favorite literary form.
- There is a street that was renamed in honor of Solzhenitsyn.