Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Biography

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Author
Born asAleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
Occup.Author
FromRussia
SpouseNatalia Alekseevna Reshetovskaya
BornDecember 11, 1918
Kislovodsk, Stavropol Krai, Russian Empire
DiedAugust 3, 2008
Moscow, Russia
CauseNatural Causes
Aged89 years
Early Life
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was born on December 11, 1918, in Kislovodsk, Russia. His father, Isaakiy Solzhenitsyn, passed away in a hunting mishap prior to Aleksandr's birth. Therefore, he was elevated by his mommy, Taisiya Solzhenitsyna, in hardship.

Solzhenitsyn grew up during a turbulent period of Russian background, marked by the development of the Soviet Union, the Russian Civil War, and the surge of Joseph Stalin. During his teen years, his family moved to Rostov-on-Don, where he mastered maths, history, and also literature. He studied at the prestigious Rostov State University, where he got degrees in physics and also mathematics in 1941. Solzhenitsyn had actually additionally been passionate concerning literary works as well as had actually been composing considering that he was a teen, generating prose as well as verse.

The Second World War and also Imprisonment
Throughout World War II, Solzhenitsyn functioned as a Soviet Army policeman and belonged to the Red Army's artillery unit, taking part in numerous fights. In 1945, he was jailed for writing bad remarks regarding Joseph Stalin in a letter to a buddy. Consequently, he was convicted of anti-Soviet propaganda as well as sentenced to eight years in labor camps, followed by long-term interior exile.

Solzhenitsyn's experiences in the labor camps supplied the inspiration for his later works about the Soviet jail system. His time in the camps and exile profoundly affected his worldview, transforming him into a severe movie critic of the Soviet regime.

Literary Career and Dissent
Following his release from the labor camps in 1953, Solzhenitsyn was sent out to stay in internal expatriation in the town of Ekibastuz in Kazakhstan. It was throughout this duration of exile that Solzhenitsyn began creating much more seriously. He wrote his very first novel, "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", which is a semi-fictional account of his time in the labor camp. After the death of Stalin in 1953 and the succeeding thawing of Soviet social plans under Nikita Khrushchev, the novel was published in 1962, receiving widespread recognition both in Russia and abroad.

Solzhenitsyn continued to compose seriously about the Soviet regime in stories such as "The Cancer Ward" (1968) and "The First Circle" (1968); these were published abroad due to continuing restrictions in the USSR. Nonetheless, his magnum opus has to be "The Gulag Archipelago", a historical account of the Soviet labor camps based on his experiences, as well as meetings with various other prisoners and also Soviet archives. Published in between 1973 and also 1978, this monumental work exposed the level of the Soviet routine's civils rights abuses.

Expatriation and Return to Russia
As an outcome of his forthright criticism of the Soviet program, Solzhenitsyn dealt with enhancing harassment from the Soviet authorities. In 1974, after "The Gulag Archipelago" was released abroad, Solzhenitsyn was jailed and forcibly deported to West Germany. He eventually resolved in the United States, where he remained to write and also critique the Soviet Union.

In 1970, Solzhenitsyn was granted the Nobel Prize for Literature for his jobs exposing the Soviet labor camps. Nevertheless, he did not travel to obtain the reward personally, fearing he would certainly be denied re-entry to the Soviet Union.

Adhering to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, President Boris Yeltsin cleared Solzhenitsyn's Soviet-era criminal fees, as well as the writer went back to Russia in 1994, where he continued to create as well as continue to be politically active in his later years.

Death as well as Legacy
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn died on August 3, 2008, at the age of 89 in Moscow. His composed jobs, consisting of countless books, plays, essays, as well as historic accounts, have had an extensive influence on both Russian and world literature. By exposing the dark side of the Soviet regime and also its prison system, Solzhenitsyn indisputably contributed in inspiring political adjustment in the Soviet Union as well as its eventual dissolution.

Today, Solzhenitsyn is recognized as one of the preeminent authors of the 20th century and also a noticeable advocate for civils rights and freedom of expression. His works remain to be studied as well as admired for their literary advantage, historical accuracy, and the bold method they subject the brutal and overbearing nature of totalitarian programs.

Our collection contains 40 quotes who is written / told by Aleksandr, under the main topic Power.

Related authors: Joseph Stalin (Leader), Boris Yeltsin (President), Lawrence Taylor (Athlete), Nikita Khrushchev (Statesman)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Famous Works:
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40 Famous quotes by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Small: Everything you add to the truth subtracts from the truth
"Everything you add to the truth subtracts from the truth"
Small: We have arrived at an intellectual chaos
"We have arrived at an intellectual chaos"
Small: Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method is inevitably forced to take the lie as his prin
"Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method is inevitably forced to take the lie as his principle"
Small: Today when we say the West we are already referring to the West and to Russia. We could use the word mo
"Today when we say the West we are already referring to the West and to Russia. We could use the word "modernity" if we exclude Africa, and the Islamic world, and partially China"
Small: Literature becomes the living memory of a nation
"Literature becomes the living memory of a nation"
Small: For a country to have a great writer is like having a second government. That is why no regime has ever
"For a country to have a great writer is like having a second government. That is why no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones"
Small: First would be the literary side, then the spiritual and philosophical. The political side is required
"First would be the literary side, then the spiritual and philosophical. The political side is required principally because of the necessity of the current Russian position"
Small: Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence
"Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence"
Small: Of course God is endlessly multi-dimensional so every religion that exists on earth represents some fac
"Of course God is endlessly multi-dimensional so every religion that exists on earth represents some face, some side of God"
Small: In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State
"In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State"
Small: Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memo
"Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag"
Small: Our government declared that it is conducting some kind of great reforms. In reality, no real reforms w
"Our government declared that it is conducting some kind of great reforms. In reality, no real reforms were begun and no one at any point has declared a coherent programme"
Small: It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because t
"It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones"
Small: There are a lot of clear thinkers everywhere
"There are a lot of clear thinkers everywhere"
Small: The next war... may well bury Western civilization forever
"The next war... may well bury Western civilization forever"
Small: Man has set for himself the goal of conquering the world but in the processes loses his soul
"Man has set for himself the goal of conquering the world but in the processes loses his soul"
Small: It would have been difficult to design a path out of communism worse than the one that has been followe
"It would have been difficult to design a path out of communism worse than the one that has been followed"
Small: It is the artist who realizes that there is a supreme force above him and works gladly away as a small
"It is the artist who realizes that there is a supreme force above him and works gladly away as a small apprentice under God's heaven"
Small: A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him
"A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him"
Small: The clock of communism has stopped striking. But its concrete building has not yet come crashing down.
"The clock of communism has stopped striking. But its concrete building has not yet come crashing down. For that reason, instead of freeing ourselves, we must try to save ourselves from being crushed by its rubble"
Small: Religion always remains higher than everyday life. In order to make the elevation towards religion easi
"Religion always remains higher than everyday life. In order to make the elevation towards religion easier for people, religion must be able to alter its forms in relation to the consciousness of modern man"
Small: Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into a realm beyond words
"Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into a realm beyond words"
Small: Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who
"Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice"
Small: I have spent all my life under a Communist regime, and I will tell you that a society without any objec
"I have spent all my life under a Communist regime, and I will tell you that a society without any objective legal scale is a terrible one indeed. But a society with no other scale but the legal one is not quite worthy of man either"
Small: How can you expect a man whos warm to understand one whos cold?
"How can you expect a man who's warm to understand one who's cold?"
Small: For us in Russia communism is a dead dog. For many people in the West, it is still a living lion
"For us in Russia communism is a dead dog. For many people in the West, it is still a living lion"
Small: Blow the dust off the clock. Your watches are behind the times. Throw open the heavy curtains which are
"Blow the dust off the clock. Your watches are behind the times. Throw open the heavy curtains which are so dear to you - you do not even suspect that the day has already dawned outside"
Small: A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny
"A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny"
Small: You only have power over people so long as you dont take everything away from them. But when youve robb
"You only have power over people so long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything, he's no longer in your power - he's free again"
Small: If one is forever cautious, can one remain a human being?
"If one is forever cautious, can one remain a human being?"
Small: It is time in the West to defend not so much human rights as human obligations
"It is time in the West to defend not so much human rights as human obligations"
Small: I can say without affectation that I belong to the Russian convict world no less than I do to Russian l
"I can say without affectation that I belong to the Russian convict world no less than I do to Russian literature. I got my education there, and it will last forever"
Small: Human beings yield in many situations, even important and spiritual and central ones, as long as it pro
"Human beings yield in many situations, even important and spiritual and central ones, as long as it prolongs one's well-being"
Small: Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the twentieth century, and more than anywhere
"Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the twentieth century, and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press"
Small: Anyone who has proclaimed violence his method inexorably must choose lying as his principle
"Anyone who has proclaimed violence his method inexorably must choose lying as his principle"
Small: Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interfer
"Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press but the sealing up of a nation's heart, the excision of its memory"
Small: When truth is discovered by someone else, it loses something of its attractiveness
"When truth is discovered by someone else, it loses something of its attractiveness"
Small: Literature transmits incontrovertible condensed experience... from generation to generation. In this wa
"Literature transmits incontrovertible condensed experience... from generation to generation. In this way literature becomes the living memory of a nation"
Small: Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the 20th century, and more than anywhere else
"Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the 20th century, and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press"
Small: For us in Russia, communism is a dead dog, while, for many people in the West, it is still a living lio
"For us in Russia, communism is a dead dog, while, for many people in the West, it is still a living lion"