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Overview
Based on exclusive, personal interviews with Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Joseph Pearce's book provides profound insight into a towering literary and political figure.
From his pro-Communist youth to his imprisonment in the Gulags, his exile in America to his return to Russia, this is the story of a man who struggled with the most weighty questions of humanity. When a person has suffered the most terrible physical and emotional torture, what becomes of his spirit? Can politics and economics truly provide the answers a modern society needs? If peace and justice are never fully attained, what hope is there for the future?
Arguably one of the most significant writers of the twentieth century, Solzhenitsyn, both before and after the fall of Communism, spoke out against the Russian regime. His faith deeply informed his literary approach and response to the excesses of modern materialism. On the spiritual, cultural,
and socio-political level, his writings have much to teach the world.
This biography contains previously unpublished prose poems written by Solzhenitsyn after his return to Russia, and a gallery of rare photographs.
"Pearce has grasped with great insight the spiritual core of Solzhenitsyn's achievement as a writer, and indeed as a prophet to Russia and the world. He writes with warm sympathy for Russia's greatest literary voice in modern times."
--David Aikman, Author, Great Souls: Six Who Changed the Century
"Joseph Pearce is best on what matters most about Solzhenitsyn: the centrality of the author's Christian faith. It is no wonder that Solzhenitsyn chose to . . . provide Pearce with fresh information. Newcomers to Solzhenitsyn should start with this biography. They will find here a highly readable rendition of one of the most sensational lives of the twentieth century."
--Edward E. Ericson Jr., Author, Solzhenitsyn and the Modern World
Synopsis
Based on exclusive, personal interviews with Solzhenitsyn, Joseph Pearce's new book provides profound insight into a towering literary and political figure.
From his pro-Communist youth to his imprisonment in the Gulags, his exile in America to his return to Russia, this is the story of a man who has struggled with the most weighty questions of humanity. When a person has suffered the most terrible physical and emotional torture, what becomes of his spirit? Can politics and economics truly provide the answers a modern society needs? If peace and justice are never fully attained, what hope is there for the future?
Arguably one of the most significant writers of the twentieth century, Solzhenitsyn has, both before and after the fall of Communism, spoken out against the Russian regime. His faith has deeply informed his literary approach and response to the excesses of modern materialism. On the spiritual, cultural, and socio-political level, his writings have much to teach the world.
This biography contains previously unpublished prose poems, written by Solzhenitsyn since his return to Russia, and a gallery of rare photographs.
Back flap:
Joseph Pearce is a professional biographer and literary researcher. He is the author of Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G. K. Chersterton, Literary Converts, and Tolkien: Man and Myth, and a novel called The Three Ys Men. He lives in Norfolk, England.
Publishers Weekly
Once a darling of the West for his high-profile rejection of Sovietism, Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn lost some of his elevated status when his religious views became known. This comprehensive if uncritical biography of the winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in literature is based in part on Pearce's exclusive interviews with his subject. Pearce details Solzhenitsyn's transformation from an ardently Marxist youth into a literary anachronism in post-Soviet Russia, with the bulk of the text focusing on the author's mid-century experiences. Solzhenitsyn spent years in a Soviet labor camp, then in exile in the gulag after being jailed for anti-Soviet sentiments found in his letters, and eventually was able to leave for the U.S. He emerged as a vociferous critic of the Soviet regime and a writer of international renown, with his memoir of his life in the gulag, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, among his most famous works. Pearce explores Solzhenitsyn's literary output, emphasizing its cultural context and impact. During the 1970s, Solzhenitsyn lost critical support when he began to denounce what he considered from a religious standpoint the selfish materialism of the West. Ever the scholar, he located the origin of the problem in the transition between the sensibilities of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Pearce, who has penned biographies of J.R.R. Tolkien and G.K. Chesterton, gives little credence to Solzhenitsyn's critics. So readers will gain a detailed impression of one of the leading intellectuals of the mid-20th century, but only an incomplete understanding of his latter-day contexts. B&w photos. (Feb. 1) Forecast: This book could be a tough sell, with a bio of Solzhenitsyn already in print, from a major writer (D.M. Thomas). However, Baker Book House has made the wise move of pricing its title low for a hardcover--lower even than the trade paperback edition of Thomas's book, and the Pearce has a special draw in that it includes previously unpublished poetry by the Russian author, which will ensure some interest. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.