History Creator / AleksandrSolzhenitsyn

* MissingEpisode: The first two novels of the Red Wheel series, ''Literature/August1914'' and ''November 1916'', were first translated into English in the mid-80s. For decades, these were the only two parts of the series available for English-speaking readers, due to publishers making the calculation that paying to have the massive work translated wasn't worth the comparatively meager profits the book would likely reap. Finally, in 2017, a [[{{Doorstopper}} 4-volume]] translation of the third book, ''March 1917'', was announced by University of Notre Dame Press, reportedly funded by an anonymous donor. 3 of the 4 volumes appeared over the next several years, with the fourth one currently scheduled for release in October 2023. ''April 1917'', the fourth and final novel in the series, is due to follow at a later date.

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n author, activist, and philosopher best known as the author of ''Literature/TheGulagArchipelago'', a book criticizing [[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin Stalinism]]. It resulted in him being banned from the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]] in 1974 and brought him world fame.

His father was of Russian descent and his mother was of UsefulNotes/Ukrain|e}}ian descent. He served in the Red Army during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and he was arrested in 1945 for criticizing [[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin Stalin]] in personal letters. He was sentenced to eight years in TheGulag. In the more liberal climate of [[UsefulNotes/NikitaKhrushchev Khrushchev's]] rule, he was allowed to publish a novel inspired by his experiences, ''Literature/OneDayInTheLifeOfIvanDenisovich''. The book was the first major account in the USSR of Stalinist repression and caused a sensation both at home and in the West.

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n author, activist, and philosopher best known as the author of ''Literature/TheGulagArchipelago'', a book criticizing Stalinist Russia. It resulted in him being banned from the USSR in 1974 and brought him world fame.

He served in the Red Army during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and he was arrested in 1945 for criticizing [[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin Stalin]] in personal letters. He was sentenced to eight years in TheGulag. In the more liberal climate of [[UsefulNotes/NikitaKhrushchev Khrushchev's]] rule, he was allowed to publish a novel inspired by his experiences, ''Literature/OneDayInTheLifeOfIvanDenisovich''. The book was the first major account in the USSR of Stalinist repression and caused a sensation both at home and in the West.

His career contains several striking comparisons to that of Creator/FyodorDostoevsky, particularly his embrace of Christianity after imprisonment in Siberia. He's a highly controversial figure among Russian patriots: many of them denounce him as one of the architects of the Soviet collapse and a "traitor and liar" (helped by the fact that [[MeaningfulName his name is based on the word stem]] "to lie"), but some sympathize with his conservative political views, though in the West criticism usually focuses on his antisemitism, his critique of "democracy" (which he claimed led to the rise of the Russian oligarchs), and his romanticized and simplistic view of Russia's past. To put it simply, the man was just as enamored with Tsarism as he was hateful of Communism. He was also very distrustful of the democratic, free-market Western "model".

* ''Literature/OneDayInTheLifeOfIvanDenisovich''- the first major account in the USSR of Stalinist repression.

* "The Red Wheel" - a series of historical fiction novels recounting the downfall of UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia

* ''The Decline of Courage'' aka the 1978 Harvard Commencement Address. It was the first time he clearly expressed his view that the Communist East and the "democratic/free-rule of the market" West were not so different, with the latter being less ObviouslyEvil, but with the potential to be just as dehumanizing, simply preferring the worship of Money to the ruthless enforcement of the Communist ideology.

* MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting: The main reason he was banned from the USSR. He criticized the Soviet Union, though he also criticized Western imperialism. On the other hand, he longed for the times of UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia.
* RussianGuySuffersMost: Solzhenitsyn argued that that the Russians (defined broadly to also include Ukrainians and Belorussians) suffered the most from Communist rule among the Soviet peoples.

* ''Literature/TheGulagArchipelago''- Major account of the Soviet gulag system. This one got him kicked out of the Soviet Union. The original Russian title is a rhyme, ''Arkhipelag [=GULag=]''. Its impact on global politics was huge- the previously accepted view that Stalin was an aberration from Lenin's vision became seriously questionable.
* ''Literature/CancerWard'' - Life in a Cancer Ward in Soviet [[strike:Russia]] [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Uzbekistan]].

** ''Literature/{{August 1914}}'' - The first novel in the series. Mostly revolves around the Battle of Tannenberg, with various other subplots.

His career contains several striking comparisons to that of Creator/FyodorDostoevsky, particularly his embrace of Christianity after imprisonment in Siberia. He's a highly controversial figure among Russian patriots: many of them denounce him as one of the architects of the Soviet collapse and a "traitor and liar" (helped by the fact that [[MeaningfulName his name is based on the word stem]] "to lie"), but some sympathize with his conservative political views, though in the West criticism usually focuses on his borderline or actual anti-Semitic sentiments, and his critique of "democracy" (which he claimed led to the rise of the Russian oligarchs) and his romanticized and simplistic view of Russia's past. To put it simply, the man was just as enamored with Tsarism as he was hateful of Communism. He was also very distrustful of the democratic, free-market Western "model".

His career contains several striking comparisons to that of Creator/FyodorDostoevsky, particularly his embrace of Christianity after imprisonment in Siberia. He's a highly controversial figure among Russian patriots: many of them denounce him as one of the architects of TheGreatPoliticsMessUp and a "traitor and liar" (helped by the fact that [[MeaningfulName his name is based on the word stem]] "to lie"), but some sympathize with his conservative political views, though in the West criticism usually focuses on his borderline or actual anti-Semitic sentiments, and his critique of "democracy" (which he claimed led to the rise of the Russian oligarchs) and his romanticized and simplistic view of Russia's past. To put it simply, the man was just as enamored with Tsarism as he was hateful of Communism. He was also very distrustful of the democratic, free-market Western "model".

* ''The Decline of Courage'' aka the 1978 Harvard Commencement Address. It was the first time he clearly expressed his view that the Communist East and the "democratic/free-rule of the market" West were NotSoDifferent, with the latter being less ObviouslyEvil, but with the potential to be just as dehumanizing, simply preferring the worship of Money to the ruthless enforcement of the Communist ideology.

* PopCulturalOsmosis: The man is much better known for being banned from the USSR than anything else in his life.

* RussianGuySuffersMost: He described the hardships in Stalin's gulag camps and criticized the life conditions in the Soviet Union. Also more literally he argued that that the Russians (defined broadly to also include Ukrainians and Belorussians) suffered the most from Communist rule.

* UsefulNotes/RussianReading: He is one of the most famous Russian authors worldwide.

* BadassBeard: His trademark.
* BornInTheWrongCentury: He was very nostalgic for UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia, a time period he never experienced personally (he was born two years after the [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Russian Revolution.]])

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: His attitude towards Jews (he to an extent blamed them for the Russian Revolution and downplayed the role of the Tsarist government in perpetuating their persecution) were infamously problematic even if he wasn't as fanatically anti-Semitic as some other figures in the Russian right-wing.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: A difficult to spell name, as most Russian names transcribed in the Western alphabet tend to be.

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n author and activist, best known as the author of ''Literature/TheGulagArchipelago'', a book criticizing Stalinist Russia. It resulted in him being banned from the USSR in 1974 and brought him world fame.

He served in the Red Army during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and he was arrested in 1945 for criticizing [[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin Stalin]] in personal letters. He was sentenced to eight years in TheGulag. In the more liberal climate of [[UsefulNotes/NikitaKhrushchev Khrushchev's]] rule, he was allowed to publish a novel inspired by his experiences, ''Literature/OneDayInTheLifeOfIvanDenisovich''. The book was the first major account in the USSR of Stalinist repression, and caused a sensation both at home and in the West.

After his explusion, Solzhenitsyn emigrated to the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates, where he lived in the small village of Cavendish in Vermont. He returned to Russia in 1994, and lived there until his death.

* ColbertBump: Already well known author, but it can be assumed that many of the younger generations know about him from the lectures of psychologist Jordan Peterson.

* MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting: The main reason he was banned from the USSR. He criticized the Soviet Union, though he also criticized Western imperialism. On the other hand he longed for the times of UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia.

* ColbertBump: Already well known author, but it can be assumed that many of the younger generations know about him from the lectures of psychologist Jordan Peterson.

* ''Literature/TheGulagArchipelago''- Major (and somewhat accurate, but not exactly objective: go read Shalamov if you want naked truth) account of the Soviet gulag system. This one got him kicked out of the Soviet Union. The original Russian title is a rhyme, ''Arkhipelag [=GULag=]''. Its impact on global politics was huge- the previously accepted view that Stalin was an aberration from Lenin's vision became seriously questionable.

* ''Literature/Cancer Ward'' - Life in a Cancer Ward in Soviet [[strike:Russia]] [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Uzbekistan]].

* ''The Cancer Ward'' - Life in a Cancer Ward in Soviet [[strike:Russia]] [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Uzbekistan]].

Solzhenitsyn emigrated to the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates, but returned to Russia in 1994, and lived there until his death.

He served in the Red Army during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and he was arrested in 1945 for criticizing [[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin Stalin]] in personal letters. He was sentenced to eight years in TheGulag. In the more liberal climate of [[UsefulNotes/NikitaKhruschev Khrushchev's]] rule, he was allowed to publish a novel inspired by his experiences, ''Literature/OneDayInTheLifeOfIvanDenisovich''. The book was the first major account in the USSR of Stalinist repression, and caused a sensation both at home and in the West.

He served in the Red Army during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and he was arrested in 1945 for criticizing [[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin Stalin]] in personal letters. He was sentenced to eight years in TheGulag. In the more liberal climate of Khrushchev's rule, he was allowed to publish a novel inspired by his experiences, ''Literature/OneDayInTheLifeOfIvanDenisovich''. The book was the first major account in the USSR of Stalinist repression, and caused a sensation both at home and in the West.

* RussianGuySuffersMost: He described the hardships in Stalin's gulag camps and criticized the life conditions in the Soviet Union.