Life as Art with Creativity in Living
“Creativity in living is not without it’s attendant difficulties, for peculiarity breeds contempt. And the unfortunate thing about being ahead of your time when people finally realize you were right, they'll say it was obvious all along. Alan Ashley-Pitt (an aphorism)
As talking heads and political pundits on both the right and the left defame and detract from our democracy and the current spate of decision makers at it’s helm, the direct heirs of Aleksandr’s literary bequest to the world, his sons, remind us of what it is their father wanted us to know from his “The Red Wheel” and “Gulag Archipelago”. It is not political commentary. It is an overarching way to see the political world. A way to see that he was right all along.
Legacy of Solzhenitzn's Work
The legacy of Solzhenitsyn’s work was introduced at Philadelphia’s Union League Club launch of “The Solzhenitsyn Reader: New and Essential Writings 1947-2005”. Opening remarks reminded the audience that the 1990's was an era in which it was often said of these works, “unneeded now...unheeded then”.
New York Elite Publishing Houses Systematically Misrepresent Solzhenitsyn
Should Solzhenitsym be heeded now? Some would think not.. These are the ways in which the New York elite publishing houses, described as emanating in part from ideological convictions, have systematically misrepresented Solzhenitsyn’s work according to ISI (Intercollegiate Studies Institute) co-editor of "The “Reader”, Daniel Mahoney. With these tactics, nay-sayers have managed to ignore and marginalize one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.
Mahoney is, however, also able to report the author has millions of admirers in the Western world who see him for century, the scourge of totalitarian despotism, the defender of the spiritual integrity of man against the ideological lie. (and)...helping us to recover the timeless distinction between good and evil against it’s pernicious replacement by ideological categories like progress and reaction”. As Ashley-Pitt has said “creativity in living is not without it’s attendant difficulties”. This author definitely did not rank among those who go along to get along. Yet, the mission of his writing was more philosophical than aspiring.
Solshenitsn's Imprisonment and Abandonmentf of Marxism
During Solzhenitsyn’s political imprisonment and subsequent exile for criticizing Stalin,he abandoned Marxism and began to espouse the philosophical and religious positions of his later life. This transformation is described in the fourth part of The Gulag Archipelago ("The Soul and Barbed Wire").It can not go unnoticed that this closely parallels the life of yet another Russian author, Dostoevsky a hundred years earlier.
The Solzhenitsyn Literature Prize in Russia
As Aleksandr’s son, Stephan Solzhenitsyn. was able to convey at Philadelphia’s Union League Club when fresh off a plane from Moscow. a city now disassembled from it’s role in the former Soviet Socialist Republic, Philadelphia has always stood first and foremost for the preservation of the union. That “this nation should be.
ISI’s “The Reader”, he states is the United States way of creating a brilliant organic work. A One-Stop shop as opposed to the 30 volumes of the author’s works being produced currently. Happy that his father’s works are now contained in Russian student’s textbook course materials, he thankfully feels as if his own country has taken the lessons to heart. Students of the West may be in greater need of knowledge of the Gulag now. Proceeds from the sale of “Gulag Archipelago” go to homeless veterans, the elderly, and former political prisoners who live in Russia.
Amidst all this praise and recognition, the greatest appreciation, his son can boast is the moral recognition of his countrymen resulting in the Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Literature prize being handed out for the most outstanding works of Russian authors. The most valuable element of the prize is the juries independence from the government and any corporate influence. It is truly the voice of Russian literature today.
Key Points to Solshenitsyn's Russian Popularity
That Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s presence is felt in the culture, his son so eloquently tells is due to three key points written about long before popular to do so
Point 1 “if all your friends tell you to go jump off the cliff of totalitarianism into the lush valley of democracy, don’t do it. There’s not going to be a soft landing.
Point 2 Russia owes a great debt to the 25 million Russians minorities who live in adjacent countries on it’s borders. Russia cannot be indifferent to their fate as Russia must remain for them a cultural and political home.
Point 3 Russia needs to give attention to it’s internal development and let go of it’s adherence to an artificial ideology.
Considering the grand aspirations of vast changes in the United States to avert many of our own disastrous missteps and decisions, authors of all political stripes and ideologies in this country might consider moving to Philadelphia. Who knows perhaps the ability to write as a mere stalwart citizen might rub off on the American author there.
Judy Joyce - INTERNATIONAL PORTFOLIO Suite 101's author, Judy Joyce, is is also a, lecturer, speaker, political consultant, trial attorney, and ...
