Alexander Solzhenitsyn dies at 89

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080803/ap_on_re_eu/obit_solzhenistyn

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, an Russian author and Nobel laureate who became famous by describing the Soviet gulags he experienced first-hand, died of heart attack this Sunday. His death is so far attributed to either heart failure or stroke.

A veteran of the WWII, Solzhenitsyn was imprisoned after being critical of Stalin in one of his letters. He then spent several years in the gulags, and was then settled in Kazakhstan in a form of internal exile. His first famous book, a Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, was initially received well, but in the early 70's he was in disfavor again, and after writing the first tome of his detailed work on the Soviet camps, the Gulag Archipelago, he was eventually forced to leave the country.

Since then, both during his time in the USA and when he came back to Russia, he has been a vocal speaker and often critic of society on both sides of the Curtain. An opponent of Yeltsin's and a student and admirer of the Russian soul, he continued to produce immersive and controversial studies until his death.

May he rest in peace.

 

I'm not familiar with the man, so I won't comment on his life and works.

I will say that it's pretty damned revealing that the WSJ, Jonah Goldberg, et al are using his death as a bludgeon to wield against the left.

 

I'll bed he'd disapprove Medvedev shoving up at his funeral.

Years ago he gave me an eye opener with the history of Gulag.

RiP