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The Soul and Barbed Wire: An Introduction to Solzhenitsyn
"Authored by two eminent Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn scholars, The Soul and Barbed Wire is the first and only book to offer both a detailed biography and a comprehensive appraisal of the literary achievement of the Nobel prize-winning author who became one of the Soviet regime's most formidable foes. The book begins with a detailed biographical survey that traces Solzhenitsyn's evolution from an ardent Communist and loyal Soviet front-line officer into a devastating critic of all ideological distortions of authentic human values and a historian of the multifaceted events that led to the tragedy set loose by the Russian Revolution. This biographical section goes on to portray the writer's strenuous efforts to convey his message to the West during his years of exile, and to his countrymen after his return to Russia." "The bulk of the book, however, consists of sharply focused essays on a large number of Solzhenitsyn's writings. Ericson and Klimoff comment on virtually all his works of fiction as well as on a generous selection of texts belonging to historical or journalistic genres. Because the volume assumes no prior knowledge of its subject, it will prove particularly helpful to those who are coming to Solzhenitsyn for the first time, while its well-nigh encyclopedic inclusiveness should appeal even to the most seasoned readers. Drawing upon the best available Solzhenitsyn scholarship, the authors strive to present a balanced and accurate appraisal of the remarkable life and hugely influential works that have often been misunderstood and not infrequently been misrepresented." Ericson and Klimoff conclude with a chapter-long examination of the core beliefs that underlie Solzhenitsyn'swritings, as well as with a survey of the unprecedented twists exhibited by his reception over the years.
- GenresRussian Literature
289 pages, Hardcover
First published July 15, 2008
58 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 2, 2009
The Soul and Barbed Wire is a very good introduction to the life and work of one of the most important, and misunderstood, artists of the last century. It includes several long essays (on his life, his beliefs, and his reception) and a number of short analyses of his most important works, which make up the bulk of the book. There is also a pretty good selected bibliography.
Solzhenitsyn is a difficult writer to understand. His output was enormous—his collected works in Russian is projected to be 30 volumes—consisting of poetry, short stories, long novels, journalism, memoirs, history, and public speeches, and often his works defy genre classification. He has a reputation as being the most important writer of the 20th century, but has also suffered from a good deal of criticism for not being all things to all people. His critique of Western liberal materialism was resented, even as his critique of Soviet totalitarian materialism was praised. Many western critics have seemed to willfully misunderstand him, painting him as a nationalist and monarchist (and sometimes worse) with little to no evidence, textual or otherwise. A strange sort of nationalist is one who repeatedly pleads his nation to repent and embrace self-limitation! I suspect the reason he has often been confused with a nationalist is that he so thoroughly and unequivocally loved Russia. The love of place, of home, is incomprehensible to the modernist temperament which so often takes refuge in the abstract. Particularly in our own time, when the language of patriotism has been so debased, it is hard for certain sorts of Americans to take seriously the notion of loving country. It seems to me, though, that true dissent can only be honorable when it is rooted in love of country. It is precisely that sort of patriotic dissent which Solzhenitsyn exemplified, both before and after the fall of the Soviet regime. For this reason alone some familiarity with the broad spectrum of his work is worthwhile, and it is nice that there is a relatively slim volume is available as a guide.
The authors of The Soul and Barbed Wire are unapologetically glowing in their praise of both Solzhenitsyn’s life and his works. He is portrayed a hero, which I think is fair but not everyone does. If you don’t share this view, all the approbation might rub you the wrong way. Or maybe you’ll be convinced to reexamine your position. I’m not sure. (Personally, I think that if a writer’s work offends the sensibilities of Marxists, Anglo-American liberal elites, as well as neoconservatives, he must have done something right). The authors do a pretty good job at convincing the reader that Solzhenitsyn was not a political writer, that to understand him one must take his moral and spiritual worldview seriously.
The prose is a bit academic, though not in a bad way, and the because of the structure of the book there is a lot of repetition. Not everyone will want to read it strait through from cover to cover, but I’m glad I did. It is the kind of intro that makes you want to explore the subject further, while serving also as a good reference work. I'm going to keep it on my shelf, ready to hand.
Solzhenitsyn, though a provocative political thinker, was first an artist and the authors, thankfully, spent a lot of time on the literary quality of his work. For a while I’ve been a fan of his political and moral outlook, but I have never read much of his fiction. Before I read this book I did want to read Solzhenitsyn’s long fiction, but mostly because it seems like the right thing to do. After finishing The Soul and Barbed Wire, I’m now actually looking forward to picking up The First Circle, The Cancer Ward, and August 1914.
Solzhenitsyn is a difficult writer to understand. His output was enormous—his collected works in Russian is projected to be 30 volumes—consisting of poetry, short stories, long novels, journalism, memoirs, history, and public speeches, and often his works defy genre classification. He has a reputation as being the most important writer of the 20th century, but has also suffered from a good deal of criticism for not being all things to all people. His critique of Western liberal materialism was resented, even as his critique of Soviet totalitarian materialism was praised. Many western critics have seemed to willfully misunderstand him, painting him as a nationalist and monarchist (and sometimes worse) with little to no evidence, textual or otherwise. A strange sort of nationalist is one who repeatedly pleads his nation to repent and embrace self-limitation! I suspect the reason he has often been confused with a nationalist is that he so thoroughly and unequivocally loved Russia. The love of place, of home, is incomprehensible to the modernist temperament which so often takes refuge in the abstract. Particularly in our own time, when the language of patriotism has been so debased, it is hard for certain sorts of Americans to take seriously the notion of loving country. It seems to me, though, that true dissent can only be honorable when it is rooted in love of country. It is precisely that sort of patriotic dissent which Solzhenitsyn exemplified, both before and after the fall of the Soviet regime. For this reason alone some familiarity with the broad spectrum of his work is worthwhile, and it is nice that there is a relatively slim volume is available as a guide.
The authors of The Soul and Barbed Wire are unapologetically glowing in their praise of both Solzhenitsyn’s life and his works. He is portrayed a hero, which I think is fair but not everyone does. If you don’t share this view, all the approbation might rub you the wrong way. Or maybe you’ll be convinced to reexamine your position. I’m not sure. (Personally, I think that if a writer’s work offends the sensibilities of Marxists, Anglo-American liberal elites, as well as neoconservatives, he must have done something right). The authors do a pretty good job at convincing the reader that Solzhenitsyn was not a political writer, that to understand him one must take his moral and spiritual worldview seriously.
The prose is a bit academic, though not in a bad way, and the because of the structure of the book there is a lot of repetition. Not everyone will want to read it strait through from cover to cover, but I’m glad I did. It is the kind of intro that makes you want to explore the subject further, while serving also as a good reference work. I'm going to keep it on my shelf, ready to hand.
Solzhenitsyn, though a provocative political thinker, was first an artist and the authors, thankfully, spent a lot of time on the literary quality of his work. For a while I’ve been a fan of his political and moral outlook, but I have never read much of his fiction. Before I read this book I did want to read Solzhenitsyn’s long fiction, but mostly because it seems like the right thing to do. After finishing The Soul and Barbed Wire, I’m now actually looking forward to picking up The First Circle, The Cancer Ward, and August 1914.
June 28, 2021
This is a book about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Any thinking American that wants to know what is happening to their country, needs to read Solzhenitsyn and listen to his speeches.
February 5, 2017
This is the perfect companion to Solzhenitsyn. His work is heavy, a contagious, brutal ardor in their autobiographical account(s) of the mass psychosis of communism. They're big investments, too. My plan was, after two years of contemplating, to read the unabridged Gulag Archipelago this winter. Having read the first two parts, I have decided to stretch the work out over time, my notes and critical commentaries intact. The Soul and Barbed Wire is 70 pages of the writer's life and apprx. 200 pages of clear, lucid commentary on his works. I would imagine this is among the best places to start as per the uncomparable Solzhenitsyn.
March 11, 2024
Solzhenitsyn is an author you should be reading, but his work is massive. Ericson and Kilmoff have done excellent work introducing readers to his writings. This introduction is especially useful in its discussion of Solzhenitsyn's beliefs. His challenge to the bankruptcy of enlightenment thinking needs to be considered today.
May 25, 2023
“The Soul and Barbed Wire,” by Edward E. Ericson and Alexis Klimoff is a solid introduction to the life and work of one of the most important writers of the 20th century, Alexander Solzhenitsyn. It contains a short biography, an overview of his published oeuvre, a discussion of his beliefs, and a survey of the reception afforded to him by his critics.
Erickson does an exemplary job of conveying the moral stature of Solzhenitsyn. Trained as a mathematician, Solzhenitsyn was a decorated artillery officer in the Red Army prior to his arrest for making untoward remarks about Stalin. Sentenced to the Gulag- a term he introduced to the West- he worked in a scientific research prison, performed hard labor in a Central Asian camp, endured a life threatening bout with cancer, and eventually internal exile. All the while, he wrote prodigiously. His corpus was enormous—his collected works are projected to number thirty volumes—comprising poetry, short stories, long novels, journalism, memoirs, history, and public speeches.
Despite penning “The Gulag Archipelago,” a book described by George Kennan as, “the greatest and most powerful single indictment of a political regime ever to be leveled in modern times,” the “New Yorker’s" David Remnick noted sourly that “Solzhenitsyn is the little man who ended the big war.” Many western critics have willfully misrepresented him, painting him as an anti-intellectual revanchist, enamored with monarchism. Solzhenitsyn's patriotic dissent and Biblical admonitions-”Live not by lies”- threatened the Soviet nomenklatura to the extent that they attempted to effect his extrajudicial murder. Simply stated, most Western Intellectuals simply found Solzhenitsyn’s life and language to be incommensurable.
Solzhenitsyn’s convictions were, in fact, always alien to members of the Western intelligentsia. He represented a strand of thought which was skeptical of Enlightenment nostrums, scientism, and the idea of the perfectibility of Man. Thus, Solzhenitsyn’s 1978 Harvard commencement address was the source of much discord. He not only attacked many long-held, albeit reflexive, beliefs, he also questioned the very courage of Western elites. As Charles Kesler noted, Solzhenitsyn openly stated that,“A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. The Western world has lost its civic courage . . .”
Solzhenitsyn warned that the children of the Enlightenment risked winning the world, but losing their souls. Following Leo Strauss, he questioned whether modern society, organized around the preeminent right of self-preservation, would cultivate citizens willing to risk their lives in the defense of the common good.
Moreover, the dream of socialism, widely lauded by Western elites, was openly derided by Solzhenitsyn. That government intervention inexorably ends in statism, or what Friedrich Hayek, termed “the road to serfdom,” struck a raw nerve. Solzhenitsyn harkens back to the fate of Cassandra. Compared to his message, the siren's song of socialism is palpably less abrasive to our ears. Solzhenitsyn offered us a reminder about the insidious nature of past tyrannies, and an augury of what a paucity of “civil courage” could portend for our future.
This said, we should acknowledge that Solzhenitsyn was first and foremost an artist. As Ericson argues, there is more to Solzhenitsyn than "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and "The Gulag Archipelago." The man and his works will be remembered long after anyone recognizes the names of the Soviet functionaries responsible for his persecution. This book is a testament to his legacy, and a step toward his restoration.
Erickson does an exemplary job of conveying the moral stature of Solzhenitsyn. Trained as a mathematician, Solzhenitsyn was a decorated artillery officer in the Red Army prior to his arrest for making untoward remarks about Stalin. Sentenced to the Gulag- a term he introduced to the West- he worked in a scientific research prison, performed hard labor in a Central Asian camp, endured a life threatening bout with cancer, and eventually internal exile. All the while, he wrote prodigiously. His corpus was enormous—his collected works are projected to number thirty volumes—comprising poetry, short stories, long novels, journalism, memoirs, history, and public speeches.
Despite penning “The Gulag Archipelago,” a book described by George Kennan as, “the greatest and most powerful single indictment of a political regime ever to be leveled in modern times,” the “New Yorker’s" David Remnick noted sourly that “Solzhenitsyn is the little man who ended the big war.” Many western critics have willfully misrepresented him, painting him as an anti-intellectual revanchist, enamored with monarchism. Solzhenitsyn's patriotic dissent and Biblical admonitions-”Live not by lies”- threatened the Soviet nomenklatura to the extent that they attempted to effect his extrajudicial murder. Simply stated, most Western Intellectuals simply found Solzhenitsyn’s life and language to be incommensurable.
Solzhenitsyn’s convictions were, in fact, always alien to members of the Western intelligentsia. He represented a strand of thought which was skeptical of Enlightenment nostrums, scientism, and the idea of the perfectibility of Man. Thus, Solzhenitsyn’s 1978 Harvard commencement address was the source of much discord. He not only attacked many long-held, albeit reflexive, beliefs, he also questioned the very courage of Western elites. As Charles Kesler noted, Solzhenitsyn openly stated that,“A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. The Western world has lost its civic courage . . .”
Solzhenitsyn warned that the children of the Enlightenment risked winning the world, but losing their souls. Following Leo Strauss, he questioned whether modern society, organized around the preeminent right of self-preservation, would cultivate citizens willing to risk their lives in the defense of the common good.
Moreover, the dream of socialism, widely lauded by Western elites, was openly derided by Solzhenitsyn. That government intervention inexorably ends in statism, or what Friedrich Hayek, termed “the road to serfdom,” struck a raw nerve. Solzhenitsyn harkens back to the fate of Cassandra. Compared to his message, the siren's song of socialism is palpably less abrasive to our ears. Solzhenitsyn offered us a reminder about the insidious nature of past tyrannies, and an augury of what a paucity of “civil courage” could portend for our future.
This said, we should acknowledge that Solzhenitsyn was first and foremost an artist. As Ericson argues, there is more to Solzhenitsyn than "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and "The Gulag Archipelago." The man and his works will be remembered long after anyone recognizes the names of the Soviet functionaries responsible for his persecution. This book is a testament to his legacy, and a step toward his restoration.
May 6, 2013
This is an outstanding introduction to Solzhenitsyn and his work. I highly recommend this as a starting point to understanding his worldview, life, and works. The authors begin with a study of his life in a long introductory chapter. The next large chunk of the book is an examination of his works, how they relate to the rest of his works, and comments on their availability in English as well as the best translations available. Finally, the authors conclude with chapters on his beliefs and his critical reception.
The authors argue, rightly, that Solzhenitsyn is best understood as an orthodox Christian thinker, concerned with morality and faith, rather than being merely a political writer, as many of his critics like to characterize him. Solzhenitsyn cannot be properly understood apart from his Christianity.
As the authors argue, there is much, much more to Solzhenitsyn and "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and "The Gulag Archipelago." His works are some of the best of the 20th century and his legacy will live on in them.
Get to know Solzhenitsyn, and use this as a companion.
The authors argue, rightly, that Solzhenitsyn is best understood as an orthodox Christian thinker, concerned with morality and faith, rather than being merely a political writer, as many of his critics like to characterize him. Solzhenitsyn cannot be properly understood apart from his Christianity.
As the authors argue, there is much, much more to Solzhenitsyn and "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and "The Gulag Archipelago." His works are some of the best of the 20th century and his legacy will live on in them.
Get to know Solzhenitsyn, and use this as a companion.
November 9, 2009
A decent introductory collection, useful for its extensive bibliography and commentary on available translations of the author's work. As with any Solzhenitsyn book by Ericson, it takes an overwhelmingly positive view of AIS' ideas and writing. 'The Solzhenitsyn Reader', edited by Ericson and Mahoney and released in 2006, is a superior collection.
February 13, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews