Freedom fighters mourn
soviet dissident’s death-
legacy lives on
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (born December 11, 1918) is a Russian novelist, dramatist and historian. Through his writings, he made the world aware of the Gulag, the Soviet labor camp system, and, for these efforts, Solzhenitsyn was both awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970 and exiled from the Soviet Union in 1974. He returned to Russia in 1994. In 1994, he was elected as a member of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in the Department of Language and Literature. Read more on Wikipedia.
Poetmeister ...on the road to Parnassus 
Yes, a sad day indeed Janet.
Thank you for lending your note to this day’s sad mournful dirge, Jo.
By: johemmant on August 4, 2008
at 6:35 am
I found an old TIME magazine cover image of Solzhenitsyn without his whiskers, and I put it on the re-posting of your poem on FFTR. Hope you find the energy to make some more comments relative to the plethera of poetry, lyrics, and anti-war data included over the last weeks. Like so many others I look forward to your responses on my own site.
Glenn
Yes, I’ve been meaning to tell you that I’m always taken aback when I stumble upon a poem of mine that you’ve so graciously display on your own blog, Feel Free to Read, Glenn! Every once in a while, I don’t notice right away that it’s something I’ve written. I’m just about getting ready to think, “man, this is really..” when I realize it’s mine and have to slap those thoughts away with, “you’rrrrrrrre soooooooooo vain” kind of reprimand. Does this ever happen to you? Seriously. I also think you’ve honored our fighting men by putting their work up on your site. I mean, whether one agrees or disagrees with this war or any war, soldiers are just doing/going what/where they’re told. Not all soldiers are wedded to the war machine, but rather have a marriage of responsibility and duty to keep their fellowmen free and safe. What’s wrong with that? And some of the writing has made my eyes tear up, Glenn. (Especially the ball turret one.. oh God!)
By: marlowe44 on August 4, 2008
at 9:22 am
At least the man lived to be 89, and that is an accomplishment in itself. One of his first major works, A DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH, became a good film starring Tom Courtney. Check it out on Netflix.
Yes, I remember that film and Tom Courtney especially. It was a disturbing, dark, depressing film and I remember it spurned me on to read the Gulag thingee, Glenn. I remember being stunned that Man could treat fellow men so cruelly. It was the end of my childhood as I knew it..;>
He nearly died of cancer in 1954, and finally the government allowed him to get treatment. His novel, THE CANCER WARD, is very enlightening as well. Nice to see you are a Wiki frequenter as well. Lots of good stuff listed there; instant research on just about every inquiry.
Oh, yes, I dig Wiki and use it a lot, although I’ve been a researcher by trade and by nature and can find anything online. (Please, NO CHALLENGES! I’m used to getting paid for my services.) I think at some point I was going to read THE CANCER WARD and then got distracted. Maybe someday..
Janet, you are always the first to jump in and “care” about things. Kudos to you for doing so, whether it is a famous race horse being put down, or terrible storms killing folks in the midwest–you lead with your heart.
Glenn
You’re make me blush, Glenn. But don’t let that stop you!. *snort*
By: marlowe44 on August 4, 2008
at 9:19 am
Alexandr Solzenitsyn has an admirable courage both men and women can emulate in speaking against the abuses of mankind. He willl be sorely missed and may his life story be an inspiration for others.
There are few men who have spoken truth to power so eloquently or so consistently than Solzenitsyn, Tom, and we all ought to heed his words of truth before it’s too late – even for a nation as great as ours. It doesn’t take much to tip the scales from freedom to tyranny. It can all come down to one person’s finger on the scale. I hope historians will take this moment in time to really explain to the younger generations what this man did for the cause of freedom and why someone better step into the gap before freedom becomes a fading memory in Mankind’s mind.
One thing I like to remind others of, especially those who help regimes come into tyrannical power is this: you’re what’s known as the first tier and you go first because you have the goods on the power’s rise, and then comes the second tier. The killing goes on until there’s no one living in the new regime who holds physical proof of the crimes committed. Sobering thoughts, eh?
By: tomachfive on August 9, 2008
at 6:55 pm
He indeed was a fascinating man.
By: Pen Me A Poem on October 5, 2008
at 12:54 pm