The Solzhenitzyn Question
Robert BirdUniversity of Chicago
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn left a vast body of work, an inestimable influence on Russian culture, and a deeply divided public opinion. He documented the Soviet prison system, developed forms of literary representation for describing the experiences of prisoners, and was courageous in the face of repression. But doubts linger about him as artist, thinker and person, and thus prompt us to raise the Solzhenitsyn question.
Robert Bird is Associate Professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and the College. His interests include Modern Russian literature, cinema, aesthetic theory, and intellectual history. He is author of Andrei Tarkovsky: Elements of Cinema and The Russian Prospero: The creative universe of Viacheslav Ivanov.
