W: General: Solzhenitsyn: Mahoney on his writings

In the Sept.1st edition of National Review, Professor Daniel J. Mahoney writes in the section, ‘books, arts & manners’, a great summary of the literary impact of Solzhenitsyn. I was hoping the article was online, so that I could link to it, but you’ll just have to go down to a properly equipped library and look at his article in the National Review.

Mr. Mahoney begins his article this way:

With the death of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn the world has lost one of the great souls of this or any age. His story was beyond improbable: A former prisoner or “zek” in the vast system of Soviet prisons and labor camps who had also miraculously survived a bout with abdominal cancer, an “underground writer” who never expected a single word of his to be published in his own lifetime, Solzhenitsyn was catapulted to world fame with the November 1962 publication of his novella One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

--the article goes on to trace Solzhenitsyn’s thought and writing, but I will fast-forward to the summary at the end. Before I do, I have to quote this:

Solzhenitsyn was a writer in the grand 19th-century Russian literary tradition who was supremely confidant in the power of literature, rooted in truth and the best ethical traditions of Russia and the West, to defeat violence and lies, the twin pillars of 20th-century totalitarianism. And he was right…

--now for the summary:

How can we who live in a post-totalitarian* age begin to honor Solzhenitsyn’s legacy? A good starting point would be to move beyond reducing Solzhenitsyn to the level of an opiner on current events, the habitual approach of almost all journalistic commentaries on his work. Now that his life and work are complete we are called to confront him openly, honestly, critically, as a writer, historian, and moral and political philosopher (in the highest, non-academic sense of that term). Solzhenitsyn is a writer of considerable talent, skill, and grace, a historian who has helped recover the memory of Russia and the sources of the totalitarian temptation, as well as the great analyst—and scourge—of the ideological manipulation of the bodies and souls of human beings. Solzhenitsyn the philosopher teaches us never to confuse technological progress—however necessary and welcome—with the definitive transformation of the moral constitution of human beings. There can never be an “end to history,” only the slow and patient moral growth of the human soul. More provocatively, the zek turned writer and historian has deepened our self-understanding by showing that the ultimate roots of totalitarian repression lie in “anthropocentricity,” the mad illusion that human beings can take the place of God. In a thousand ways his writings show that the effort to deify man leads to nothing less than self-enslavement. Far from being yesterday’s news, Solzhenitsyn remains a teacher and moral witness for today and tomorrow. His writings will continue to speak to the hearts, souls, and minds of all those who cherish human liberty and dignity, as we work to free ourselves from contemporary if milder versions of the “lie.”

*(Mr. Mahoney’s view—I don’t the believe that the totalitarian age is over yet.)