Books by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) was a leading figure of 20th-century Russian literature, winning the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is best known for writing about the Soviet gulags, where he had been imprisoned for criticizing Stalin. In 1974 he was stripped of his Soviet citizenship and exiled, but he returned to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, where he died in 2008.
We asked Russian literature specialist Michael Nicholson, Emeritus Fellow at University College, Oxford, to talk us through the best books to learn more about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
“It was a critical book – an entirely objective account of a victim in a labour camp. Just one day in an ordinary labour camp. Not exaggerated, not even a particularly nasty day. The most extraordinary part is how is got printed. It ran contrary to everyone in the Communist Party in Russia, but the Novy Mir editor Tvardovsky snuck a copy in to Khrushchev and said, ‘This is awfully good, you ought to publish it’. And he did. It was an extraordinary stroke of luck. And once it was printed, as Galina put it, ‘The Soviet government had let the genie out of the bottle, and however hard they tried later, they couldn’t put it back in’… After One Day in the Life, Solzhenitsyn didn’t publish anything for a long time, but meanwhile he was hoarding the real killer book – The Gulag Archipelago. When he published that, he was arrested and sent to the West in handcuffs. That’s where I met him, in Zurich in 1976.” Read more...
Robert Conquest, Historian
“August 1914 is the 20th-century equivalent of War and Peace. But Solzhenitsyn rejects Tolstoy’s belief that individuals can’t change history. Solzhenitsyn viewed 1914 as Russia’s last opportunity to save itself from the Bolshevik horror. It was that moment when people united against a common enemy, but because of political shenanigans, lack of will and incompetence, that was lost. It sounds serious, but he’s quite mocking and joking. It’s a diatribe against Bolshevism and all its horrors and he uses every weapon including humour.” Read more...
The best books on Why Russia isn’t a Democracy
Martin Sixsmith, Foreign Correspondent
The First Circle
by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
***Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature***
“What this book helped me to do is think of Stalin as a cross between Big Brother and the Wizard of Oz. His presence is everywhere, but he’s nowhere and doesn’t really show himself very much. And, actually, in those four chapters, the real Stalin is this rather pathetic, elderly man with yellow teeth who doesn’t wash. He’s just insignificant, somehow. He doesn’t command respect or authority from his persona. He commands authority because of the system he’s at the center of.”
Orlando Figes, interview on the best Russian novels, 31 August, 2022
“The Gulag is a very microcosmic, intensive form of Stalinism and other writers—like Shalamov for example—have described the Gulag in a way that is unforgettable. But as a broad canvas, albeit set in a very privileged part of the Gulag, of how this Nineteen Eighty-Four world works, The First Circle does more than any other book to get us there.” Read more...
Orlando Figes, Historian
“It’s relentless. That’s one of its qualities. It piles detail on detail on detail, and all with this very highly charged and often sarcastic tone. I was, of course, extremely interested in the content when it first came out, but I was also tremendously struck by the way it was written. I remember giving a paper called ‘The Humour of Solzhenitsyn.’…He has this wonderful image of a parallel continent, this ‘archipelago’, which is unseen until you accidentally cross into it and you realize it’s there. That’s one of the remarkable aspects. He has a wonderfully systematic and obsessive way of setting it all out.” Read more...
The best books on The Soviet Union
Sheila Fitzpatrick, Historian
“I chose this book because it’s a work of fiction, and fiction is sometimes better at giving you a sense of the man than fact. Lenin, though a historical figure, is also a mythical figure. For many, he was not really a human being. His statue was in every town in the Soviet Union. He became a cult. Whether you love him or hate him he’s a sort of god, and as such he’s very difficult to recover through purely historical materials. What Solzhenitsyn has done is rescue Lenin from that weirdly effacing fame. Of course it isn’t the real Lenin he gives you, but it’s the sense of a real human being, written by a man who had thought about Lenin a great deal.” Read more...
The best books on The Russian Revolution
Roland Chambers, Biographer
Interviews where books by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn were recommended
The best books on The Russian Revolution, recommended by Roland Chambers
The Russian revolution was the beginning of the modern age, says award-winning author Roland Chambers. He tells us what Solzhenitsyn imagined Lenin was like, and about the children’s author who led a double life as a spy in Bolshevik Russia.
The best books on The Soviet Union, recommended by Sheila Fitzpatrick
The Soviet Union was the world’s first communist country and lasted around seven decades. It played a key role in defeating Nazism in Europe and became a global superpower before collapsing unexpectedly in 1991. Sheila Fitzpatrick, a leading historian of the Soviet Union, recommends books that bring to life different aspects of it, from forced labour in Glavnoye Upravleniye LAGerey (GULAG) to the heady days of the Khrushchev thaw and including the memoir of Stalin’s beloved daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva.
The Best Books About Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, recommended by Michael Nicholson
Russian literature specialist Michael Nicholson, Emeritus Fellow at University College, Oxford, talks us through the best books to learn more about the great Soviet dissident and winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
The Best Russian Novels, recommended by Orlando Figes
They’re among the finest novels ever written, often vast in their scope and ambitious in their subject matter. Some are long, others can be read in an afternoon. They’re also one of the best ways of understanding Russian history. Historian Orlando Figes, author of The Story of Russia and Natasha’s Dance, recommends his favourite Russian novels, from the 19th century to today.
The best books on Why Russia isn’t a Democracy, recommended by Martin Sixsmith
The former BBC Moscow correspondent and author Martin Sixsmith chooses five great works on Russia’s doomed democracies.
Short Classic Books
Classic books have stood the test of time and continue to appeal to new readers, but they can feel intimidating. Whether you want to ease your way into classic literature by starting with shorter books, don’t have much time to read, or simply admire writers who are able to say more with less, below is a list of short classic books recommended by experts on Five Books over the years.
The best books on Communism, recommended by Robert Conquest
Esteemed historian of the Soviet Union recommends five books on Communism, from novels and personal narratives to theoretical works.
