Death of Solzhenitsyn: a dazzling flame extinguished
Maswood Alam Khan | Thursday, 7 August 2008
Not for a split of a second time freezes, not for a micro millimeter the Earth wobbles off its trajectory at the deaths of thousands of people everyday. But, at times news of death of a single luminary sends people the world over into fits of hallucination, grief, angst, pain and heartache that make them believe that the clock, as if, has stopped ticking, the earth stalled revolving, and the sun paused shining to mourn extinguishment of a blaze that glowed for ages to illuminate abodes of humanity.
Such has been the death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn of Russia as were the deaths of Rabindranath Tagore of Bengal and de Gaulle the Great of France and as would be the death of Suchitra Sen, the heartthrob of millions of Bengali cine-goers.
Solzhenitsyn's bidding farewell to this world as he reached only 89 has numbed millions of readers (I am one of them) who discovered Soviet Union through his writings. Hailed as Russia's greatest living writer, the author of more than two dozen books in addition to commentaries, poems, plays and film scripts, such a stellar figure must not be allowed to bid us adieu before he reaches at least 100, if not more.
The sad news has evoked our memory of those engrossed moments when we used to delve into "August 1914", "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", or "The Gulag Archipelago"---to cite a few of many grand pieces authored by Solzhenitsyn, the reclusive icon of the Russian intelligentsia and the great chronicler of communist repression.
Most of his books were translated into English and greeted as best-sellers in the West. Since he was 9, he had written stories, poems and plays, though not before early 1960s during the tenure of Nikita Khrushchev when the Soviet Union was experiencing a short-lived period of liberalization Solzhenitsyn began to reveal his secret life as a writer.
In the later part of 1980s I read a monumental history of the 20th century Russia in "August 1914" that was translated by Willets into English. The historical narrative about Russia's defeat in the 'Battle of Masurian Lakes' blended with fictional snippets and anecdotes as depicted and articulated in the novel easily transports a reader right onto the battlefield where he can clearly hear the cannons bursting fires and soldiers stepping in a quick marches as vividly as in a real war.
If a novel translated into English could vivify so brilliantly a battle to an alien reader like me to visualize the scenes and sounds so vibrantly, I wonder what the novel in its original Russian version could do to a reader whose mother tongue is Russian!
V. I. Lenin was and still is revered by the Russians as a godly stature because he was the founder of the Soviet Union. It was perhaps only Solzhenitsyn who did not spare even Lenin from his caustic assailment. Communism, Solzhenitsyn asserted, with its malevolent and unyielding nature did in fact suffocate the Soviet Union turning the country into a cold and sterile nation.
He was neither hesitant to criticize the West where he spent 20 years of his exile life; he viewed the United States and the West in general as flaccid, morally weak, cravenly materialistic and suffering from "the spiritual impotence that comes from living a life of ease."
His masterwork "The Gulag Archipelago" was the loud banner displayed to the world to describe the brutal network of labour camps across the Soviet Union during Dictator Josef Stalin's frenzied industrialization drive during which time tens of millions of men, women and children perished. Frustrated by increased harassment of the Soviet regime to block his efforts to have his works published he had to smuggle his "The Gulag Archipelago" manuscripts out on microfilm that was published in Paris in 1973.
The soulful writer, Nobel laureate and the spiritual father of Russia's nationalist patriotic movement was nonetheless reunited in 1994 with his adored homeland after two decades of exile---only to be distressed once again by the damage done to his beloved land and people and by the way the pristine Russian character was disfigured under the heavy weight and harsh wraths of communism; he was as distraught as he was when he was denounced as a traitor, stripped of his citizenship and expelled from his home back in 1974.
Solzhenitsyn met Natalia Reshtovskaya during his salad days in college and married her in 1941.
Pundits, who are researching on Solzhenitsyn's life and works, know it better why shortly before his release from prison---not after---he divorced Natalia in 1956! More mind-boggling to us is why Solzhenitsyn had remarried Natalia Reshtovskaya only after a year or two and again divorced her in 1973! By then he had fallen in love with another lady with the same first name 'Natalia' but a different surname 'Svetlova' with whom he had had three sons.
Perhaps to Solzhenitsyn 'divorce' was not a good idea; he probably tried his best to reconcile with Natalia Reshtovskaya and made an attempt to rediscover his first wife by remarrying her after the first divorce, but gave in to go for the second divorce after the retrial of their marriage for more than a decade utterly failed. Maybe, the first name 'Natalia' bore special significance or an extraordinary fragrance to Solzhenitsyn who attempted to find her Miss Right in both Natalia Reshtovskaya and Natalia Svetlova.
Solzhenitsyn could not imagine of divorcing his homeland though he had to endure tribulations after tribulations. After he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970 Solzhenitsyn did not proceed for Stockholm to receive the prize; he feared he would not be allowed to return to his homeland if he went to the Swedish capital. Only after his expulsion---a forced divorce---he did go to Stockholm in 1974 to receive the prize.
Solzhenitsyn had to undergo ordeals after ordeals for a simple reason: his unalloyed patriotism. He volunteered for the military and was turned down; he was drafted to fight against the German advances during World War 11; he was appointed commander of a battery to fight on the front lines.
He was arrested for remarks he made in letters; he was convicted for anti-Soviet behaviour and was sentenced to eight years in prison; he was condemned to exile in perpetuity; he spent a lot of time in different labor camps when more than once he was stricken with cancer---an experience that led him to write his novel "Cancer Ward".
Tributes have been pouring in for Alexander Solzhenitsyn who died last Sunday. Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, described him as a man of unique destiny who spoke up about the inhumanity of Stalin's regime with a full voice, and about the people who lived through this but were not broken. French President Nicolas Sarkozy called him "one of Russia's greatest consciences of the 20th century" and said: "His refusal to compromise, his ideals and his long and eventful life make Alexander Solzhenitsyn a romantic figure, an heir of Dostoyevsky's." He said Solzhenitsyn "belongs to the pantheon of world literature."
Thousands of stars we find sparkling in the nocturnal sky are not all living stars; some are alive and many are dead. There is probability that the star which is now twinkling to our eyes was extinguished to death thousands of years back but still the star looks alive to us---the inhabitants of the planet Earth; because the powerful rays of light of the star that emitted eons ago went on traveling around the space for thousands of years next after the star's death.
One day our nearest star the 'Sun' will also be extinguished to death; but its light will go on traveling alive for living beings, if any, inhabiting in an Earth-like planet far away in the havens to sight the star "Sun" twinkling to their eyes!
Long after the memory of Solzhenitsyn -- whose identity as a writer far surpasses his identity as a dissident -- as a man would be faded, readers will continue to be astounded by his skill, his pithy, his succinct sentences, and most of all at his ability to create such vivid imagery in so few words.
In short, Solzhenitsyn may have been extinguished to death, but his aura as a genius will go on radiating around the earth and illuminating the aesthetic faculties of the posterity for the next thousands of years.
The writer is General Manager, Bangladesh Krishi Bank. He can be reached at e-mail:
[email protected]
Such has been the death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn of Russia as were the deaths of Rabindranath Tagore of Bengal and de Gaulle the Great of France and as would be the death of Suchitra Sen, the heartthrob of millions of Bengali cine-goers.
Solzhenitsyn's bidding farewell to this world as he reached only 89 has numbed millions of readers (I am one of them) who discovered Soviet Union through his writings. Hailed as Russia's greatest living writer, the author of more than two dozen books in addition to commentaries, poems, plays and film scripts, such a stellar figure must not be allowed to bid us adieu before he reaches at least 100, if not more.
The sad news has evoked our memory of those engrossed moments when we used to delve into "August 1914", "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", or "The Gulag Archipelago"---to cite a few of many grand pieces authored by Solzhenitsyn, the reclusive icon of the Russian intelligentsia and the great chronicler of communist repression.
Most of his books were translated into English and greeted as best-sellers in the West. Since he was 9, he had written stories, poems and plays, though not before early 1960s during the tenure of Nikita Khrushchev when the Soviet Union was experiencing a short-lived period of liberalization Solzhenitsyn began to reveal his secret life as a writer.
In the later part of 1980s I read a monumental history of the 20th century Russia in "August 1914" that was translated by Willets into English. The historical narrative about Russia's defeat in the 'Battle of Masurian Lakes' blended with fictional snippets and anecdotes as depicted and articulated in the novel easily transports a reader right onto the battlefield where he can clearly hear the cannons bursting fires and soldiers stepping in a quick marches as vividly as in a real war.
If a novel translated into English could vivify so brilliantly a battle to an alien reader like me to visualize the scenes and sounds so vibrantly, I wonder what the novel in its original Russian version could do to a reader whose mother tongue is Russian!
V. I. Lenin was and still is revered by the Russians as a godly stature because he was the founder of the Soviet Union. It was perhaps only Solzhenitsyn who did not spare even Lenin from his caustic assailment. Communism, Solzhenitsyn asserted, with its malevolent and unyielding nature did in fact suffocate the Soviet Union turning the country into a cold and sterile nation.
He was neither hesitant to criticize the West where he spent 20 years of his exile life; he viewed the United States and the West in general as flaccid, morally weak, cravenly materialistic and suffering from "the spiritual impotence that comes from living a life of ease."
His masterwork "The Gulag Archipelago" was the loud banner displayed to the world to describe the brutal network of labour camps across the Soviet Union during Dictator Josef Stalin's frenzied industrialization drive during which time tens of millions of men, women and children perished. Frustrated by increased harassment of the Soviet regime to block his efforts to have his works published he had to smuggle his "The Gulag Archipelago" manuscripts out on microfilm that was published in Paris in 1973.
The soulful writer, Nobel laureate and the spiritual father of Russia's nationalist patriotic movement was nonetheless reunited in 1994 with his adored homeland after two decades of exile---only to be distressed once again by the damage done to his beloved land and people and by the way the pristine Russian character was disfigured under the heavy weight and harsh wraths of communism; he was as distraught as he was when he was denounced as a traitor, stripped of his citizenship and expelled from his home back in 1974.
Solzhenitsyn met Natalia Reshtovskaya during his salad days in college and married her in 1941.
Pundits, who are researching on Solzhenitsyn's life and works, know it better why shortly before his release from prison---not after---he divorced Natalia in 1956! More mind-boggling to us is why Solzhenitsyn had remarried Natalia Reshtovskaya only after a year or two and again divorced her in 1973! By then he had fallen in love with another lady with the same first name 'Natalia' but a different surname 'Svetlova' with whom he had had three sons.
Perhaps to Solzhenitsyn 'divorce' was not a good idea; he probably tried his best to reconcile with Natalia Reshtovskaya and made an attempt to rediscover his first wife by remarrying her after the first divorce, but gave in to go for the second divorce after the retrial of their marriage for more than a decade utterly failed. Maybe, the first name 'Natalia' bore special significance or an extraordinary fragrance to Solzhenitsyn who attempted to find her Miss Right in both Natalia Reshtovskaya and Natalia Svetlova.
Solzhenitsyn could not imagine of divorcing his homeland though he had to endure tribulations after tribulations. After he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970 Solzhenitsyn did not proceed for Stockholm to receive the prize; he feared he would not be allowed to return to his homeland if he went to the Swedish capital. Only after his expulsion---a forced divorce---he did go to Stockholm in 1974 to receive the prize.
Solzhenitsyn had to undergo ordeals after ordeals for a simple reason: his unalloyed patriotism. He volunteered for the military and was turned down; he was drafted to fight against the German advances during World War 11; he was appointed commander of a battery to fight on the front lines.
He was arrested for remarks he made in letters; he was convicted for anti-Soviet behaviour and was sentenced to eight years in prison; he was condemned to exile in perpetuity; he spent a lot of time in different labor camps when more than once he was stricken with cancer---an experience that led him to write his novel "Cancer Ward".
Tributes have been pouring in for Alexander Solzhenitsyn who died last Sunday. Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, described him as a man of unique destiny who spoke up about the inhumanity of Stalin's regime with a full voice, and about the people who lived through this but were not broken. French President Nicolas Sarkozy called him "one of Russia's greatest consciences of the 20th century" and said: "His refusal to compromise, his ideals and his long and eventful life make Alexander Solzhenitsyn a romantic figure, an heir of Dostoyevsky's." He said Solzhenitsyn "belongs to the pantheon of world literature."
Thousands of stars we find sparkling in the nocturnal sky are not all living stars; some are alive and many are dead. There is probability that the star which is now twinkling to our eyes was extinguished to death thousands of years back but still the star looks alive to us---the inhabitants of the planet Earth; because the powerful rays of light of the star that emitted eons ago went on traveling around the space for thousands of years next after the star's death.
One day our nearest star the 'Sun' will also be extinguished to death; but its light will go on traveling alive for living beings, if any, inhabiting in an Earth-like planet far away in the havens to sight the star "Sun" twinkling to their eyes!
Long after the memory of Solzhenitsyn -- whose identity as a writer far surpasses his identity as a dissident -- as a man would be faded, readers will continue to be astounded by his skill, his pithy, his succinct sentences, and most of all at his ability to create such vivid imagery in so few words.
In short, Solzhenitsyn may have been extinguished to death, but his aura as a genius will go on radiating around the earth and illuminating the aesthetic faculties of the posterity for the next thousands of years.
The writer is General Manager, Bangladesh Krishi Bank. He can be reached at e-mail:
[email protected]