Sunday, August 10, 2008

Solzhenitsyn, Resquiat In Pacem 1918-2008

You can Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Harvard Address on the web in what may be a slightly more readable form than mine below. It is supplied by the Augustine Club at Columbia. Nathaniel Peters reflects on Solzhenitsyn's indictment of Western legalism on the First Things blog. I am indebted to Mr. Peters for a link to Chuck Colson's comparison of Solzhenitsyn's Harvard address to Jeremiah's prophesies to the Judeans.

Solzhenitsyn was prophetic, an unwitting instrument of God's voice, and gave us foresight into the future by observing the current truth in its bitter reality. He taught us with his poetic concreteness, his Slavic irony, and the vivid reality of his reporting. He was Tom Wolf without the sight gags. I Am Charlotte Simmonds proves the bitterness of Solzhenitsyn's truth by showing us how far we have slid in the three decades since his Russian words were heard by that sweating host in Harvard Yard.

Amanda Shaw gives us an insight into Solzhenitsyn's use of words as windows to truth, also on the First Things blog.

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