the author of several books detailing the nasty side of stalin’s prison system - was there a nice side? - was 89 years old. i still remember the incredible experience of viewing the film version of ”one day in the life of ivan denisovich”. based on the novel of the same name,
the story is set in a soviet labor camp in the 1950s, and describes a single day of an ordinary prisoner, ivan denisovich shukhov. in the film, the title role was played by the talented actor tom courtenay.
a scene that remains etched in my mind from that film is of tom eating a soup made from grass. it single-handedly drove home the disparity between me as a suburban north american and the realities of life for so many russians and people in other countries at that time. courtenay’s yorkshire accent (he was born in hull) in no way distracted from the stunning job he did in carrying that role. have a look and a listen here . . . to read an excerpt from this book go here. it is gripping and unrelenting in its unpacking of the truth of that time.
to describe alexander solzhenitsyn as extraordinary would barely begin to articulate the depth of experience and the courage of this man in detailing the horrible truths of the russian gulag, a labour for which he was awarded the nobel prize for literature in 1970.
four years later, he was exiled for his efforts.
this short film gathers together a series of images and clips of the prison camps. so many lives were wasted or lost in this sad historical remnant of the former soviet union. it is this that solzhenitsyn so bravely exposed and so articulately described to those who lived in the more secure and comfortable parts of the world.
to read solzhenitsyn’s obituary ”go here. lost to this world in body but not in spirit.
4 comments:
This is a nice tribute. I didn't want to hear or see anything that you posted, Steven, and so I didn't. I remember it all only too well. He loved his native country, and exhibited great moral courage and strength of character in his writings.
hi goldenrod,
i think i understand your reticence to "see and hear" anything that provided colour or texture to a particular point in history that was especially ugly. i added it with some considered reluctance as a courtesy to my younger visitors for whom the whole notion of gulags, stalin, and especially a society as punitively repressive as the former soviet union is a complete mystery.
as i mentioned in my post, i was forever changed by my viewing of the film of his book. not only in my understanding of the soviet union, but later of other similarly horrible and morally untenable situations both past and present.
steven
Perhaps it's not the same in Canada, Steven, but here in the US it appears to me as tho there's a whole lot of 'revisionist history' going on. It's almost like people prefer to be ostriches ... if they hide their heads deep enough in the sand, they will be invisible ... or, if they ignore it long enuf, they can pretend it never happened. It's an ugly subject, Steven. [I] know it's there, but there are an increasing number of people in the world -- just my opinion now, OK? -- who would prefer to 'pretend' and, indeed, live in complete ignorance of the actual facts.
canada is very much a place like america insomuch as there are people who choose to ignore certain realities, and others who fight to expose them. our dilemma is that we are compelled politically and economically (and the two are to a degree inseparable) to follow the lead of a certain portion of america.
a little point of clarification is warranted here.
i worked in kansas one summer on a ranch and met what i think of as "real americans". they were honest, idealistic, "simply complex", and good people. they undid my perception of americans as being like those i had met in nyc.
it is clear that there are a group of people in north america and europe - i won't divide the responsibility up by country - who are hiding, retelling, reshaping, and distorting history as it has been and is being experienced. there are also a large group of people who are ignoring the realities of all that is part of the human condition.
when i wrote the solzhenitsyn piece, i walked the line of personal conviction to a point. the blog is supposed to be about an unravelling of sorts, but as i wrote it and included the images and text i knew that i had wandered into territory previously and to some degree consciously avoided even though i work quietly but concertedly in my personal and professional lives for social justice. thanks for your frankness goldenrod!!
steven
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