ID :
14933
Tue, 08/05/2008 - 15:24
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http://m.oananews.org//node/14933
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Nobel Laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn dies at 89
Moscow, Aug 5 (PTI) - Renowned Russian writer and dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn, whose accounts of the Stalin-era
Soviet prison camp system won him the Nobel Prize for literature, has died of cardiac arrest.
The 89-year old Solzhenitsyn, who is known for his celebrated works like 'The Gulag Archipelago,' 'Cancer Ward' and 'A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich', died at his home Sunday in the countryside near here.
His most famous work 'the Gulag Archipelago', was based on his own experiences in a Soviet labour camp, as well as on the testimony of 227 former prisoners.
While serving as a commander during the Second World War, Solzhenitsyn was arrested for writing a "derogatory comment" about Russian dictator Joseph Stalin in a letter to a friend. He was accused of anti-Soviet propaganda and had to spend eight years in a concentration camp.
The work, which brought to light the harrowing tales of the 'Gulag' or prison system, won the dissident writer the prestigious Nobel Prize in 1970, while also earning him an exile order from the Communist regime.
He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974 under Communist leader Leonid Brezhnev and his books were banned in the country. The ban was lifted in 1989, following the Perestroika reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev.
Solzhenitsyn returned to the country from the U.S. after the collapse of the Soviet Union and travelled to Moscow from the country's east coast.
His widow, Natalya, who has undertaken to publish his complete works, told Echo of Moscow radio that he lived a "difficult but happy life".
The novelist, dramatist and historian was also conferred with Russia's highest honour, the State Prize, last year for his "devotion to the fatherland".
A true Russian nationalist, Solzhenitsyn had lauded ex-President Vladimir Putin's reforms to restore Russia's national glory, but was not very fond of the political elite life and led a secluded life in the countryside.
President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin have sent a condolence message to the Solzhenitsyn family, Kremlin press office said. Putin called the writer's demise "a heavy loss for the whole of Russia".
Meanwhile, Soviet Union's last leader Mikhail Gorbachev said the writer "fought for Russia not only to move away from its totalitarian past but also to have a worthy future, to become a truly free and democratic country", Interfax news agency reported. PTI VS
The 89-year old Solzhenitsyn, who is known for his celebrated works like 'The Gulag Archipelago,' 'Cancer Ward' and 'A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich', died at his home Sunday in the countryside near here.
His most famous work 'the Gulag Archipelago', was based on his own experiences in a Soviet labour camp, as well as on the testimony of 227 former prisoners.
While serving as a commander during the Second World War, Solzhenitsyn was arrested for writing a "derogatory comment" about Russian dictator Joseph Stalin in a letter to a friend. He was accused of anti-Soviet propaganda and had to spend eight years in a concentration camp.
The work, which brought to light the harrowing tales of the 'Gulag' or prison system, won the dissident writer the prestigious Nobel Prize in 1970, while also earning him an exile order from the Communist regime.
He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974 under Communist leader Leonid Brezhnev and his books were banned in the country. The ban was lifted in 1989, following the Perestroika reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev.
Solzhenitsyn returned to the country from the U.S. after the collapse of the Soviet Union and travelled to Moscow from the country's east coast.
His widow, Natalya, who has undertaken to publish his complete works, told Echo of Moscow radio that he lived a "difficult but happy life".
The novelist, dramatist and historian was also conferred with Russia's highest honour, the State Prize, last year for his "devotion to the fatherland".
A true Russian nationalist, Solzhenitsyn had lauded ex-President Vladimir Putin's reforms to restore Russia's national glory, but was not very fond of the political elite life and led a secluded life in the countryside.
President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin have sent a condolence message to the Solzhenitsyn family, Kremlin press office said. Putin called the writer's demise "a heavy loss for the whole of Russia".
Meanwhile, Soviet Union's last leader Mikhail Gorbachev said the writer "fought for Russia not only to move away from its totalitarian past but also to have a worthy future, to become a truly free and democratic country", Interfax news agency reported. PTI VS
