Russian writer Solzhenitsyn dies: report
Russian writer and dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn died of heart failure on Sunday.
By Agencies |
MOSCOW: Russian writer and dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn has died, news agencies reported, citing his son Stepan. He was 89. The Nobel laureate and former dissident died of heart failure on Sunday, the writer's son said, according to agencies.
Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970 after writing harrowing works about the Soviet Union's system of labour camps. He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974, thereby becoming a Cold War icon. He wrote about life in the Gulag with harrowing detail in his most celebrated works: "One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich", "The First Circle" and "The Gulag Archipelago".
After leaving the Soviet Union, he lived in Germany, Switzerland and the United States before returning to Russia in 1994. Since his return, Solzhenitsyn has been critical of both the West and of Russia's post-Soviet evolution, calling for a return to traditional moral values.
In June last year, then Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Solzhenitsyn with the State Prize, Russia's highest honour, praising his devotion to the "fatherland" in a lavish ceremony at the Kremlin. Solzhenitsyn's wife Natalya accepted the award on behalf of her husband, who was unable to attend the ceremony. Speaking via a pre-recorded video message, Solzhenitsyn said he was "flattered by the attention to my work brought by this Russian State Prize."
"Until the end of my life I can hope that the historical material collected by me and presented to my readers, enters the consciousness and memory of my fellow countrymen," he said.
Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970 after writing harrowing works about the Soviet Union's system of labour camps. He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974, thereby becoming a Cold War icon. He wrote about life in the Gulag with harrowing detail in his most celebrated works: "One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich", "The First Circle" and "The Gulag Archipelago".
After leaving the Soviet Union, he lived in Germany, Switzerland and the United States before returning to Russia in 1994. Since his return, Solzhenitsyn has been critical of both the West and of Russia's post-Soviet evolution, calling for a return to traditional moral values.
In June last year, then Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Solzhenitsyn with the State Prize, Russia's highest honour, praising his devotion to the "fatherland" in a lavish ceremony at the Kremlin. Solzhenitsyn's wife Natalya accepted the award on behalf of her husband, who was unable to attend the ceremony. Speaking via a pre-recorded video message, Solzhenitsyn said he was "flattered by the attention to my work brought by this Russian State Prize."
"Until the end of my life I can hope that the historical material collected by me and presented to my readers, enters the consciousness and memory of my fellow countrymen," he said.
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