It didn't make a big splash in the news, but Alexander Solzhenitsyn passed away earlier this month. He was an author of immense talent who accomplished a great deal during his career as a writer.



Imprisoned in the gulags for making critical remarks about Stalin, Solzhenitsyn survived and spent most of his life exposing the Soviet prison system through his writing. His masterwork, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, was the first glimpse into the gulags for many people both within and outside Russia.



In addition to it's historical and political significance, Ivan Denisovich was also a landmark piece of writing. The author's depictions of the individual prisoners and their comradery is something I will never forget.

Solzhenitsyn would go on to write The Gulag Archipelago, his most comprehensive work.



Though he initially received support from some Russian political leaders seeking to distance themselves from Stalin, the political climate changed again and Solzhenitsyn was eventually expelled from Russia. He refused to return until after the collapse of the Soviet Union, spending 20 years in the United States.

He passes away during a time when the Russian government has once again tightened it's control of the press.



"The death of Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn is a heavy loss for the whole of Russia," said a statement from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin -- a former agent with the KGB security service that led the persecution campaign against Solzhenitsyn.

State television ran solemn reports on his life but there were no visible signs of grief on Moscow streets. Younger people confessed they knew little about his work.

(Sections in italics from the Reuters article cited below)

Reuters article