>Solzhenistsyn recently wrote a book about this subject.
Chsis quoted in full a defense by the National Review for Sept. 17 2001. The interesting thing about this review is that it had almost nothing about the book ((Two Hundred Years Together). Almost the whole article was devoted to defending Solzhenitsyn against charges of anti-semitism based on his work and behavior prior to this book. This makes me wonder if the book itself is indefensible... ---------------- I haven't read the book, and probably never will, but I do know Sol. preserves the distinction between the "Russians" and "Jews" and points out that ordinary Russians have suffered just as much historically as Russian Jews (he may have a point there, what with most Russians up until the mid 1800s having basically been slaves).
Sol. is not known in Russia as an anti-Semite. He's known as a lot of other things -- hack, pompous ass, traitor, society's conscience, back-to-tsarism lunatic, irrelevant anachronism, depending on the person -- but not as an anti-Semite.
This puts me in mind of one of those anecdotes I'm fond of recounting: I was, um, imbibing with a friend of mine, a Russian artist in his early 40s, when we began talking about Sol. He said, "I remember back in the 70s Solzhenitsyn could do no wrong. But then I read an American magazine that had somehow been smuggled into the country, and Solzhenitsyn was basically arguing for a nuclear first strike against the Soviet Union. And I thought to myself, 'Alexander Isayevich is whoring himself to the Americans. I can understand that, he's a father and he wants money for his children. But you know what? I'm a father too. So my children should die so his can have piano lessons. Fuck you, Solzhenitsyn."
Chris Doss The Russia Journal