Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Even in soporific Canada, which always lagged behind, a leading television commentator lectured me that I presumed to judge the experience of the world from the viewpoint of my limited Soviet and prison camp experience,” Solzhenitsyn recalled. “Indeed, how true! Life and death, imprisonment and hunger, the cultivation of the soul despite the captivity of the body: how very limited this is compared to the bright world of political parties, yesterday’s numbers on the stock exchange, amusements without end, and exotic foreign travel! Looking forward to adding We Have C... tinyroofnail.micro.blog

@tinyroofnail Much as I admire Solzhenitsyn, it feels to me as if he's cheating here, pitting his experiences against the glitziest and most superficial aspects of the west. I'm sensitive to this right now because I feel as if so many people build a picture of the Satanic West mostly through the media (TV for Solzhenitsyn, internet for us), when they might have a very different experience if they just went outside, walked around, met their neighbors, chatted with the server at Dunkin Donuts, and so on. Turning patriotic in my old age, I suppose.

@JohnBrady I am thinking about this phenomenon with respect to all left-to-right diagnostics of American ailments, honestly — checking myself by just talking with people when I travel, on the bus, in a taxi, etc. Keeps the Big Overarching everything at bay...

@JohnBrady A fair point, and a good reminder. I take his point, even if broadly. I also assume there will be some unavoidable anachronisms with quoting him, and do think he had to do an excessive amount of self-defense against a culture that was all too ready to blind itself to Soviet horrors in the name of denouncing the West. (See Paul Hollander’s Political Pilgrims.) But my reading of Solzhenitsyn is very limited, so I can’t say much more than that.

That said — and to your point — that “the cultivation of the soul” despite hardships can occur anywhere, in any particular person’s life, is wonderfully true. Still, those extreme examples inspire for good reason. I’m much more moved by less popularized biographies like the Mandelstams.