FEATURES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-01194A000100810001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 7, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 14, 1971
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

CONFIDENTIAL
Approved For Release 2000/08/29 : CIA-
FEATURES
"Books: Solzhenitsyn," Edmund Wilson, The New Yorker, 14 August 1971.
We are reissuing this 2 1/2 year old survey of Solzhenitsyn's writings
as background on his accomplishments and stature by one of America's pre-
eminent men-of-letters. With current attention focussed on "Gulag Archi-
pelago, 1918-1956," Wilson's review discusses Solzhenitsyn's major works
of fiction with the exception of "August, 1914," which had not appeared
at the time. Station officers and media assets not too familiar with
Solzhenitsyn's biography and literary record should find Wilson's article
a succinct and sympathetic understanding of the man and his writings.
An additional reason for resurrecting the Wilson piece at this time is
that he illuminates an aspect of Solzhenitsyn that Wilson calls "his some-
what masochistic point of view." Wilson argues Russians are conditioned to
accept this implicitly, but for "an Anglo-Saxon reader, there is something
that rebels against this... Reading Solzhenitsyn in bulk, we are given
the impression that nothing can ever come out right... The unvaried
frustration in Solzhenitsyn becomes in the long run monotonous; one feels
that it is systematic, that, except, for his recognition of the virtue of
sheer endurance, it is Solzhenitsyn's only theme. We always expect what is
going to happen: someone is going to be cheated, to be disappointed,
squelched." To this we would only add that, appropriate as it may seem to
non-Russian readers, Solzhenitsyn is directing "Gulag Archipelago" at
his fellow countrymen, and that as non-fiction, "Gulag" grows in significanc
to the extent these cited remarks by Wilson are substantiated by
Solzhenitsyn's evidence.
This issuance contains articles from domestic and foreign
publications selected for field operational use. Recipients are
cautioned that most of this material is copyrighted. For repub-
lication in areas where copyright infringement may cause prob-
lems payment of copyright fees not to exceed $50.00 is authorized
per previous instructions. The attachment is unclassified when
detached.
5X1A
E-2, 1A301
bged.-ftr Rlease 2000/0plar.3E191fAki-.RDP79-01194A000100810001-6
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PLAYS ?
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