Originally published on August 26, 2015 (Episode 27)
Introduction
In August 1973, the Soviet secret police seized a draft of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago. By the end of the year, it was published in Paris, an “experiment in literary investigation” that reshaped the world’s understanding of the Soviet system. The consequences were immediate: Solzhenitsyn was arrested, expelled from the Soviet Union, and forced into exile, where he continued his work on his monumental historical novel sequence, The Red Wheel.
Daniel J. Mahoney joins Al Zambone to discuss Solzhenitsyn’s views of memory, history, repentance, and collective guilt. Together they explore what The Gulag Archipelago and The Red Wheel reveal about Solzhenitsyn’s philosophy of history—one that emphasizes moral judgment and the demands of truth.
About the Guest
Daniel J. Mahoney is Professor of Political Science at Assumption College in Massachusetts. He is the author of numerous works on Solzhenitsyn and modern political philosophy, including The Other Solzhenitsyn: Telling the Truth About a Misunderstood Writer and Thinker.
For Further Investigation
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigations, vols. I-III, trans. H.T. Willetts (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2014)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago: Authorized Abridgement, foreword by Anne Applebaum (Harper Perennial, 2007)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Red Wheel: Knot II, trans. H.T. Willetts (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2014)
Edward E. Ericson, Jr. and Daniel J. Mahoney, eds., The Solzhenitsyn Reader (ISI Books, 2008)
Edward E. Ericson, Jr. & Alexis Klimoff, The Soul and Barbed Wire: An Introduction to Solzhenitsyn (ISI Books, 2008)
Daniel J. Mahoney, The Other Solzhenitsyn: Telling the Truth About a Misunderstood Writer and Thinker (St. Augustine’s Press, 2014)
Listen & Discuss
What does Solzhenitsyn teach us about history’s moral dimension? Can historical investigation ever be separated from moral judgment? Share your thoughts in the comments, and send this conversation to someone who reads Russian literature, or who wonders about the uses of history.
