Is it possible to learn from another’s experience? Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn repeatedly raised this question about the Russian experience and its impact on other nations, but we Americans might also ask it about ourselves. In our increasingly polarized nation, can we learn from one another? A new volume, edited by David P. Deavel and Jessica Hooten Wilson, continues Solzhenitsyn’s inquiry, priming the reader to reexamine (or approach for the first time) his work as well as that of other Russian writers. In honor of the late Solzhenitsyn scholar Edward E. Ericson Jr., Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West approaches the study of Solzhenitsyn “not merely as an intellectual pursuit but also to learn how best to live.”
In 21 essays on different facets of Solzhenitsyn’s work, the larger Russian tradition, and the influence of both on American culture, the volume’s contributors take seriously the claim that the Russian experience can and should speak to a Western audience. America may still be a liberal regime, but we are no less immune to ideological and totalitarian impulses, as targets of today’s cancel culture can affirm. We would do well, then, to consider the lessons Solzhenitsyn and other Russian thinkers learned from life under a totalitarian regime, and this volume provides a good starting point. Indeed, its reflections on Solzhenitsyn’s understanding of human nature, his case for the centrality of repentance in political life, and his faith in the power of art to bridge cultural and political chasms challenge us to examine ourselves and our divided house in light of his thought.
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