To a better life

I heard the news last night from one of my very literary sons that Alexander Solzhenitsyn had died. I think my jaw dropped. Though we are all mortal, the finality of giants is always jarring.

Those who don’t even know Solzhenitsyn as such will get a pretty consicse summary of why in this New York Times article.

But here are a couple of appreciative reflections today on the life and impact of a man whose great pursuit of the truth of the human person is legendary and timeless.

John Mark Reynolds has one of the best pieces of the day.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a great man, but not a man of our age. Like Jeremiah, he spoke hard truths and uncomfortable words that made him sad.

Solzhenitsyn, who died Sunday at age 89, always told the truth even when his audience wanted congratulatory lies.

Many Russians and much of the American Left still do not like to admit that millions were butchered in horrific camps in the name of secularism…

In the West those opposed to communism, on the left and the right, welcomed his genius, until the prophet turned his clear eye on them.

Some Western secularists, libertine materialists, made the mistake of assuming that any enemy of their Soviet enemy was their friend. Solzhenitsyn was opposed to cultural degeneracy in Soviet and Western guises. A culture of consumption and an age which assumed that the ability to do a thing meant that it should be done had no place for excellence or the carefully cultivated soul. Solzhenitsyn saw plainly that much of what we called progress was what most people at most times would have called rotting from the head down.

Secular Harvard gave him a prize, but he made the mistake of thinking Harvard wanted his best thinking at a commencement. I will never forget talking to a witness of that event so infuriated by it that he was still shaking with rage years later.

What infuriated the Harvard crowd? NRO’s editors explain:

Truth was the essential ingredient of his controversial 1978 commencement address at Harvard: “A World Split Apart.” He told the graduates, “[T]ruth eludes us if we do not concentrate with total attention on its pursuit. And even while it eludes us, the illusion still lingers of knowing it and leads to many misunderstandings. Also, truth is seldom pleasant; it is almost invariably bitter.” Solzhenitsyn went on to discuss the multiple ailments of the West.

This speech rocked the country, with many prominent liberals — e.g., Arthur Schlesinger Jr. — denouncing him for it. Sidney Hook wrote, “Rarely in modern times . . . has one man’s voice provoked the Western world to an experience of profound soul-searching.”

This is a good reminder to re-connect with the great books, large thought, the relentless pursuit of truth.

Malcolm Muggeridge called him “the noblest human being alive.” After passing away yesterday, he is now one of the noblest human beings on earth or in heaven. He is one of the greatest witnesses in all history. And, like all great witnesses, he was inspired by love, the crowning quality of his work and life.

He was a faithful servant.