Solzhenitsyn was one of the greatest writers of all time, and a writer whose works I was privileged to teach. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is, in my opinion, one of the most profound books ever written. I've read it and taught it again and again. The Cancer Ward come as close second--and other works of his.
Solzhenitsyn was not a poet--but I remember reading a book of short prose vignettes by him that approached poetry. One of them inspired one of the first poems I published--in fact, I think it was the first poem I published--called "Abandoned Chapel." It was a take-off of one of Solzhenitsyn's prose pieces that described a locked-up, abandoned church.
Planet earth has certain lost an elder statesman for freedom and human dignity.
dwl
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