Overview

For many Americans of both right and left political persuasions, the Russian bear is more of a bugbear. On the right, the country is still mentally represented by Soviet domination. For those on the left, it is a harbor for reactionary values and neo-imperial visions. The reality, however, is that, despite Russia's political failures, its rich history of culture, religion, and philosophical reflection-even during the darkest days of the Gulag-have been a deposit of wisdom for American artists, religious thinkers, and political philosophers probing what it means to be human in America. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn stands out as the key figure in this conversation, as both a Russian literary giant and an exile from Russia living in America for two decades. This anthology reconsiders Solzhenitsyn's work from a variety of perspectives-his faith, his politics, and the influences and context of his literature-to provide a prophetic vision for our current national confusion over universal ideals. In Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West, David P. Deavel and Jessica Hooten Wilson have collected essays from the foremost scholars and thinkers of comparative studies who have been tracking what Americans have borrowed and learned from Solzhenitsyn as well as his fellow Russians. The book offers a consideration of what we have in common-the truth, goodness, and beauty America has drawn from Russian culture and from masters such as Solzhenitsyn-and will suggest to readers what we can still learn and what we must preserve. The book will interest fans of Solzhenitsyn and scholars across the disciplines, and it can be used in courses on Solzhenitsyn or Russian literature more broadly. Contributors: David P. Deavel, Jessica Hooten Wilson, Nathan Nielson, Eugene Vodolazkin, David Walsh, Matthew Lee Miller, Ralph C. Wood, Gary Saul Morson, Edward E. Ericson, Jr., Micah Mattix, Joseph Pearce, James F. Pontuso, Daniel J. Mahoney, William Jason Wallace, Lee Trepanier, Peter Leithart, Dale Peterson, Julianna Leachman, Walter G. Moss, and Jacob Howland.

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9780268108250

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The editors have cast their net wide, so that it will be useful both to those who have read little of Solzhenitsyn (yet are looking for points of entry and orientation before plunging in) and for longtime students of his work-not only scholars (though there is plenty here for them to chew on), but also those blessed souls who read widely on their own dime. -First Things Solzhenitsyn and American Culture will deepen Solzhenitsyn's writings in America, which is sorely needed in our country that has ceased to see the purpose and is increasingly willingly to live by lies. We need the wisdom of Solzhenitsyn's reflections on tyranny, so that we can ascend with him to the true heights of man's greatness, which is only found, as he knew, in our Lord. -Richard M. Reinsch II, founding editor of Law and Liberty In reading Solzhenitsyn and American Culture, the mind is enlightened and honed, the will steeled, and our capacity for admiration exercised and nourished. Thanks to the editors and contributors to this volume, they continue to be Solzhenitsyn's gifts to his American readers. -Paul Seaton, St. Mary's Seminary and University Solzhenitsyn and American Culture is a superb and coherent collection of essays. -Lee Congdon, author of The Young Lukacs Readers will be reminded of his courageous witness, but they will also discern more clearly Solzhenitsyn's integral relation to Russian literary culture and to writers from the West with whom he bore deep affinities. Solzhenitsyn remains a prophetic intelligence for our time. -Paul J. Contino, co-editor of Bakhtin and Religion

Solzhenitsyn and American Culture is a superb and coherent collection of essays. Readers will find in it much to encourage serious thought concerning matters of real importance. -Lee Congdon, author of The Young Lukacs

Solzhenitsyn and American Culture is a superb and coherent collection of essays. Readers will find in it much to encourage serious thought concerning matters of real importance. -Lee Congdon, author of The Young Lukacs This wide-ranging collection will inspire many readers to return to Solzhenitsyn's work. Readers will be reminded of his courageous witness, but they will also discern more clearly Solzhenitsyn's integral relation to Russian literary culture, and to writers from the West with whom he bore deep affinities. Solzhenitsyn remains a prophetic intelligence for our time. -Paul J. Contino, co-editor of Bakhtin and Religion

Solzhenitsyn and American Culture is a superb and coherent collection of essays. Readers will find in it much to encourage serious thought concerning matters of real importance. -- Lee Congdon, author of <i>The Young Lukacs</i>

Author Information

David P. Deavel is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, and editor of LOGOS: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture. Jessica Hooten Wilson is the Seaver College Scholar of Liberal Arts at Pepperdine University. She is the author of a number of books, including The Scandal of Holiness.

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