Russians mourn dissident hero Solzhenitsyn

The Chief has read everything by Solzhenitsyn that he could get his hands on…both in the 60’s and (early) 70’s when he was “cool”, and later when he spoke out against the “Evil Empire” as it was spotlighted by Reagan…and therefore became “un-cool”, at least to the MSM.

Russians on Monday mourned Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the author and dissident whose criticism of the tyranny of Soviet rule made him one of the bravest figures of the 20th century. Solzhenitsyn, a Nobel literature laureate, died of heart failure late on Sunday in his Moscow home. He was 89.

It’s worth noting that Aleksander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn’s passing has generated a further piece of irony:

“The death of Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn is a heavy loss for the whole of Russia,” said a telegram from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a former agent with the KGB security service that led the persecution campaign against Solzhenitsyn.

It’ll be a long while before there’s another Russian writer of the stature of Solzhenitsyn again. The Chief would place him in a league with Tolstoy, and Doesteyevsky.