Biographer Joseph Pearce Discusses Critic of Communism
By Annamarie Adkins
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, some people predicted that global affairs had reached "the end of history" and that democratic capitalism had definitively triumphed. Now, as the West teeters on the verge of economic crisis and suffers from the increasing statist imposition of illiberal dogmas, the prophetic voice of Alexander Solzhenitsyn -- one of the 20th century's greatest writers who saw the same errors at the heart of both the capitalist and communist systems -- seems more timely than ever.
According to Solzhenitsyn biographer Joseph Pearce, the heroic Russian dissident knew that the materialism that shaped the culture of both capitalist and communist societies was ultimately inhuman because of its denial of spiritual values and because it led to serious environmental degradation.
The professor of literature and writer-in-residence at Ave Maria University has updated and reissued his biography, "Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile" (Ignatius Press), including new chapters written after conducting more interviews with Solzhenitsyn's family. The latest edition also follows the Russian writer's death in 2008.
Pearce spoke to ZENIT about what Solzhenitsyn's monumental writings can tell us today about our own spiritual, cultural and political condition. ....
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By Annamarie Adkins
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, some people predicted that global affairs had reached "the end of history" and that democratic capitalism had definitively triumphed. Now, as the West teeters on the verge of economic crisis and suffers from the increasing statist imposition of illiberal dogmas, the prophetic voice of Alexander Solzhenitsyn -- one of the 20th century's greatest writers who saw the same errors at the heart of both the capitalist and communist systems -- seems more timely than ever.
According to Solzhenitsyn biographer Joseph Pearce, the heroic Russian dissident knew that the materialism that shaped the culture of both capitalist and communist societies was ultimately inhuman because of its denial of spiritual values and because it led to serious environmental degradation.
The professor of literature and writer-in-residence at Ave Maria University has updated and reissued his biography, "Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile" (Ignatius Press), including new chapters written after conducting more interviews with Solzhenitsyn's family. The latest edition also follows the Russian writer's death in 2008.
Pearce spoke to ZENIT about what Solzhenitsyn's monumental writings can tell us today about our own spiritual, cultural and political condition. ....
.................................
Read more: www.zenit.org
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