Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Return To Russia

Return To Russia

In 1990, his Soviet citizenship was restored, and, in 1994, he returned to Russia with his wife, Natalia, who had become a United States citizen. Their sons stayed behind in the United States (later, his oldest son Yermolai returned to Russia to work for the Moscow office of a leading management consultancy firm). From then until his death, he lived with his wife in a dacha in Troitse-Lykovo (Троице-Лыково) in west Moscow between the dachas once occupied by Soviet leaders Mikhail Suslov and Konstantin Chernenko. A staunch believer in traditional Russian culture, Solzhenitsyn expressed his disillusionment with post-Soviet Russia and called for a restoration of the Russian monarchy. After returning to Russia in 1994, Solzhenitsyn published eight two-part short stories, a series of contemplative "miniatures" or prose poems, a literary memoir on his years in the West (The Grain Between the Millstones) among many other writings.

All of Solzhenitsyn's sons became U.S. citizens. One, Ignat, has achieved acclaim as a pianist and conductor in the United States.

Read more about this topic:  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Famous quotes containing the words return to, return and/or russia:

    I got my first clear view of Ktaadn, on this excursion, from a hill about two miles northwest of Bangor, whither I went for this purpose. After this I was ready to return to Massachusetts.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or
    the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the
    cistern.
    Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit
    shall return unto God who gave it.
    Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, all is vanity.
    Bible: Hebrew Ecclesiastes (l. XII, 6–7)

    In my opinion it is harmful to place important things in the hands of philanthropy, which in Russia is marked by a chance character. Nor should important matters depend on leftovers, which are never there. I would prefer that the government treasury take care of it.
    Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)