278 - Solzhenitsyn: The Moral Vision

Solzhenitsyn: The Moral Vision
foreword by Malcolm Muggeridge
By Edward E. Ericson, Jr.
Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1980. 239 pp. $12.95.

The most talented and courageous religious voice of our era is lucky to have this author as our guide to his works. Each chapter may be read separately since each considers a separate work or group of works. Yet the cumulative picture serves both as a highly useful biography, as well as a systematic tour though Solzhenitsyn's writings and addresses. Many key Russian terms and the surrounding debates are made clear, without defensiveness. And since be has been almost systematically misunderstood in the United States, Ericson's efforts permit us to encounter the moral vision directly and apart from external politics.

279 - Solzhenitsyn: The Moral Vision

He gives fuller insight into Solzhenitsyn's conversion to Christianity, and follows the underlying Christian images and contours of his thought better than any other writer. He also places his most famous addresses - on receiving the Nobel Prize, before the AFL-CIO in America, and at Harvard-in their full context, and is particularly good at sorting out his admiration for and reservations about Western democracy. Given the inherent difficulties of the expository task, the author's writing also yields pleasure through its unobtrusive grace and clarity. A book of service, much to be praised and often consulted, it is ideal for a course on Solzhenitsyn.

Michael Novak
American Enterprise Institute
Washington, D.C.