Author Paul Siegel dissects political evolution of Solzhenitsyn

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"The Great Reversal: Politics and Art in Solzhenitsyn," by Paul N. Siegel. Walnut Publishing, San Francisco, 1991. 198 pp. $9.95 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novels "Cancer Ward" and "The First Circle" are among my favorite books. Both inspire and illuminate. They teach so much about Soviet society as a whole and in particular about the terrible Stalinist repression which permeated Soviet life for over 50 years.

But they are not didactic works. The characters are fully developed, the plot is complex, the writing style is lustrous. In short they are part of the tradition of great Russian novels like those of Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy. They are among those special long books that you don't want to end.

So I have often wondered how the author of such great works of literature could now be a fountainhead of the most reactionary ideas-virulent anti-Communism, pro-imperialist war-mongering, and idealization of reactionary and patriarchal religion.

Paul Siegel's book provides many insights into this phenomenon. He combines rigorous literary criticism with well-grounded political explanations for Solzhenitsyn's "great reversal." At the same time, this is a lively, enjoyable book.

One usually thinks of literary criticism as an academic exercise, accessible only to narrow university circles, where it seems that vocabulary is chosen as a way of excluding non-academics rather than illuminating subject matter. Siegel, while rigorously providing evidence to prove his points from Solzhenitsyn's work and the historical record, does not enter the academic trap for one minute. Even the extensive footnotes at the end of each of the book's six chapters are interesting reading.

The chapter I found most compelling is titled "Truth and Distortion in "The Gulag Archipelago. "" Siegel shows us how Solzhenitsyn produced "a mighty achievement that has contributed to our knowledge and understanding of the horror of the Stalinist prison camps as no other writing has done." But he points out that the book is also "a shoddy account of their origin and history that has r inistered greatly to the false concept cur int in the West that Stalinism is merely ile logical development of Leninism."

How Siegel illuminates thi: apparent contradiction provides an honest and insightful approach to literature and politics. In the process he provides much ammunition in the struggle against efforts of Wester capitalists to discredit socialism and the revolutionaries who fought for it. As such, the book is a valuable tool for those who want to change the world and enjoy reading good books, too.

SOCIALIST ACTION JANUARY 1992 15

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Siegel combines rigor- ous literary criticism with well-grounded political explanations for Solzhenitsyn's "great reversal."