Alexander Solzhenitsyn Biography and Timeline

Birth of Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Birth of Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Begins University Mathematics Studies

Solzhenitsyn entered Rostov State University to study mathematics and physics.

Graduation from Rostov University

Solzhenitsyn completed his university studies as the Soviet Union entered the war.

Military Officer Training

Solzhenitsyn trained as an artillery officer while maintaining literary ambitions.

Frontline Writing and Correspondence

Solzhenitsyn continued reading and writing while serving with Soviet forces.

Develops Wartime Literary Plans

Solzhenitsyn formulated literary ideas while witnessing the Eastern Front.

Arrest of Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Sentenced in his absence by a three-man tribunal of the Soviet security police (NKGB) to an eight-year term in a labour camp, to be followed by permanent internal exile

KGB (Committee for State Security)

Sentenced in his absence by a three-man tribunal of the Soviet security police (NKGB) to an eight-year term in a labour camp, to be followed by permanent internal exile

Trial

Sentenced in his absence by a three-man tribunal of the Soviet security police (NKGB) to an eight-year term in a labour camp, to be followed by permanent internal exile

Arrest of Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Arrested for writing a derogatory comment in a letter to a friend, ND Utkevich, about the conduct of the war by Josef Stalin, whom he called "the whiskered one". Accused of anti-Soviet propaganda under Article 58 of the Soviet criminal code, paragraph 10, and of "founding a hostile organisation" under paragraph 11

Arrest of Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Solzhenitsyn is taken to the Lubyanka prison in Moscow, where he is beaten and interrogated

Prison Writing Begins

Solzhenitsyn composed and memorized writing while imprisoned in Soviet labor camps.

Work on Poems in Captivity

Solzhenitsyn continued developing verse and literary projects under imprisonment.

Marfino Prison Experiences

Solzhenitsyn experienced the special prison at Marfino later portrayed in The First Circle.

Ekibastuz Camp Experiences

Solzhenitsyn endured forced labor at Ekibastuz, an experience reflected in later fiction.

Poetry Memorized in Prison

Solzhenitsyn preserved poems by memorization because writing materials were restricted.

Prison Manuscript Development

Solzhenitsyn continued shaping accounts of Soviet imprisonment while still confined.

Literary Work in Labor Camp

Solzhenitsyn's camp observations furnished the historical basis for his future prose.

Exile of Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Solzhenitsyn begins a sentence of internal exile for life at Kok-Terek in southern Kazakhstan

Health of Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Treated in a hospital in Tashkent, where he was cured cured of cancer

Continues Writing in Exile

Solzhenitsyn worked on literary material while living under restrictions in Kazakhstan.

Tashkent Cancer Treatment

Solzhenitsyn received cancer treatment that later informed the novel Cancer Ward.

Return from Internal Exile

Solzhenitsyn was permitted to leave internal exile during political reforms.

Rehabilitation and Teaching

Solzhenitsyn was rehabilitated and worked as a teacher while writing secretly.

Writing of The First Circle

Solzhenitsyn developed The First Circle from experiences in a scientific prison institute.

Drafts Ivan Denisovich Story

Solzhenitsyn wrote the camp narrative later published as One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

Private Circulation of Literary Manuscripts

Solzhenitsyn continued composing stories that could not easily pass Soviet censorship.

Manuscript Submitted to Novy Mir

Solzhenitsyn's camp story was submitted to Novy Mir for possible publication.

An Incident at Krechetovka Station

Publication of "An Incident at Krechetovka Station"

Matryonas Home

Solzhenitsyn published Matryona's Home, a story examining rural Russia and moral integrity.

For the Good of the Cause

Publication of "For the Good of the Cause"

Manuscripts Confiscated

Soviet security agents confiscated manuscripts and archival material belonging to Solzhenitsyn.

Zakhar Kalita

Solzhenitsyn's story Zakhar Kalita appeared in Soviet literary circulation.

Letter to Soviet Writers Congress

Solzhenitsyn circulated an open letter calling for an end to literary censorship.

Cancer Ward

Publication of "The First Circle". Publication of "Cancer Ward"

The First Circle

Publication of "The First Circle". Publication of "Cancer Ward"

The

Publication of "The First Circle". Publication of "Cancer Ward"

Expulsion from Writers Union

Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Soviet Writers' Union amid conflict with authorities.

Nobel Prize

Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, could not receive the prize personally in Stockholm at that time, since he was afraid he would not be let back into the Soviet Union

August 1914

Publication of August 1914.

Role range: 1918-2008