BBC NEWS | In Pictures | Solzhenitsyn's life in pictures

BBC NEWS / IN PICTURES
Graphics Version BBC Sport Home

10:54 GMT, Monday, 4 August 2008 11:54 UK

Solzhenitsyn's life in pictures

1 of 9
From 1942-1945, Alexander Solzhenitsyn served as a frontline artillery captain in the Soviet Army and was twice decorated for bravery.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn in 1945

2 of 9
In 1945, he was arrested for criticising Stalin in letters to a school friend, even though the Russian leader’s name had been disguised. He received a "mild sentence" of eight years in a labour camp.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn in 1953

3 of 9
Solzhenitsyn's experiences in Stalin's "correctional work camps" provided much material for his future writing. In 1953, he was sentenced to internal exile in southern Kazakhstan.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn in 1962

4 of 9
In 1962, having carefully guarded his manuscripts, he succeeded in having One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich published. It described a single day in the life of a prisoner in a Soviet labour camp.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn in in Cologne, 1974

Alexander Solzhenitsyn in in Cologne, 1974

5 of 9
He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970, but it wasn't until 1974, after he had been deported from the Soviet Union, that he was able to travel to Stockholm to receive the prize.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn in Vermont 1975

6 of 9
Stripped of Soviet citizenship, Solzhenitsyn spent a short time in Switzerland before being invited to Stanford University in the US. In 1976, he moved to Cavendish, Vermont, where he continued to write.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn addresses the Duma, 1994

Alexander Solzhenitsyn addresses the Duma, 1994

7 of 9
Solzhenitsyn's Soviet citizenship was restored in 1990. Four years later, he returned with his wife, Natalia, to an independent Russia where he addressed the state parliament, the Duma.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov in 1998

Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov in 1998

8 of 9
Once back in Russia, the author's works continued to be critically acclaimed and in 1998 a special celebration was held in Moscow for his 80th birthday.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Vladimir Putin in 2007

Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Vladimir Putin in 2007

9 of 9
In 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the writer at his Moscow home to award him the State Prize of the Russian Federation for humanitarian achievement.

E-mail this to a friend