Solzhenitsyn RIP

Written 2008

Solzhenitsyn’s A DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH introduced the Soviet gulag to the world. Stalin had been dead 7 years. if Koba had been alive, neither the book nor the author would exist today. Luckily Beria killed his stricken boss and the great writer was exiled to Vermont with his 2nd wife and her 11 year-old son, Dmitri Turin.

I never met Solzhenitsyn.

His stepson, Dmitri Turin, was my friend.

I wrote about him in A HERO FOR THE OPEN ROAD.

Seeing Solzhenitsyn’s obit in the NY Times brought back memories of Dmitri and his black bike.

He was our man for our times.

photo thanks to http://johnbarons.com/dmitri.html.m