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Nobel Lecture (Bilingual Edition)
This Nobel Lecture by Alexander Solzhenitsyn is an excellent read. The 1970 Nobel Prize winner in Literature was unable to leave Russia to give the customary Nobel Lecturer in Stockholm.
69 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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About the author
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
450books3,904followersalso known as
Alexander Solzenitsyn (English, alternate)
Αλεξάντρ Σολζενίτσιν (Greek)
Works, including One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) and The Gulag Archipelago (1973-1975), of Soviet writer and dissident Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970, exposed the brutality of the labor camp system.
This known Russian novelist, dramatist, and historian best helped to make the world aware of the forced Gulag.
Exiled in 1974, he returned to Russia in 1994. Solzhenitsyn fathered of Ignat Solzhenitsyn, a conductor and pianist.
Alexander Solzenitsyn (English, alternate)
Αλεξάντρ Σολζενίτσιν (Greek)
Works, including One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) and The Gulag Archipelago (1973-1975), of Soviet writer and dissident Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970, exposed the brutality of the labor camp system.
This known Russian novelist, dramatist, and historian best helped to make the world aware of the forced Gulag.
Exiled in 1974, he returned to Russia in 1994. Solzhenitsyn fathered of Ignat Solzhenitsyn, a conductor and pianist.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
March 8, 2018
"As the Russian saying goes, "Do not believe your brother, believe your own crooked eye." And that is the most sound basis for an understanding of the world around us and of human conduct in it."
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April 12, 2023Russian lit never ceased for one moment, remained buried in the Gulags, not seeing the outside. And today how am I, accompanied as I am by the spirits of those who perished, my head bowed as I let pass before me up to this lectern others who were earlier worthy of it, how am I here today supposed to divine and express that which they would have wished to say?
Solzhenitsyn's 1970 lecture accepting the Nobel Prize for Literature: a desperate cry for art. One word of truth outweighs the whole world.
Solzhenitsyn's 1970 lecture accepting the Nobel Prize for Literature: a desperate cry for art. One word of truth outweighs the whole world.
November 1, 2016
One of the giants of the Russian literature, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in his Nobel Lecture draws our attention to various topics such as art, literature, violence and so on and so forth. He considers literature and art as uniting forces. They can expand our limited experiences so that we can think more universally. In a world in which there are different scales of values, how can we confidently rely on a set of values to judge the whole world? For such a purpose, literature is of critical importance. It can work as a binding force between different nations and cultures. By reading literary works from different parts of the world we can see similar concerns such as freedom, truth, justice, human dignity, kindness and so on.
Solzhenitsyn articulates the relationship between violence and falsehood. He thinks that those two support each other. Therefore, the most important responsibility of an author is to not participate in falsehood. This is how he/she can stand against violence. In existentialists terms, an author should be authentic and avoid deceiving himself and others.
"One word of truth shall outweigh the whole world." A Russian Proverb
Solzhenitsyn articulates the relationship between violence and falsehood. He thinks that those two support each other. Therefore, the most important responsibility of an author is to not participate in falsehood. This is how he/she can stand against violence. In existentialists terms, an author should be authentic and avoid deceiving himself and others.
"One word of truth shall outweigh the whole world." A Russian Proverb
August 1, 2019
Absolutely beautiful. A masterful summary of the complex necessity of art and hope for humanity. Understanding Solzhenitsyn's background will give you a better grasp of this small speech he gave for the acceptance of his Nobel Prize.
July 31, 2023
Cw: imprisonment, exile, censorship.
When I was working on the Banned Books program committee for the Dayton Woman's Literary Club, we looked at book banning as one element in the larger scheme of censorship. Censoring ideas and artistic expression can escalate to look like: destroying books, denying publication, imprisonment, exile, or ultimately calling for the death of the author.
Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970...before his major work The Gulag Archipelago was allowed to be published in his native country. His Nobel lecture was delivered while he was in exile, sheltered by the international literary community from retaliation from the USSR. In his lecture, h remembers and mourns the Russian writers that never were, those silenced by fear, imprisonment, or death before they ever got the chance to speak.
He reflects on the purpose of literature and on his hope that world literature can unite nations in the pursuit of justice, but he also warns of the dangers he has observed firsthand:
"Woe to that nationality whose literature is cut short by forcible interference. This is no mere simple violation of "freedom of the press." This is a closing, a locking up, of the national heart, amputation of the national memory. That nationality has no memory of its own self. It is deprived of its spiritual unity. And even though compatriots apparently speak the same language, they suddenly cease to understand one another. Whole speechless generations are born and die off who do not tell each other about themselves, nor speak about themselves to their descendants."
This is absolutely essential reading for a time when censorship is worming its way into free discourse. Let's treasure our memory, our unity, our understanding, our heart.
Let's read some banned books.
When I was working on the Banned Books program committee for the Dayton Woman's Literary Club, we looked at book banning as one element in the larger scheme of censorship. Censoring ideas and artistic expression can escalate to look like: destroying books, denying publication, imprisonment, exile, or ultimately calling for the death of the author.
Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970...before his major work The Gulag Archipelago was allowed to be published in his native country. His Nobel lecture was delivered while he was in exile, sheltered by the international literary community from retaliation from the USSR. In his lecture, h remembers and mourns the Russian writers that never were, those silenced by fear, imprisonment, or death before they ever got the chance to speak.
He reflects on the purpose of literature and on his hope that world literature can unite nations in the pursuit of justice, but he also warns of the dangers he has observed firsthand:
"Woe to that nationality whose literature is cut short by forcible interference. This is no mere simple violation of "freedom of the press." This is a closing, a locking up, of the national heart, amputation of the national memory. That nationality has no memory of its own self. It is deprived of its spiritual unity. And even though compatriots apparently speak the same language, they suddenly cease to understand one another. Whole speechless generations are born and die off who do not tell each other about themselves, nor speak about themselves to their descendants."
This is absolutely essential reading for a time when censorship is worming its way into free discourse. Let's treasure our memory, our unity, our understanding, our heart.
Let's read some banned books.
December 20, 2021
One word of truth outweighs the world.
May 9, 2018
This speech is just as good as A World Split Apart, and that's really saying something. He describes the existential gulf between people living under oppressive governments and those in free countries. There is a disconnect between the two, and the latter group very often cannot understand where the former is coming from. As a representative of the former group transplanted into the world of the latter, Solzhenitsyn cites art as the means by which the gap can be bridged.
It is the means by which one can enter into another person's experience.
He also talks about the "spirit of Munich" (inclination of the free world to appease and tolerate unjust violence elsewhere provided it left the West alone), how it has dominated the 20th century, and how violence inevitably requires lies to maintain its position of power-- to deceive people about its true nature and give itself legitimacy.
The task of the artist above all is to remain honest in the face of violence and lies.
"Let the lie come into the world, even dominate the world, but not through me."
The Solzhenitsyn Center has released a video made with an excellent (English) reading of this speech, which is available to view here: .
It is the means by which one can enter into another person's experience.
He also talks about the "spirit of Munich" (inclination of the free world to appease and tolerate unjust violence elsewhere provided it left the West alone), how it has dominated the 20th century, and how violence inevitably requires lies to maintain its position of power-- to deceive people about its true nature and give itself legitimacy.
The task of the artist above all is to remain honest in the face of violence and lies.
"Let the lie come into the world, even dominate the world, but not through me."
The Solzhenitsyn Center has released a video made with an excellent (English) reading of this speech, which is available to view here: .
May 6, 2016
Quite thought provoking in it's views and statements. Need to re-read. Quite a lot to think over, remember, digest and absorb. I think I am going to buy more Nobel Lectures!
"what seems to us more important, more painful, and more unendurable is really not what is more important, more painful, and more unendurable but merely that which is closer to home."
"art communicates the burden of another's long life experience with all it's hardships, colors, and vitality, recreating in the flesh what another has experienced, and allowing it to be acquired as once own."
"The reckoning of cowardice will only be more cruel. Courage and the power to overcome will be ours when we dare to make sacrifices."
There were more but these are just few. The lecture explores the importance of art and literature in a world torn by differences. B.T.W it's bilingual so I read only 36 pages. Rest is Russian.
"what seems to us more important, more painful, and more unendurable is really not what is more important, more painful, and more unendurable but merely that which is closer to home."
"art communicates the burden of another's long life experience with all it's hardships, colors, and vitality, recreating in the flesh what another has experienced, and allowing it to be acquired as once own."
"The reckoning of cowardice will only be more cruel. Courage and the power to overcome will be ours when we dare to make sacrifices."
There were more but these are just few. The lecture explores the importance of art and literature in a world torn by differences. B.T.W it's bilingual so I read only 36 pages. Rest is Russian.
November 14, 2016
I've read this lecture & drawn inspiration from it many times since a friend first recommended it to me. My capacity for understanding it grows between readings, illuminating lines and corners that were previously opaque.
Eventually I'll have grown enough to award it the 5 stars it probably deserves.
Eventually I'll have grown enough to award it the 5 stars it probably deserves.
March 1, 2018
Sincere call for the artists and writers of the world to take up arms in the battle to save our souls, and a plea for the hippies to put their big boy pants back on. 5 stars.
"Young people, being at an age when they have no experience except sexual, when they have as yet no years of personal suffering and personal wisdom behind them, enthusiastically repeat our discredited Russian lessons of the nineteenth century and think that they are discovering something new, They take as a splendid example the Chinese Red Guard's degradation of people into nonentities. A superficial lack of understanding of the timeless essence of humanity, a naive smugness on the part of their inexperienced hearts - We'll kick out those fiere, greedy oprressors, those governors, and the rest (we!), we'll then lay down our grenades and machine guns, and become just and compassionate. Oh, of course! Of those who have lived their lives and have come to understand, who could refute the young, many DO NOT DARE argue against them; on the contrary, they flatter them in order not to seem "conservative," again a Russian phenomenon of the nineteenth century, something which Dostoevski called SLAVERY TO HALF-COCKED PROGRESSIVE IDEAS." (p. 24)
"Young people, being at an age when they have no experience except sexual, when they have as yet no years of personal suffering and personal wisdom behind them, enthusiastically repeat our discredited Russian lessons of the nineteenth century and think that they are discovering something new, They take as a splendid example the Chinese Red Guard's degradation of people into nonentities. A superficial lack of understanding of the timeless essence of humanity, a naive smugness on the part of their inexperienced hearts - We'll kick out those fiere, greedy oprressors, those governors, and the rest (we!), we'll then lay down our grenades and machine guns, and become just and compassionate. Oh, of course! Of those who have lived their lives and have come to understand, who could refute the young, many DO NOT DARE argue against them; on the contrary, they flatter them in order not to seem "conservative," again a Russian phenomenon of the nineteenth century, something which Dostoevski called SLAVERY TO HALF-COCKED PROGRESSIVE IDEAS." (p. 24)
January 3, 2018
The main idea that struck me with any force from this lecture was the unique role of art. Journalism can convey the fact of ten thousand killed in a flood in a distant land, yet this will usually have less impact on one than the death of their own pet. The more distant in space, time, language or culture, the less documentation and reportage can make felt the scope of import. Only the humanistic arts, in their guises, can give one a sense of the other, and of the joys and losses of those most distant. The humanizing arts are the only way to bridge such a gap, and as such must be protected.
The role of art and humanism is not new to me, and much of the lecture was banal, but the clarification of the unique empathetic powers of art hadn't been as forcefully conveyed before. Solzhenitsyn clearly delineated the weaknesses of journalism and documentation relative to art in a way I had never thought about before.
The role of art and humanism is not new to me, and much of the lecture was banal, but the clarification of the unique empathetic powers of art hadn't been as forcefully conveyed before. Solzhenitsyn clearly delineated the weaknesses of journalism and documentation relative to art in a way I had never thought about before.
June 13, 2021
In which Solzhenitsyn gives a ppwerful argument for the truth of Dostoyevsky's claim that "Beauty will save the world." Deeply moving in places.
Unfortunately, also a touch unnerving in some of his observations about what the effect of silent generations - generations that are either unable or unwilling to transmit the lessons of their age - can have on history as it unfolds, particularly in a globalized world.
An essay everyone should read.
Unfortunately, also a touch unnerving in some of his observations about what the effect of silent generations - generations that are either unable or unwilling to transmit the lessons of their age - can have on history as it unfolds, particularly in a globalized world.
An essay everyone should read.
October 30, 2017
"Literature transmits condensed and irrefutable human experience in still another priceless way: from generation to generation. It thus becomes the living memory of a nation. What has faded into history it thus keeps warm and preserves in a form that defies distortion and falsehood. Thus literature, together with language, preserves and protects a nation's soul."
January 1, 2020
Mostly fine. A little disappointing. It’s about half hackneyed discussion of art/the purpose of art/the purpose of the artist. The second half has some interesting points on culture.
December 24, 2022
Short read, very eloquent translation that distills the common themes and emotions in his previous writings. I enjoyed the first quick read and will return for some notes.
March 27, 2016
Wow. Another amazing read. Goes all over the place, in all the best ways. Inspired me to read more Dostoyevsky, too. What an insight. What a way with words, although I have no idea what language he wrote it in...I read a version on NobelPrize.org.... I guess the only thing I wish he could have added is "good cinema" to his list of art and literature which are capable of saving the world by helping us see others in a life-changing way. He says many things, but one thing that stuck out to me was he lamentation of what globalization has ruined. I think high-school kids should have to read LOTS of Nobel-literature speeches. Might raise the IQ of the nation and improve Western Civ.
December 27, 2014
An important reminder of what violence and oppression need to survive. A lie. That Art in its many forms has the ability to tell the truth and reach an audience like nothing else can. If you are studying ethics, journalism, writing, art, music or any other form of art you must read this and then see what this incrediable man survived throughout his life. Amazing
August 13, 2016
Thought-provoking. In this lecture, Solzhenitsyn tackles the nature of art and the artist, moral relativism, authoritarianism and censorship, globalization, secular progressivism--just to mention a few.
February 25, 2015
Strangely idealistic. I certainly believe in the power of art to bring about social change, but Solzhenitsyn sounds almost utopian at points, such as when he declares that literature can expose The Lie and collapse the systems of violence.
February 6, 2008
Beautiful... Not to spoil it, but anyone who can make the case that we have stumbled upon art and now have to deal with it accordingly, is A-OK in my book.
March 17, 2010
“One word of truth outweighs the world�
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March 22, 2010wow... truly inspiring speech. a man to be admired..
February 8, 2013
The lecture is hopeful and stands as something which is constantly becoming more and more relevant. ONE WORD OF TRUTH OUTWEIGHS THE WHOLE WORLD.
October 18, 2013
One book that should be read again and again!
March 17, 2017
I loved this and need to read it again and post quotes all over the place.
August 3, 2014
Thought provoking lecture on the topic of art and the artist's responsibilities to the world.
September 1, 2014
Well worth the short read.
February 8, 2016
A short and beautiful lecture. It inspired me and hopefully I'll read some of his other books soon.
May 22, 2016
Excellent little read ... The power of the spoken word ...
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