Solzhenitsyn’s Badges

There are three main differences between Solzhenitsyn and the rest of those who defend a cause through literature, or make literature to defend a cause. The first is that Solzhenitsyn, before attacking the regime he attacks, experienced it, that is, suffered it with eight years in jail and seeing countless friends, acquaintances and family members imprisoned, persecuted and shot. The second difference derives from the first: in honor of himself and those he lost, his cause is justified; this means that his literature is a response to his personal experience, in other words, his literary motivation is the most authentic there can be. Finally, this is simply it: his cause is noble, and this adjective needs no explanation. On the other hand, what do we find in the majority of those who make ideological literature? We do not need to spend many words: we find neither nobility nor knowledge of the cause; we find, in short, a fetish.