Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a Soviet and Russian writer, playwright, and publicist, is one of the most controversial figures in the history of literature. His unconventional style, which includes nonexistent words, along with the vivid political undertones of his works, divided readers into two camps – supporters and opponents.

1. Russian writer and activist Alexander Solzhenitsyn was born on December 11, 1918, in Kislovodsk, into a Cossack family.

2. Solzhenitsyn entered literature under the incorrect patronymic “Isaevich.“ His real patronymic is Isaakovich. The writer’s father, Russian peasant Isaak Solzhenitsyn, died while hunting six months before his son’s birth. The mistake occurred when the future Nobel laureate was obtaining his passport.

3. In elementary school, the future writer was teased because of the cross he wore around his neck and his reluctance to join the ranks of the pioneers. He was also punished for attending church.

4. The writer also tried to enter theater school but failed to pass the exams.

5. In October 1941, the writer was drafted into the army. He was awarded the Orders of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class, and the Red Star.

6. While studying at the university, Solzhenitsyn wrote poetry. His collection “Prussian Nights“ gained some recognition.

7. Solzhenitsyn developed testicular cancer. He was diagnosed with an advanced seminoma – a malignant tumor of the reproductive glands. He underwent radiation therapy, but his condition did not improve. Doctors predicted he had three weeks to live, but Solzhenitsyn made a recovery. In the early 1970s, he fathered three sons.

8. Solzhenitsyn’s wife, Natalia, divorced him in absentia three years after he was sent to the Gulag.

9. During the war, Solzhenitsyn kept a personal diary, although such activity was prohibited.

10. The renowned writer Tvardovsky made significant efforts to ensure that Solzhenitsyn’s early works were published. However, he later became deeply disappointed in him, openly stating that his bitterness was detrimental to his creativity.

11. Alexander Solzhenitsyn was arrested by Soviet counterintelligence officers for his correspondence with Nikolai Vitkevich. In his letters to his comrade, he openly criticized Stalin, which served as the reason for the writer’s arrest. He was subsequently sent to a labor camp in exile.

12. He spent a total of eight years in the camps, but even after his sentence was completed, his life continued to be plagued by persecution.

13. Upon becoming a free man, the writer settled in a village in the Vladimir region, where he taught at a rural school. His former wife returned to him, and they remarried and stayed together until Solzhenitsyn fell in love with someone else and demanded a divorce 13 years later.

14. Solzhenitsyn’s works often contain strange words whose approximate meanings can only be inferred from the context.

15. In 1998, he was awarded Russia’s highest order but declined it, stating, “I cannot accept an award from the supreme authorities that have brought Russia to its current disastrous state.“

16. There is a street named after Alexander Solzhenitsyn in the Tagansky District of Moscow. Until 2008, the street was called Bolshaya Kommunisticheskaya but was renamed. In order to do this, the law prohibiting the naming of streets after real people had to be changed, allowing it to be done less than ten years after the person’s death.