SHAENAH BATERSON—Quotes from Solzhenitsyn proliferate on social media, a more popular example being his injunction to “live not by lies.”
But Solzhenitsyn did not seem to abide by his own pronouncement during his life.
Throughout his literary career, he crafted a dystopian image of the USSR, unmoored from a broader historical analysis of the global situation, which persists to this day.
In the Western press Solzhenitsyn was made out to be a courageous dissident speaking out against tyranny.
However, history shows that he was mendacious, opportunistic, and a fascist sympathizer.

