In recent years a number of books have appeared in which the authors have described their experiences in Soviet prisons and punishment camps. Some of these eyewitness accounts are of particular interest because they deal not only with the outward effects of loss of freedom, but also with the deep processes of change which take … Read more
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the death of an outstanding Russian writer, Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin. On March 10, 1937, this giant of twentieth-century Russian literature passed away in Paris. His name is hardly familiar to the ordinary Soviet reader, for Zamyatin’s writings had been banned in his homeland for over half a century. … Read more
There is always togetherness in hell. On old icons we see crowds of people in chains. The opposite of this is heaven: a free, solitary flight and the growth of wings. Sin is linked with sin, hatred, self-loathing, and loathing of others — all chained together. Hell. The spiritual sensation of hell can be … Read more
It is interesting how so many contemporary movements start out under the banner of “life.” Hitler and Mussolini proclaimed that Facism represented “vitality” opposed to “pallid liberalism.” In America, on the right, “life” issues suggest, first of all, abortion; while, on the left, “an ethic of life” is the banner for an entire social agenda, … Read more