Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Profession: Writer and Nobel Laureate

Nationality:

Biography: Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a Russian writer, known in particular for his opposition to the Soviet Union. Most famously, he wrote 'The Gulag Archipelago' which detailed the Soviet system of scattered prisons and labour camps in which countless citizens were stowed by the regime.

For his dissident writing, Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Union of Writers in 1969 only to be awarded the 1970 Nobel prize in literature. He only received this award in 1974 after he was ultimately expelled from the Soviet Union.

Solzhenitsyn's writing drew on his own experiences under the Soviet regime. He had, for instance, spent eight years in labour camps for criticising Stalin in a letter. And his 'Cancer Ward' was informed by his experience after being diagnosed with what was thought to be terminal cancer.

It was these experiences—his time in exile and labour camps, and perhaps especially his terminal diagnosis—that led Solzhenitsyn back to his Orthodox Christian faith, which he credited with his apparently miraculous recovery. He summarised the world's problems thus: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened."

Born: December 11, 1918
Birthplace: Kislovodsk, Russia

Generation: Greatest Generation
Chinese Zodiac: Horse
Star Sign: Sagittarius

Died: August 3, 2008 (aged 89)
Cause of Death: Heart failure