Presented to you is a set of two books by the last great classic Russian writer, Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
The book "The Calf Butted an Oak" was written, in the author's words, "between two boulders" ("The Gulag Archipelago" and "The Red Wheel") and was first published by the Parisian publishing house YMCA-Press in 1975. A significant portion of the work consists of stories related to the magazine "Novy Mir," its editor-in-chief A.T. Tvardovsky, and the publication of the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich." The essays were written in several stages. The main part is dated 1967, while four supplements were created between 1967 and 1975 in Russia and Switzerland. Of particular interest is the fifth supplement, "Invisible," about those who supported the writer during the years of persecution and the ban on his work in the USSR. This chapter was published only in 1991, when the "invisibles" were no longer threatened with persecution. "'The Calf Butted the Oak' is a cheerful, vibrant, and powerful book that teaches each of us that if you are firmly convinced of something, then even a single warrior in the field is a warrior" (N.D. Solzhenitsyn).
A.I. Solzhenitsyn's book "The Seed Caught Between Two Millstones" is a continuation of his first memoir, "The Calf Butted the Oak." During his years of exile (1974–1994), the writer confronted both the communist system and the worst aspects of Western civilization—a distorted understanding of freedom, democracy, human rights, and responsibilities, conditioned by the departure of a significant portion of society from spiritual values. But the two millstones could not grind the "seed." The artist remained an artist, and so the essays on exile also became essays on literary life—both in a bitterly ironic sense and in a more direct and lofty sense: the story of the creation of "The Red Wheel" is revealed to us. Literature is inseparable from life here, and difficult trials from a joyful embrace of the world. That's why the essays so vividly describe a happy family life, why they say with equal force, "In a foreign land, even spring is not beautiful," and—with admiration!—"how diverse the Earth is." That's why the portraits are so important—of close friends and charming people, met only once but who inspired an unforgettable affection. The book's palette is unusually multicolored, but literally every episode is illuminated by Solzhenitsyn's main passion—his love for Russia, his anxiety for its fate.