CHRISTMAS PRESENTS:  'THE FIRST CIRCLE' BY ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN

This month marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Russian writer and I must say prophet Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

A statue was erected this month in a Moscow neighborhood to mark the anniversary of his birth with Russia's President Vladimir Putin paying his respects.

One Christmas when I was a teenager, I received a gift of the Solzhenitsyn novel, "The First Circle".

Its a story that happens to take place in and around December 25th, 1949.   Christmas Day in the Western nations, but not in Russia.  However, it certainly is the Christmas season as it happened USSR style.

Among other people in the story are the prisoners of the "best prison" in the Soviet Gulag Archipelago on the edge of Moscow.

The central character, Gleb Nerzhin, is actually Alexander Solzhenitsyn retelling his story of his final hours in this special prison.

In 2006 Russian television presented a ten-part series based on the novel with the screenplay written by Solzhenitsyn himself.

Gleb does not bend over to obey the state and pays the consequences being sent back into the bowels of the Gulag at the end.

There are stories inside the story and there are unpleasant things in this story which may disturb or offend, but who wouldn't be disturbed and offended by the USSR in all its filthiness.

Here is a link to the whole series "In The First Circle"...........

IN THE FIRST CIRCLE 10 PART SERIES