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The Oak and the Calf, subtitled Sketches of Literary Life in the Soviet Union, is a memoir by Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, about his attempts to publish work in his own country. Solzhenitsyn began writing the memoir in April 1967, when he was 49 years old, and added supplements in 1971, 1973, and 1974. The work was first published in Russian in 1975 under the title Бодался телёнок с дубом (lit. "A Calf Head-butting with an Oak", an ironic phrase). It has been translated into English by Harry Willetts.
A second, considerably expanded edition of the Russian text was produced in 1996, by the Moscow publishing house Soglasie. This edition includes new material on the people who helped Solzhenitsyn in his literary tasks before his exile. The writer had previously called these anonymous helpers Nevidimki (the invisible ones). The new material has been translated and published in English as a separate book called Invisible Allies.
The memoir contains a detailed account of the publication of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and the author’s often complex relationship with the editor-in-chief Aleksandr Tvardovsky. It also describes Solzhenitsyn's failed attempts to publish his other early novels, Cancer Ward and The First Circle, the political storm caused by his 1970 Nobel Prize for literature and his subsequent exile from the Soviet Union.
Among Solzhenitsyn’s more accessible works, the memoir’s reception by critics was mixed. By the time of its publication, outside the Soviet Union much has already been known about the author's struggles. Consequently, some critics questioned the accuracy of Solzhenitsyn’s account. Nevertheless, the book remains an essential source on the life and times of the author.
(Source: Wikipedia)
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Previews available in: English
Showing 5 featured editions. View all 11 editions?
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1
Oak and the Calf
March 1991, Blackstone Audiobooks
Audio cassette
in English
0786100931 9780786100934
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The oak and the calf: sketches of literary life in the Soviet Union
1980, Harper & Row
in English
- 1st Harper & Row ed.
0060140143 9780060140144
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The oak and the calf: sketches of literary life in the Soviet Union
1980, Collins/Fontana
in English
0006342833 9780006342830
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- Created April 29, 2008
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June 7, 2020 | Edited by Lisa | Merge works |
October 3, 2012 | Edited by VacuumBot | Updated format 'Audio Cassette' to 'Audio cassette'; Removed author from Edition (author found in Work) |
April 27, 2011 | Edited by OCLC Bot | Added OCLC numbers. |
August 9, 2010 | Edited by IdentifierBot | added LibraryThing ID |
April 29, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |