Hero of the Week

[landmine]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v439/bigbill2/osolzhe001p1.jpg
Aleksandre Solzhenitsyn--a truly great writer and my kind of Christian!

Lately I've had a lot on my mind. Stress and what not. One night, while leafing through my collection of books--most of them being absolute trash--I stumbled across both volumes of The Gulag Archipelago and remembered what a great joy it was to read them.

I'm not going into Solzhenitsyn's life history--although it is a great history. If you're interested, just go ahead and google his name. And I'm not going to tell you that he was ever a kind man in the typical sense of the word. He would have never made a great neighbor. He was dour and grouchy. Hell, I'm not even sure if he's alive or dead. And, if he is dead, it's a safe bet that not too many people miss him. If he's alive, it's another safe bet that he doesn't get many visitors.

I'm giving him my worthless Hero of the Week Award because he is my kind of born-again Christian. I don't mean born-again because he carried a bible and preached to all the sinners--even though he does so quite subtly in The Gulag Archipelago.

What I mean is this: He started as a harcore Communist. He was an atheist to the core. Then Stalin did old Alek a great favor. He threw the poor son-of-a-***** into a prison camp. That's where he found God.

Like Albert Camus, George Bush, and other great men, Solzhenitsyn practiced macho Christianity. He realized in the prison camps that God can give the most lost of men a code! And, as we all know, a man is nothing without a code. Hell, without a sound code, you might as well be a fucking Communist. You'll never make it as an individual.

Anyway, for his immense contributions to literature and Christianity, I'm giving him my utterly worthless award. If you get around to it, check out The Gulag Archipelago. You'll fucking love it.

[JC1]

Aleksandyr was a big anti-semite and a advocate of the re-imposition of the Tsardom.

[LSD]

Aleksandre Solzhenitsyn--a truly great writer and my kind of Christian!

Your "kind of Christian" is an ultra-nationalist rabid antisemite?

[Xvall]

my kind of Christian!

Is he dead or something?

[violencia.Proletariat]

if his contributions to literature are him talking about christianity, he just made literature a whole lot worse :lol:

[Monty Cantsin]

please dont ever say again that Albert Camus and George Bush are anything alike!

[redstar2000]

I attempted to read one of his "works" once -- The Cancer Ward I believe it was called. I couldn't get past page 50!

And I read one of his short stories -- "Lenin in Zurich" or something like that -- in which Lenin is portrayed as a frustrated psychopath.


Originally posted by landmine
Solzhenitsyn practiced macho Christianity.

Well, perhaps he wanted to. But neither the Russians nor the Americans would let him kill Jews -- no wonder he was soured on both.

A Nobel Prize in Literature (:o) is no substitute for a pogrom.

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/123.gif

[Freedom Works]

Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, and Walter Block are my heros! :lol:

[Publius]

Albert Camus was a Christain? The Myth of Sisyiphus is about as un-Christian as you can get...

He was an existentialist (Which doesn't negate him from being a Christian. See; Dostoevsky) but he was also an absurdist, and I was under the impression that absurdism is staunchly atheistic.

I was condsidering calling myself an absurdist until I realized a true absurdist wouldn't bother.

And if you want a GOOD Russian 'Christian' author, read some Dosteovsky or Tolstoy.

[Publius]

Absurdism is a philosophy stating basically that the efforts of man to find meaning in the universe will ultimately fail because no such meaning exists (at least in relation to man). Absurdism was born of (but should not be confused with) the Existentialist movement, as the French philosopher and writer Albert Camus broke from this philosophical line of thought and published his manuscript The Myth of Sisyphus. The aftermath of World War II provided the social environment that stimulated absurdist views and allowed for their popular development, especially in the devastated country of France.

Humans historically attempt to find meaning in the universe, according to Absurdism. Yet, the world is irrational and does not conform to the standards or wishes of mankind and so this search is inevitably in vain. The search traditionally leads people down one of two paths: the conclusion that life is meaningless, or the filling of this vacuum by some artificial means (such as religion). The thoughtful human being who recognizes this scenario is then met by the impending philosophical question of 'should we bother living at all, or simply commit suicide?' It would appear that due to the subconscious drive of humans to avoid violent death, suicide has traditionally not won out in this equation.

However, Camus argues for a third path. This is the acceptance of life being essentially meaningless while continuing to live. Camus describes three archtypes of these people, whom he dubs 'absurd heros': the Rebel, the Artist, and the Don Juan. Also noteworthy is Camus' novel, The Stranger, which depicts an ordinary man's struggle with the absurd.

Camus was an accomplished novelist, receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature.

[landmine]

Originally posted by [email protected] 13 2005, 12:08 AM
Albert Camus was a Christain? The Myth of Sisyiphus is about as un-Christian as you can get...

He was an existentialist (Which doesn't negate him from being a Christian. See; Dostoevsky) but he was also an absurdist, and I was under the impression that absurdism is staunchly atheistic.

I was condsidering calling myself an absurdist until I realized a true absurdist wouldn't bother.

And if you want a GOOD Russian 'Christian' author, read some Dosteovsky or Tolstoy.
You have to read his last work before the accident where he delineates the differences between rebels and revolutionaries. Try it. You'll like it.

[Publius]

You have to read his last work before the accident where he delineates the differences between rebels and revolutionaries. Try it. You'll like it.

What's the title?

I'm sure he's not a bad author, but the other two have it on lockdown.

[Monty Cantsin]

landmine i think is Referring to “The Rebel” which is a good read if you’re interested but be wary because it lacks intellectual rigor and is rife with contradictions…I know this only in particular sections where my knowledge of the thinkers he discussed is good. I’ve read critiques of other sections in the book that reproach him for his lacklustre treatment of other philosophers and groups.

[red_orchestra]

Too bad Stalin didn't put a pistol to Aleksandre Solzhenitsyns' head. Thats all I gota say.