Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was a Russian novelist born on 11th December 1918. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s books in order consist of novellas like One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, An Incident at Krechetovka Station, and others.
He was one of the most famous Soviet dissidents who disagreed with certain features of Soviet ideology and was an outspoken critic of communism. He helped a great deal in raising global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union.
A Quick Biography To Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr finished high school in 1936, and since childhood, he has been inclined to write. He shaped his interest by writing a lot of the usual young nonsense. In the 30s, he made attempts to get published, but his manuscripts were not accepted anywhere.
He graduated from Rostov University in Physics and Mathematics, and in parallel with these subjects, he also studied at the correspondence department of the Moscow Institute of History-Philosophy-Literature.
He was appointed as commander of a reconnaissance artillery battery in which he continuously fought without leaving the front line until his arrest by SMERSH in February 1945 on the basis of censored extracts from his correspondence with a school friend around 1944-45 for disrespectful statements about Stalin even though they mentioned him under a pseudonym.
He was sentenced to an 8-year term course which was delayed by several months. He then spent his further years in internal exile criticizing Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in a private letter.
His experiences in prison and the camps made him a philosophically-minded Eastern Orthodox Christian. He later pursued writing novels about repressions in the Soviet Union and the experiences he went through, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s books in order are a result of those experiences.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Books In Order
Let’s have a look at the Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn book in publication order.
Publication Order of The Red Wheel Books
| Book Title | Publication Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| August 1914 | (1971) | Buy Now |
| November 1916 | (1985) | Buy Now |
| March 1917: The Red Wheel, Node III, Book 1 | (2017) | Buy Now |
| March 1917: The Red Wheel, Node III, Book 2 | (2017) | Buy Now |
| March 1917: The Red Wheel, Node III, Book 3 | (2017) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Book Title | Publication Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| For The Good Of The Cause | (1964) | Buy Now |
| Cancer Ward | (1967) | Buy Now |
| In the First Circle | (1968) | Buy Now |
| Lenin in Zürich | (1975) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas
| Book Title | Publication Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich | (1962) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Plays
| Book Title | Publication Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Love-Girl and The Innocent: A Play | (1969) | Buy Now |
| Victory Celebrations: A Comedy in Four Acts | (1983) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Collections
| Book Title | Publication Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Candle in the Wind | (1960) | Buy Now |
| Matryona’s House and Other Stories | (1963) | Buy Now |
| Stories and Prose Poems | (1963) | Buy Now |
| Victory Celebrations, Prisoners & The Love-Girl & The Innocent | (1969) | Buy Now |
| Prussian Nights: A Poem | (1974) | Buy Now |
| We Never Make Mistakes | (2004) | Buy Now |
| Apricot Jam: And Other Stories | (2008) | Buy Now |
| Voices from the Gulag | (2009) | Buy Now |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
| Book Title | Publication Year | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Nobel Lecture | (1971) | Buy Now |
| Letter to the Soviet Leaders | (1974) | Buy Now |
| The Oak And The Calf: Sketches Of Literary Life In The Soviet Union | (1975) | Buy Now |
| From Under the Rubble(With Mikhail Agursky, Evgeny Barabanov, Vadim Borisov,F. Korsakov, Igor R. Shafarevich) | (1975) | Buy Now |
| Warning to the West | (1976) | Buy Now |
| A World Split Apart: Commencement Address Delivered At Harvard University, June 8, 1978 | (1978) | Buy Now |
| Rebuilding Russia: Reflections and Tentative Proposals | (1990) | Buy Now |
| The Russian Question at the End of the Twentieth Century | (1994) | Buy Now |
| Invisible Allies | (1995) | Buy Now |
| Between Two Millstones, Book 1: Sketches of Exile, 1974-1978 | (2006) | Buy Now |
| Between Two Millstones, Book 2: Exile in America, 1978-1994 | (2020) | Buy Now |
| The Gulag Archipelago: Complete Edition | (2021) | Buy Now |
1] One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich
The first book of Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn books in order is One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which was published in 1962 in the Soviet literary magazine Novy Mir (New World).
It is a novella based on the Soviet labor camp in the early 1950s and describes the life of an ordinary prisoner, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. The whole novel is based on his one-day routine of captivating.
He was sentenced to 10 years term in a forced labor camp in the Soviet Gulag system and was accused of being a spy after being captured by the Germans during World War II.
The book was adapted into a one-hour dramatization on television for NBC in 1963 with Jason Nelson Robards Jr staring in it.
2] An Incident At Krechetovka Station
This is the second novella by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn that was published in 1963. The story describes the harsh reality of Soviet life, which is set during World War II, and the incidents are taken from the real-life experiences of the author.
The name of the station is the authentic name of a small railway town in the general area, which is implied by hints during the course of the story. The story is of a 3-4 hour duration in late October 1941 from the perspective of a character called Lieutenant Vasili Zotov, the second in command of the station, with short-sightedness.
The novella was adapted as a short film shot by Nikolai Rasheyev and Gleb Panfilov for a school project at the High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors. The novella was also approached by Lenfilm, but Solzhenitsyn rejected the proposal.
3] Matryona’s Place
Another Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn books in order is a novella named Matryona’s Place. It was published in 1963 and is Solzhenitsyn’s most-read short story. The story is set in the year 1956, six years after the events portrayed in the novella, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. This particular novel is considered to be the author’s finest literary work.
The narrator is a prisoner from Gulag who is currently teaching Mathematics at a school in the village. He is helped by Matryona, who provides shelter to him in her small one-room house.
One night a group of drunken farmers moves the wood at night who are offered help by Matryona. During the chaos of moving wood, she is killed by a train.
The character Matryona has been described as a ‘true Christian’ and a ‘communist’ offering help to everybody even though she herself lives on meager resources, and her death symbolizes Russia’s martyrdom.
4] For The Good Of The Cause
For the Good of the Cause is set in a new provincial school, and published in the Russian magazine Novy Mir in 1963. It is set in contemporary times in the early 1960s. It describes the victimization of ordinary and decent people by Soviet bureaucrats. The conflict between right and wrong and the freedom of the individual with the harshness of society is presented.
5] Cancer Ward
Cancer Ward is Solzhenitsyn’s semi-autobiographical work that illustrates that most of the time, the opposites are true too. For example, on the verge of death, one can also see a streak of life. This is the most compelling aspect of the novel. The book is a compassionate study on people facing terminal illnesses.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Books In Order tells the story of a group of patients in the cancer ward of a hospital in Tashkent in Ward 13 in 1954. Different characters are depicted who benefited from Stalinism, resisted, or acquiesced and explored the moral responsibility implicated by the Great Purge of Stalin.
The main focus of the novel is on the patients who are treated in the worst of conditions in a squalid hospital.
It also describes the patient’s horror when he undergoes the physical, psychological, and moral effects of Cancer. The novel has many symbolical references to the state of Soviet Russia.
The patients symbolize the suppressed people of the nation, and the Cancer symbolizes the ruthless and inhuman dictatorship under Stalin.
6] August 1914
The novel August 1914 was published in the year 1971 and is an unusual blend of fiction narrative and historiography. It has part history and part fiction in it. It is a dramatic interpretation of Russian history.
The story is about the embarrassing defeat of the Russian army at the hands of a much smaller German force on their home territory at the Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914. The novel has a masterful depiction of the total ineptitude of the Russian GHQ and their loss at the opening campaign in World War I.
Wrapping Up – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn books in order depict the hardships of the people and their political repression in the Soviet Union under the ruthless dictatorship of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.
If modern history interests you, then you must read Solzhenitsyn’s books as the characters are the true representation of the people at that time who faced the wrath of Stalin, and the incidents given in the novel are mostly taken from the real-life experiences of the author. His books make up a great historical read.
Read more FAQs about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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What is the born and death date for Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn?
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was born on 11 December 1918 and died on 3 August 2008.
