Ivan Denisovich and COVID-19

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Over at the Cavendish Historical Society, Margo Caulfield has a fresh take on One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, suggesting it can be seen as a precursor to the emerging field of positive psychology and the modern understanding of “mindfulness”.

“As it turns out, a very successful and highly practiced form of psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), has its roots in Stoic philosophy. Since one of the most famous Stoics was Epictetus, who was born into slavery, it’s not surprising that Solzhenitsyn would have drawn some similar conclusions. We may not have control over our circumstances, but we can control how we interpret them and how we respond to them.

In the midst of our “stay-at-home” order, “One Day in the Life” is definitely worth a read. It’s short, can be read in one sitting, and can help reframe this time of Covid-19 by reminding us that we do have control over how we respond as well as that there are positive things happening all around us that we can be grateful for.”
— Margo Caulfield

Interview with Richard Tempest on his new Solzhenitsyn book

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Slavic languages and literatures professor Richard Tempest has written a new book, Overwriting Chaos, about the literary artistry of Russian novelist and historian Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Read his interview about it here.

“Every story, every novel is a complete imagined world unto itself, with a humankind, geography, climate, flora and its own logic. It can be very playful and magical. That’s the way I look at him,” Tempest said. “As an artist, he had tremendous fun writing. He liked all kinds of tricks and in-jokes and private witticisms.”

Solzhenitsyn's Warning

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“In our eagerness to do business with China, we have self-servingly overlooked the lies and dishonesty endemic in totalitarian societies. The Covid-19 virus – so renamed to conceal its origins in Wuhan, China – reminds us of the fatal dangers of the one-party state. In reviewing The Solzhenitsyn Reader, Colin May illuminates how the great Russian dissident and author warned the West.”

Richard Tempest Online Book Presentation coming up on 9 Apr

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On Thursday, April 9 from 4:30–5:30 p.m., the Russian and East European Studies Programand the Department of Historyare inviting Seton Hall students and guests to participate in an online book presentation by one of the world's preeminent Solzhenitsyn scholars, Prof. Richard Tempest (University of Illinois). Professor Tempest will discuss his latest book, Overwriting Chaos: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's Fictive Words (Academic Press, 2019).