Revisiting the spellbinding Saki

Christopher Hitchens waxes on the spellbinding qualities of H.H. Munro, AKA Saki. In this month's The Atlantic Hitchens writes "At the age of 15, Noël Coward was staying in an English country house and found a copy of Beasts and Super-Beasts on a table: “I took it up to my bedroom, opened it casually and was unable to go to sleep until I had finished it.” I had a similar experience at about the same age, and I agree with Coward that H. H. Munro—or “Saki,” the author of the book in question—is among those few writers, inspirational when read at an early age, who definitely retain their magic when revisited decades later. I have the impression that Saki is not very much appreciated in the United States. Good." Read more here.

Solzhenitsyn dead at 89. But where is the love?

Once revered as the heir of Tolstoy, an icon of the the dissident movement in the Soviet Union and a must read for any Russian Lit course, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn has recently fallen out of favour in modern Russia. On Sunday the 89-year old Solzhenitsyn died in Moscow. As Clifford Levy writes in this week's New York Times, there is still reverence for the author of "The Gulag Archipelago," "Cancer Ward" and "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" but little outpouring of love.His fervant nationalism turned many of his liberal followers away and even Russia's leaders kept their comments to his writing legacy. Read more here.