Help required. Is Solzhenitsyn's Homecoming available online?
Venerated by Soviet dissidents, and despised by communists, during his spell in exile, Alexander Solzhenitsyn's star had become rather faded by the time he returned to Russia in 1994. His scepticism about the West, coupled with a penchant for mysticism and Russian nationalism saw the writer variously (and inconsistently) portrayed as an advocate of Tsarism, a Tolstoy imitator and an arch-reactionary. With his bushy beard and his grumpy dismissals of modern culture, he became easy to lampoon.
The author's return to Moscow only added to the criticism that he was a man, full of his own importance, and out of time. Solzhenitsyn embarked on an epic train journey around Russia's provinces, before arriving to chaotic scenes at Yaroslavsky Station. The BBC filmed a documentary recording this 'homecoming'. It is no longer available on IPlayer. And my question to any 3000 Versts reader (yes, it was quite a digression) is whether the programme is available anywhere else online? I've tried the very obvious sources (Youtube, Google Videos, Seesaw).
Update: Thanks for your help folks. I've now got a copy of the documentary ready to watch.
Update: Thanks for your help folks. I've now got a copy of the documentary ready to watch.
Comments
Notoriously disparaging about some aspects of western life, he nevertheless made here his home for many years.
I suppose that as a westerner myself, the best thing to do with such figures is not to try to criticise them by local standards, but to accept them on their own merits as far as possible. This could go for Russia as a whole!
Phil