Calf Who Butted the Oak

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008), Nobel Prize laureate in literature, was a Soviet political prisoner from 1945 to 1953. His story One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) made him famous, and The Gulag Archipelago (1973) further unmasked Communism and played a critical role in its eventual defeat. Solzhenitsyn was exiled to the West in 1974. He ultimately published dozens of plays, poems, novels, and works of history, nonfiction, and memoir, including In the First Circle, Cancer Ward, The Red Wheel epic, and the Between Two Millstones memoirs.Ignat Solzhenitsyn is a pianist and conductor based in New York City. The middle son of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, he is translator and editor of several of his father's works in English.Harry Willetts (1922–2005) was an English scholar of Russian and English-language translator of Russian literature. He is best known for his translations of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's work.

"This outstanding new translation of The Calf Who Butted the Oak at last gives English-language readers the opportunity to share in Solzhenitsyn's uniquely piercing assessment of what the post-Stalin period was, and what it was not. From his recounting of conversations, character sketches, and moral choices in the face of Soviet power to his profiles of the 'Invisibles' who preserved his manuscripts at great personal risk, Solzhenitsyn gives the reader a rich and vivid portrait of an entire generation living through Khrushchev's ill-fated thaw—a generation that would, two decades later, help bring the Soviet system itself crashing down." - Matthew Rojansky, president of the U.S. Russia Foundation and chairman of the Kennan Institute"Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is a true giant of the twentieth century in terms of both his literary and historical importance. Seldom has a writer wielded so much power in the fight against tyranny and terror. His story is therefore essential to anyone seeking to know the literary and political landscape of the past century. It is in this light that the publication of this new and improved edition of his memoirs should be seen and celebrated." - Joseph Pearce, author of Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile"Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn shaped the destiny of his country more deeply than any other writer in the twentieth century. The Calf Who Butted the Oak, his vivid memoir of his final, tumultuous decade in the Soviet Union, captures its author's unshakable courage and supreme self-confidence. Now available to English-speaking readers in an updated, unabridged, and more accurate translation, Solzhenitsyn's testament illuminates the world of one of history's great conservative rebels." - Benjamin Nathans, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause

• List of AppendicesPublisher's NoteForeword by Ignat SolzhenitsynProviso[1947–MARCH 1967] Underground WriterPart 1. First Supplement (Spring–Autumn 1967)Part 2. Second Supplement (November 1967–Summer 1970)Part 3. Third Supplement (Summer 1970–Autumn 1973)Part 4. Fourth Supplement (January–February 1974)Part 5. Fifth Supplement. InvisiblesAppendicesNotes to the English TranslationList of the 133 "Invisibles"Index of Selected NamesGeneral Index