The First Circle Author:Aleksander I. Solzhenitsyn In the Soviet period we have had an endless succession of prison camp revelations. Now, however, the towering figure of Solzhenitsyn appears. He, like Dostoevsky, is a survivor. He, too, spent years in prison and exile....his men and women are flesh and blood; they love; they hate;........suddenly we understant that prison, terror, corruptibilit... more »y and sadism refine and purify the human ethos.« less