The literature about Solzhenitsyn is enormous. These are mountains of books, articles, scientific papers, dissertations, enthusiastic and polemical responses. It would seem that there is such scope for a wide variety of views, interpretations, aesthetic, philosophical and political interpretations of the role and place of the writer in the literary and socio-political life of the country and the world. In reality, however, there is not much diversity here. All this literature is neatly divided into two opposing categories. One is apologetics (if we are talking about the work of the “great writer of the Russian land” - kneeling and delight, if about his biography - the halo of a prophet and genius, not a biography, but a life). And - another, the opposite: revelations, mockery, pamphlets, and even lampoons. Benedict Sarnov’s book “The Solzhenitsyn Phenomenon” is perhaps the only one whose author has set himself the task of giving a serious and, if possible, objective analysis of both artistic and ideological evolution (it would be better to say transformation) of the writer. But is it possible to maintain objectivity while clarifying your relationship with a person who played a huge - and not at all simple - role in your life?