A world split apart aleksandr solzhenitsyn pdf

Here is the full text and summary of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Commencement Address titled “A WORLD SPLIT APART” at Harvard University on 8 June 1978.

Listen to the audio version here:

TRANSCRIPT:

[As translated…]

I am sincerely happy to be here on the occasion of the 327th commencement Harvard University June 8, 1978 of this old and most prestigious university.

My congratulations and very best wishes to all of today’s graduates.

Harvard’s motto is “Veritas.” Many of you have already found out and others will find out in the course of their lives that truth eludes us if we do not concentrate our attention totally on its pursuit.

But even while it eludes us, the illusion of knowing it still lingers and leads to many misunderstandings.

Also, truth seldom is pleasant. It is almost invariably bitter. There is some bitterness in my today’s speech, too.

But I want to stress that it comes not from an adversary, but from a f