Solzhenitsyn Creates Russian Literary Award

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel prize-winning author, on Tuesday announced the creation of an annual literary prize aimed at reviving the traditions of Russian literature. The award, made public by his family, represents a challenge to the Russian literary establishment, which has largely shunned the reclusive writer since his return from a 20- -year exile in 1994. Solzhenitsyn, 79, spent two weeks in hospital last May, suffering from what his family said was angina pectoris, a complaint caused by the failure of the coronary arteries to carry sufficient blood to the heart. Solzhenitsyn's wife, Natalya, told Reuters he had now recovered, having never interrupted his gruelling work schedule, not even in hospital. In some cases, bypass surgery may be needed if drugs fail to control angina, but she said the doctors had ruled out surgery in Solzhenitsyn's case. The Alexander Solzhenitsyn prize will be worth $25,000 and will be funded entirely from royalties for Gulag Archipelago, his history of the labour camps in which Lenin and Stalin sent millions to work and die. Solzhenitsyn was forcibly deported from the Soviet Union after the book's publication abroad in 1974 and decided to donate all earnings from the book to help the families of Soviet political prisoners. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the money from Gulag Archipelago has mostly been used to support Russian culture, as well as to provide an income for some 1,000 sick and elderly camp survivors. The book has been translated into 30 languages. A statement said the prize would be awarded to works which helped Russian society to understand itself and "made a significant contribution to the development of (Russian) literary traditions".