[Argus]

You're right. Those who don't read him are missing the great mordant humorist in Solzhenitsyn, not just in Gulag but the novels like First Circle as well. He's a worthy successor to Gogol on that score.

[Yardstick]

Yeah, I was expecting Gulag to be a dismal slog, and it was, but somehow Solzhenitzyn makes it a thoroughly charming dismal slog. I never would have guessed that. My impression was that Gulag was mainly a historical document, but I saw that it's also a superb piece of literature. That's why it'd make good assigned reading for highschool students. It sort of kills two birds with one stone.