People, Jan. 3, 1972

Russian Poet and Editor Alexander T. Tvardovsky had died of a stroke at 61. The Soviet Writers Union did its best to keep his funeral quiet, but Nobel-prizewinning Novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn, 53, whose novels (The Cancer Ward, The First Circle) have been banned in his homeland, made his first public appearance in several years to honor the man who had published his anti-Stalinist novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Solzhenitsyn did not speak, but his simple presence made Tvardovsky's funeral a testimony for cultural freedom. Earlier, Solzhenitsyn offered more outspoken...

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