The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

« Headlines

Vintage brings forward Solzhenitsyn reissue

05.08.08 Graeme Neill

Vintage Classics is to bring forward publication of the reissue of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich after the Russian author’s death on Sunday.

The paperback will be released on 7th August after an original planned release date of 2nd October. The revamped book forms part of the wider redesign of the Vintage Classics list. The publisher has been rejacketing each book in the 500 strong list, giving the list a cleaner, more modern design.

Solzhenitsyn died on Sunday of heart failure in his home near Moscow. The 89-year-old was hailed for exposing Stalin’s prison system in his novels, The Gulag Archipelago and One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich. He was exiled from the then Soviet Union for two decades.

Liz Foley, editorial director at Vintage Classics, said it was “immensely proud” to publish Solzhenitsyn’s titles. “His courageous contribution to world literature has left an indelible mark on our times and his legacy will endure far into the future,” she said.

Penguin has also recently reissued its new version of One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich, which it repackaged as part of the relaunch of its Modern Classics list.

Harper Perennial in the US, which recently acquired the first English language translation of Solzhenitsyn's The First Circle, has no plans to rush the book to press following the news of Solzhenistyn's death on Sunday, reports Publishers Weekly. The publisher had been planning a 2009 release date for Circle. The house may consider releasing First Circle next year on the anniversary of the author's death.

Graeme Neill Home Vintage Classics Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn