ABSTRACT
Among the various explanations that Solzhenitsyn had given for living L in Zurich, the latest was that he had wanted to stay there while writing his chapters on Lenin for his series of historical novels. Solzhenitsyn seemed to many onlookers to be tilting at windmills, while the American historian at the centre of his attack went on to become a personal adviser on Soviet affairs to President Reagan, not generally known for his softness on communism or a tendency to bow to the “socialist hurricane.” The accepted explanation for the fence was that it was part of Solzhenitsyn’s security arrangements against incursions by the KGB. That security against reporters was more or less the true purpose of the fence was admitted by Solzhenitsyn when he attended the annual Cavendish town meeting the following February to explain himself and confirm for the first time that he was actually living there.
