Solzhenitsyn's present-day isolation is partly down to his character. He has always preferred the gloomy life of a hermit to the fuss of a public man's life.

Besides, he is well into his 80s now. But perhaps the main reason behind his seclusion is a failure to meet the high expectations of the Russian populace, who once looked upon him as a moral leader and even a prophet.

This would-be prophet has played no significant role in Russia's political dialogue since returning.

In his rare television appearances, he has never spoken out on issues defining current Russian politics, such as the war in Chechnya.

Instead, he has kept talking about the need to revive the peasants' self-government, the zemstvo, which existed during the time of Stolypin's reforms. This idea does not seem relevant for the modern-day Russia, where the peasantry is nearly non-existent.

Editor's note: