Here for now

I was a little stunned to remember that Solzhenitsyn is still alive and interviewing very well. He has been calling for Russian national repentance over the gulag atrocities for much of his 88 years, and in the interview comments that public repentance is the last thing a modern politician will do. I’ve never understood that, since apologies usually engender not only respect but sympathy and support. Solzhenitsyn’s thoughts on literature are counter-intuitive—he claims great works are born out of times of extended peace and stability. How does that claim stand up under scrutiny?