Bodalsi͡a︡ telenok s dubom

by Александр Солженицын

**The Oak and the Calf**, subtitled *Sketches of Literary Life in the Soviet Union*, is a memoir by Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, about his attempts to publish work in his own country. Solzhenitsyn began writing the memoir in April 1967, when he was 49 years old, and added supplements in 1971, 1973, and 1974. The work was first published in Russian in 1975 under the title *Бодался телёнок с дубом* (lit. "*A Calf Head-butting with an Oak*", an ironic phrase). It has been translated into English by Harry Willetts. A second, considerably expanded edition of the Russian text was produced in 1996, by the Moscow publishing house *Soglasie*. This edition includes new material on the people who helped Solzhenitsyn in his literary tasks before his exile. The writer had previously called these anonymous helpers *Nevidimki* (the invisible ones). The new material has been translated and published in English as a separate book called *Invisible Allies*. The memoir contains a detailed accou