In 2002 he published a controversial book of memoirs A Portrait Against the Background of a Myth highly critical of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Voinovich accused him of creating a cult around himself, of poor writing skills and his alleged antisemitism, among other things. The book received a mixed reaction. Yuri Semenov supported the point regarding "Solzhenitsyn's continuous degradation" as a writer, but also criticized Voinovich for simultaneously "glorifying himself and his books". Liza Novikova of Kommersant compared the book to performance art, suggesting that "the author only helps creating the very same myth by trying to prove that Solzhenitsyn doesn't match the rank of a great writer". The book was widely seen as a reaction to Solzhenitsyn's two-volume historical work Two Hundred Years Together that was published in 2001–2002 and dedicated to the history of Jews in Russia and frequently regarded as antisemitic. Voinovich, however, said that he had started the work on his book before Two Hundred Years Together was even published and that he didn't have patience to read it till the end. He published his memoirs in 2010. Awards and honors Voinovich was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation for 2000, for his book "Monumental propaganda" about Soviet Neo-Stalinist legacy sitting in the subconscious of almost every citizen of the "free Russia". He also received Andrei Sakharov Prize for Writer's Civic Courage (2002). Bibliography Stories and novels Articles and interviews Further reading References External links Magazine Hall (in Russian) Biography at Literary Encyclopedia 1932 births 2018 deaths People from Dushanbe Russian people of Serbian descent Russian Jews Soviet poets Russian male novelists Soviet novelists Soviet male writers 20th-century Russian male writers Russian political activists Russian anti-communists Soviet dissidents Soviet expellees Soviet people of Serbian descent People denaturalized by the Soviet Union Honorary Members of the Russian Academy of Arts Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Foreign members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Vladimir State Prize of the Russian Federation laureates Jewish anti-communists Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery