The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956 : : an Experiment in Literary Investigation. Volume 1

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The Gulag Archipelago submitted by leighsprauer on May 19, 2021, 2:10pm The Gulag Archipelago is Solzhenitsyn’s monumental history of the Soviet political penal system between approximately 1915 and 1960. ‘Archipelago’ refers to the chain of camps, prisons, jails, interrogation centers, and transport centers, hidden from daily life, that almost constituted a separate country within the Soviet Union. (‘Gulag’ being an acronym for the camp administration system.) Through interviews, research, and his own experience, Solzhenitsyn gives a thorough and damning description of this horrific part of Soviet history. This first volume covers an overview of the ‘archipelago,’ methods of arrest, methods of interrogation and descriptions of political crimes, and methods of transport within the Gulag.

So. It took me 10 months to finish it, and somehow I was about half-way through when I realized that this was only volume 1 of 3. I cried a little. Saying that Solzhenitsyn is thorough doesn’t quite convey the gravity of the situation. There is an overwhelming, crushing, mind-boggling abundance of information. It’s as though the consonant-laden Russian names themselves (and there are so many! so many people!) are a metaphor for the jumble of facts that are presented in this book. What I’m saying is, it’s dense.

But, what a book! It’s even more overwhelming when you consider the circumstances of its writing. Whatever is from his own experience had to be remembered for decades, since he had no means of keeping notes in prison. What he learned from others was from difficult, convoluted research, since many of the original documents had been destroyed or lost. As a piece of research, it’s simply amazing. But that’s not all – he’s also a really good writer. Although it’s sometimes hard to pick up on his sarcasm in translation, his wit is evident, and he’s able to craft genuinely beautiful sentences at times. For its historical value – especially now when people are beginning to have romantic thoughts about socialism, for its writing, and for its depth, The Gulag Archipelago is groundbreaking. Just make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into.