Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, Archipelag GULag, 1918-1956 [The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956]

Robert Porter (University of Glasgow)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.2.00: Post-1917 Writing and Culture in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, 1917-present.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Domains

Political Science

Dates

First circulation or publication 1973 - 1976

Places

Russia (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Historical
Non-fictional prose

Resources

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Arkhipelag GULag 1918-1956

[

The Gulag Archipelago

, first published from 1973 to 1976] – the author subtitles it “an experiment in literary (literally “artistic” [

khudozhestvennnoe

] investigation” – is one of those works occasionally thrown up by Russian literature which is indeed

sui generis

. Part oral history, part autobiography, part straight historical account and part political and philosophical disquisition, its seven parts – usually published in three large volumes – seek nothing less than to fill a huge historical, moral and ideational gap, namely the unvarnished story of the Soviet penal system and its countless victims. Solzhenitsyn examines the ideological roots of the system, catalogues, as far as he can, the statistics relating to its casualties, its enactment…

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2577 words

Citation: Porter, Robert. "Archipelag GULag, 1918-1956". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 May 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13848, accessed 22 November 2024.]