Cliff at one end of Clifton Beach. Clifton Beach. March 2011.
A busy week this week means that I've only got through the one book (still a few pages left on the current). But what a book!
Оди́н день Ива́на Дени́совича.
[Ahem]
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's classic description of life in a Soviet labor camp in the 1950s, describing a single day of an ordinary prisoner, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. Seemingly as much known for its actual publication (a significant event in Soviet literary history), it's also a cracking read.
Essentially an exploration of authoritative oppression and camp survival, Solzhenitsyn used his first-hand experience in the Soviet Gulag, having been imprisoned from 1945 to 1953 for criticising Joseph Stalin.
Oddly enough, for the subject matter One Day in the Life... is actually an uplifting read. I'd very much recommend it to anyone.
Comments
I tried reading The Gulag Archipelago last year, but found it tough going at the time. Perhaps I should give this one a go first.
The Secret Speech and the Khrushchev thaw must have been an amazing time for many Soviets. I would imagine it made the coming of Brezhnev, the Prague Spring etc etc all the more difficult to bear.
I shall try to come by a copy of Solzhenitsyn's book. It was banned when I first heard of it.