The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956
Subtitle: an experiment in literary investigation
By: Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn ; translated from the Russian by Thomas P. Whitney (Parts I-IV) and Harry Willetts (Parts V-VII) ; abridged by Edward E. Ericson, Jr.
Contributors: Ericson, Edward E.
Publisher: Collins Harvill
Published: 1986
Place of publication: London
Language: eng; rus
Number of pages: 472
Subjects: Prisons -- Soviet Union; Political prisoners -- Soviet Union; Concentration camps -- Soviet Union
Description: Drawing on his own experiences before, during, and after his 11 years of incarceration and exile, Solzhenitsyn reveals with torrential narrative and dramatic power the entire apparatus of Soviet repression. Through truly Shakespearean portraits of its victims, we encounter the secret police operations, the labor camps and prisons, the uprooting or extermination of whole populations. Yet we also witness astounding moral courage, the incorruptibility with which the occasional individual or a few scattered groups, all defenseless, endured brutality and degradation. Solzhenitsyn's genius has transmuted this grisly indictment into a literary miracle.
Notes: Translation of: Arkhipelag GULag, 1918-1956.