One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

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One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

• By Alexander Solzhenitsyn

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The story

• Chronicles one typical day for one man, Ivan
  Denisovich Shukhov, as he attempts to survive
  with dignity and humanity in a Soviet prison camp
  (gulag)
• The dehumanizing atmosphere of the gulag forces
  its occupants to discover creative ways to
  preserve their individuality while conforming to
  the rigid rules of the camp.

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The themes

• Reminder of the resilience of the human spirit
• Study of the history of human cruelty and
  miscarriages of justice
• Ponders the importance of preserving ones
  dignity and individuality at all costs
• Regionalism/ethnic pride
• The relationship between power and cruelty is it
  inevitable?

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The terminology

• Valenki (plural) knee-length winter boots made
  from felt
• Kolkhoz a collective farming community
• Gulag forced labor camp in USSR (special
  campsfor prisoners convicted of political
  crimeswere located in Siberia)
• Taiga swampy forest in Siberia, the outlands

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The terminology, contd

• Zek prisoner in the gulag
• Kasha oatmeal mush made from barley or wheat
• Oprichniki (plural) members of the Imperial
  Russian police force
• Kulak rich peasants who were punished by the
  Communists for their prosperity by having their
  property taken away
• Tartar a person of irritable or violent temper

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Alexander S. background

• A.S. spent his youth under the Bolshevik system
  post-revolution Russia
• He studied physics and mathematics while in
  University
• In 1941, he was drafted into the Soviet army to
  fight in WWII for the Allies
• In 1945, he was arrested for writing a derogatory
  remark about Stalin in a letter to a friend
• He was sentenced to eight years imprisonment in
  a Siberian Gulagfrom this experience, he gained
  the insight necessary to write this novel

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Alexander S. background contd

• He was released from the camp in 1953, after the
  death of Stalin, but still had to live in exile
  on the outskirts of Russia
• In 1957, he was cleared of all charges and began
  living a normal life as a math teacher, writing
  this book in his spare time
• In 1962, this novel was published in the Soviet
  literary magazine Novy Mirit became an instant
  sensation in Russia

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Alexander S. contd

• Nikita Khruschevthe leader in Russia after
  Stalins deathdenounced Stalin and his tactics
  in the early 1960s, hoping to begin a new day
  for Russia
• That new policy of openness and freedom in Russia
  (although not complete by any means) made this
  story of Stalinist (totalitarian) injustice in
  the prison camps extremely popular and important
  to typical Russians in the 1960s
• True Socialism, according to N.K., did not depend
  on labor camps and baseless political charges to
  keep its citizens in line

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Alexander S., contd

• A.S. was eventually forced to leave Russia in
  1974 by the KGB
• He wrote another book that shed more light on the
  Gulag system, but by then Russia had evolved into
  the USSR and the political climate was much less
  sympathetic to the government-challenging views
  of liberal writers

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Alexander S., contd

• He settled in Vermont and lived there for 20
  years
• He disliked the culture of America, and spent his
  time in the US as a recluse
• It is said that he hated the pop culture of the
  US, especially its materialism, rock music, and
  the US fascination with celebrity
• He returned to Russia in 1994
• Died in August 2008

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