“Bless you prison, bless you for being in my life. For there, lying upon the rotting prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is […]
Russian literature
Matryona’s Home
“A village is not worth its salt without a righteous man.” Chapter 1: The Arrival The narrator, Ignatich, a former political prisoner, arrives in the remote village of […]
Russian literature
Cancer Ward
“A man dies from a tumor, so how can a country survive with growths like labor camps and exiles?” Cancer Ward follows the lives of patients in a […]
Russian literature
The Gulag Archipelago
“In the Gulag Archipelago, humanity was extinguished—and yet, paradoxically, it was here that the human spirit burned brightest.” Part I: The Prison Industry The book opens with Solzhenitsyn’s […]
Russian literature
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
“The belly is an ungrateful wretch, it never remembers past favors, it always wants more tomorrow.” Morning The novel opens with Ivan Denisovich Shukhov waking up in a […]