|
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Creator: H. T. Willetts
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Category: Book
List Price: $13.00
Buy Used: $0.60
You Save: $12.40 (95%)
New (44) Used (66) Collectible (5) from $0.60
Rating:  167 reviews
Sales Rank: 34631
Media: Paperback
Pages: 188
Number Of Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0374529523
Dewey Decimal Number: 891.7344
EAN: 9780374529529
ASIN: 0374529523
Publication Date: March 16, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Some wear on book from reading, spine creases, wear on binding and pages, we guarantee all purchases and ship all items via USPS mail.
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Solzhenitsyn's first book, this economical, relentless novel is one of the most forceful artistic indictments of political oppression in the Stalin-era Soviet Union. The simply told story of a typical, grueling day of the titular character's life in a labor camp in Siberia, is a modern classic of Russian literature and quickly cemented Solzhenitsyn's international reputation upon publication in 1962. It is painfully apparent that Solzhenitsyn himself spent time in the gulags--he was imprisoned for nearly a decade as punishment for making derogatory statements about Stalin in a letter to a friend.
Product Description
The only English translation authorized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
First published in the Soviet journal Novy Mir in 1962, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich stands as a classic of contemporary literature. The story of labor-camp inmate Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, it graphically describes his struggle to maintain his dignity in the face of communist oppression. An unforgettable portrait of the entire world of Stalin's forced work camps, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is one of the most extraordinary literary documents to have emerged from the Soviet Union and confirms Solzhenitsyn's stature as "a literary genius whose talent matches that of Dosotevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy"--Harrison Salisbury
This unexpurgated 1991 translation by H. T. Willetts is the only authorized edition available and fully captures the power and beauty of the original Russian.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 162 more reviews...
 only one day in the gulag October 12, 2008
Charles A. Bossler (Lomita, CA USA)
No study of the Soviet Union could be complete without reading "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", By Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Unlike Solzhenitsyn's later novels "The First Circle" or "The Gulag Archipelago" that explore the life of a zeck (political prisoners) in depth, "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" is a simple straight forward narrative of a single day in the life of a zeck. Solzhenitsyn captures the unchanging hopelessness and brutality of life in a gulag with both brevity and startling guileless narrative. Even the length of less than 200 pages is a transformation of the usual Russian novel.
Prior to publication of Solzhenitsyn's work in 1962 by Novy Mir (New Life) Magazine and its publication in the West being little was known about the details of the Stalinist Repression Prison Camp System. The very existence of the gulag system came as a surprise, but the size and brutality of these camps was a breathtaking revelation. Not all zecks were political prisoners most were confined for violation of Article 58; weakening of the power of workers' and peasants'... or undermining... the external security of the U.S.S.R., literally covering everything from littering to treason.
As additional reading I recommend "The Trial" by Kafka to get a unique if somewhat parallaxed view of Soviet Jurist Prudence. A narrative of Joseph K. who awakens one morning and, for reasons never revealed, is arrested and prosecuted for an unspecified crime, or "The First Circle" a narrative of the life of high-valued zecks working on an encrypted telephone system for Stalin's use.
Five Star Book of Five Star Books October 11, 2008
D. Olinger
Not a wasted word. Incredible story. Powerful beyond belief. The glowing reviews are right--a must read.
Icy, Enduring, Classic ... October 7, 2008
I'm going surfin' (California, Central Coast)
This book has been reviewed over and over again. I doubt I can add much that has not been mentioned. I read this book (the first time) in 1978. It is one of the few books that sticks in my mind like I read it yesterday.
First, it is short, only about 150-160 pages. For all its brevity it packs the impact of and 800 pager by Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. I enjoyed this book more than the much longer "Cancer Ward".
Solzhenityn's descriptive and narrative power are in absolutely top form here. It captures perfectly, the futility, hopelessness, and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit undergoing 10 years of unjust imprisonment. Chilling and descriptive in its captivating imagery. It is simply written by a master at the top of his game with unparalleled subject matter to work with. Considering that the story captures only one day, the density and power of the imagery are amazing.
There are so many little snippets that stick with you, bone chilling cold so frigid that cement must be heated or it freezes before it can be used,searching for soup with "fish eyes" in it because it fills you up better and is more nutritious,and of course the last sentence of the book has a chilling and desolate finality to it that I will probably remember until I am dead.
This book made me hate the Soviet Union enough to become a soldier.
 An important book September 27, 2008
Howard Schulman (Providence, RI)
Reading Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's book while traveling through the former Soviet Union recently was downright spooky. He had died just before I left, so I did him the honor of bringing his book along. You don't necessarily read it expecting a fun or enjoyable read. You read it because it was one of the first books that exposed yet one more terrible era the Russian people endured, Stalin's gulag prison camps.
Actually, I was a little let down when I read the introduction (Katherine Shonk) and learned that Khrushchev purposely had the book published in order to expose Stalin's crimes and vilify Stalin. I was hoping that it was a truly "underground" book that somehow managed to evade the censors....But, alas, it is still an important book in Russian history, and I am glad I did read it.
It's a quick and easy read. The other reviews provide the basics of the book, so I'll spare you the extra verbiage.
Frightening Insight Into the Dark Side of Mankind September 10, 2008
W. Jason Gilmore (Columbus, OH)
The recent press surrounding the death of Solzhenitsyn prompted me to seek out his written works, and decided to start with this, his first book. Drawn from his own time spent in Soviet Gulags, Solzhenitsyn paints a frightening picture of a single day in the life of a typical prisoner as he tries to avoid the wrath of both the guards and his fellow inmates from dawn to dusk.
Incidently, the events surrounding the publication of "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" are as eye-opening as the book itself. First published in 1962 with the express permission of then premiere Nikita Khrushchev, it was only two years later that the new regime took offense to the book, not only ceasing publication but prompting Solzhenitsyn's declaration as a "non-person" within the Soviet Union. Undaunted, Solzhenitsyn continued writing in secret, producing several other works (which I happen to be reading now!).
If you've any interest in Soviet history and literature, this seems to be a great place to start.
|
|
|
Web Design, Maintenance, and Hosted by K9Sites.com | |