Return to Shalamov

The essay considers V. Shalamov’s gulag experiences that inspired his Kolyma Tales [Kolymskie rasskazy]. In this commentary on Shalamov’s work, A. Ter-Abramyants examines his personal perspective as a reader who first got hold of Kolyma Tales in the Brezhnev era, long before the book was officially published in the Soviet Union. While most gulag survivors tried to bury the memories of the camp in the deepest recesses of their mind, Shalamov poured out his experiences onto the pages of Kolyma Tales. He was convinced that, unless touched by art, nothing can survive the passing of time. He believed he owed it to the millions of gulag victims to immortalize their memory in art, despite the fact that disclosing the prison camp goings-on was severely punishable as treason. Shalamov succeeded in depicting the scale and impact of Stalin-era dehumanization: prison camps engendered loathing of labour and the discouragement of forming friendships, sharing or thinking, as even a mental activity depleted one’s physical resources. Shalamov’s powerful writings transform the reader from a bystander into a witness of crimes against humanity that defy any statute of limitation.