One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich  
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich cover.jpg
Author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Original title Один день Ивана Денисовича
Translator Ralph Parker (1963); Ron Hingley and Max Hayward (1963); Gillon Aitken (1970); H.T. Willetts (1991)
Country U.S.S.R.
Language Russian
Genre(s) Literary fiction
Publisher Signet Classic
Publication date 1963
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 158 pp (paperback edition)
ISBN ISBN 0-451-52310-5 (paperback edition)
OCLC Number 29526909

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Russian: Оди́н день Ива́на Дени́совича Odin den' Ivana Denisovicha pronounced [ɐˈdʲin ˈdʲenʲ ɪˈvanə dʲɪˈnʲisəvʲɪtʃə]) is a novel written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, first published in November 1962 in the Soviet literary magazine Novy Mir (New World).[1] The story is set in a Soviet labor camp in the 1950s, and describes a single day of an ordinary prisoner, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. Its publication was an extraordinary event in Soviet literary history—never before had an account of Stalinist repression been openly distributed. The editor of Novy Mir, Aleksandr Tvardovsky, wrote a short introduction for the issue, titled "Instead of a Foreword," to prepare the journal's readers for what they were about to experience.

Contents

Translations

At least four English translations have been made. Of those, the 1963 Signet translation by Ralph Parker was the first to be published,[2][3] followed by the 1963 Bantam (Random House) translation by Ronald Hingley and Max Hayward and the 1970 translation by Gillon Aitken. The fourth translation, by H.T. Willetts and the only one authorized by Solzhenitsyn, was published in 1991.[4] Some names differ among the translations; those below are from the Hingley and Hayward translation.

Plot

Ivan Denisovich Shukhov has been sentenced to a camp in the Soviet gulag system, accused of becoming a spy after being captured by the Germans as a prisoner of war during World War II. He is innocent but is nonetheless punished by the government for being a spy. His sentence is for ten years, but the book indicates that most people never leave the camps. The final paragraph suggests that Shukhov serves exactly ten years—no more and no less—but whether this is merely Shukhov's hope is left for the reader to decide.

The day begins with Shukhov waking up sick. For waking late, he is sent to the guardhouse and forced to clean it—a minor punishment compared to others mentioned in the book. When Shukhov is finally able to leave the guardhouse, he goes to the dispensary to report his illness. Since it is late in the morning by now, the orderly is unable to exempt any more workers, and Shukhov must work regardless.

The rest of the day mainly speaks of Shukhov's squad (the 104th, which has 24 members), their allegiance to the squad leader, and the work that the prisoners (zeks) do—for example, at a brutal construction site where the cold freezes the mortar used for bricklaying if not applied quickly enough. Solzhenitsyn also details the methods used by the prisoners for survival; the whole camp lives by the rule of survival of the fittest. Tiurin, the deputy foreman of gang 104 is kind but strict, and the squad grows to like him more as the book goes on. Tyurin is liked because he understands the prisoners and he tells them a lot and does a lot to help them. He shares stories with them, and the prisoners feel bad for his situation because his wife left him before he went into the camp. Shukhov is one of the hardest workers in the squad and is generally well respected. Rations at the camp are scant, but for Shukhov, they are one of the few things to live for. He conserves the food that he receives and is always watchful for any item that he can hide and trade for food at a later date.

At the end of the day, Shukhov is able to provide a few special services for Tsezar (Caesar), an intellectual who is able to get out of manual labor and do office work instead. Tsezar is most notable, however, for receiving packages of food from his family. Shukhov is able to get a small share of Tsezar's packages by standing in lines for him. Shukhov's day ends up being productive, even "almost happy": "Shukhov went to sleep fully content. He'd had many strokes of luck that day." (pg.139).

Those in the camps found everyday life a challenge. For example, one rule states that if the thermometer reaches −41 °C (−42 °F), then the prisoners are exempt from outdoor labor that day—anything above that was considered bearable. The reader is reminded in passing through Shukhov's matter-of-fact thoughts of the harshness of the conditions, worsened by the inadequate bedding and clothing. The boots assigned to the zeks rarely fit, in addition cloth had to be used or taken out, for example, and the thin mittens issued were easily ripped.

The prisoners were assigned numbers for easy identification and in an effort to dehumanize them; Ivan Denisovich's prisoner number was Щ-854. Each day, the squad leader would receive their assignment of the day, and the squad would then be fed according to how they performed. Prisoners in each squad were thus forced to work together and to pressure each other to get their work done. If any prisoner was slacking, the whole squad would be punished. Despite this, Solzhenitsyn shows that a surprising loyalty could exist among the work gang members, with Shukhov teaming up with other prisoners to steal felt and extra bowls of soup; even the squad leader defies the authorities by tar papering over the windows at their work site. Indeed, only through such solidarity can the prisoners do anything more than survive from day to day.

The 104th

The 104th was a labour camp team to which the main protagonist, Ivan Denisovich, belonged. Other members comprise the following list. Although there were over 20 members in the team the book outlines these characters especially.

Theme

The themes of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich center on authoritative oppression and camp survival. Specifically discussed is the cruelty and spite towards the fellow man, namely from prison officials.[6][7] Solzhenitsyn explains through Ivan Denisovich that everything is managed by the camp commandment up to the point where time feels unnoticed[8][9]; the prisoners always have work to do and never any free time to discuss important issues. Survival is of the utmost importance to prisoners. Attitude is another crucial factor in survival.[10] Since prisoners were each assigned a grade[11] it was considered good etiquette to obey.[11][12]. This is outlined through the character of Fetiukov, a ministry worker who let himself into prison and scarcely follows prison etiquette. Another such incidence involves Buinovsky, a former naval captain[13][14], who is punished for defending himself and others during an early morning frisking.

History

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn had first-hand experience in the Soviet labor camps called the Gulag, having been imprisoned from 1945 to 1953[15] for writing a derogatory comment in a letter to a fellow officer about the conduct of the war by Joseph Stalin, whom he called "the whiskered one".[16] He later used this epithet in his novel, where it is translated as "Old Whiskers"[15][17] or "Old Man Whiskers".[18] The name was considered offensive and derogatory; however, prisoners were free to call Stalin whatever they liked[18] "Somebody in the room was bellowing: 'Old Man Whiskers won't ever let you go! He wouldn't trust his own brother, let alone a bunch of cretins like you!' "

After being released from the exile that followed his imprisonment, Solzhenitsyn began writing One Day in 1957. In 1962, he submitted his manuscript to Novy Mir, a Russian literary magazine.[15]. The editor, Aleksandr Tvardovsky, was so impressed with this detailed description of life in the labor camps, that he submitted the manuscript to the Communist Party Central Committee for approval to publish it, because until then Soviet writers had only been allowed to refer to the camps. From there it was sent to the de-Stalinist Khrushchev[19], who, despite the objections of some top party members, ultimately authorized its publication with some censorship of the text. After the novel was sent to the editor, Aleksandr Tvardovsky of Novy Mir, it was subsequently published in November 1962[15][16][20]

The labour camp described in the book was home to Solzhenitsyn[15] for a while as he served his term, located in Karaganda in northern Kazakhstan.[15]

Reception

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was specifically mentioned in the Nobel Prize presentation speech when the Nobel Committee awarded Solzhenitsyn the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970.[1][15][21] With the publication of One Day Solzhenitsyn had also written four more books, three in 1963 and a fourth in 1966[15] which cataclysmically led to the controversy of his publications.[15] In 1968 Solzhenitsyn was accused by the Literary Gazette, a Soviet newspaper, of not following Soviet principles. The Gazette's editors also made claims that Solzhenitsyn was opposing the basic principles of the Soviet Union, his style of writing had been controversial with many Soviet literary critics[15] especially with the publication of "One Day...". This criticism made by the paper gave rise to further accusations that Solzhenitsyn had turned from a Soviet Russian into a Soviet enemy,[15] therefore he was branded as an enemy of the state, who, according to the Gazette had been supporting non-Soviet ideological stances since 1967,[15] perhaps even longer. He, in addition, was accused of de-Stalinisation. The reviews were particularly damaging. Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Soviet Writers' Union in 1969.[15] He was arrested, then deported in 1974.[15] The novella had sold over 95,000 copies when it was released[22] throughout the 1960s.

Influence

Often considered the most powerful indictment of the USSR's gulag ever made, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich forced Western intellectuals to acknowledge their sins of omission in regards to the Soviet human rights record. A decade later at a US-Soviet summit a human rights agenda was created as a topic of concern.

Music

The British rock band Renaissance based one of their best-known songs, Mother Russia, on One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and Solzhenitsyn's repression under Brezhnev for his revelations about the Gulag.

The Al Stewart song "Roads to Moscow" from the album "Past, Present and Future" is partially based on the book according to the liner notes, where the protagonist of the song, a Russian soldier, is sent to a camp after being temporarily captured by the Germans in World War 2. The end of that song referring to this book is as follows:

And now they ask me of the time that I was caught behind their lines and taken prisoner
"They only held me for a day, a lucky break", I say; They turn and listen closer
I'll never know, I'll never know Why I was taken from the line and all the others
To board a special train and journey deep into the heart of holy Russia
And it's cold and damp in the transit camp, and the air is still and sullen
And the pale sun of October whispers the snow will soon be coming
And I wonder when I'll be home again and the morning answers "Never"
And the evening sighs and the steely Russian skies go on forever

Film

A one-hour dramatization for television, made for NBC in 1963, starred Jason Robards Jr. in the title role and was broadcast on November 8, 1963. A 1970 film adaptation based on the novella starred British actor Tom Courtenay in the title role. Finland banned the film from public view[23], fearing that it could hurt external relations with its eastern neighbor. [24]

Books

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, or “Odin den iz zhizni Ivana Denisovicha” (novel by Solzhenitsyn) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
  2. ↑ Solzhenitsyn, Alexander. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963. (Penguin Books ; 2053) 0816
  3. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/01/home/solz-ivan.html Critical Review by the NY Times as well as comments on translations
  4. ↑ Publisher's description of Willetts translation.
  5. ↑ Alexey (Russian: Алексей) is used once in the Russian. Willetts replaces that with Alyoshka.
  6. ↑ Parker translation Pg. 30
  7. ↑ Parker translation, Pg. 30
  8. ↑ Parker translation Pg. 36
  9. ↑ Parker translation Pg. 38
  10. ↑ Parker translation, Pg. 8, Kuziomen's speech
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Parker Translation Pg. 17
  12. ↑ Parker translation Pg. 45
  13. ↑ Parker translation, Pg 34
  14. ↑ Parker translation, Pg. 44
  15. ↑ 15.00 15.01 15.02 15.03 15.04 15.05 15.06 15.07 15.08 15.09 15.10 15.11 15.12 15.13 Penguin Books, Parker Translation 2nd page of introduction (ISBN 0-14-118474-4)
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Current Biography, 1969.
  17. ↑ Parker trans., p. 126. In a footnote, Parker says this refers to Stalin. This translates batka usaty (Russian: батька усатый).
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Willetts trans., p. 139.
  19. ↑ "Soviet dissident writer Solzhenitsyn dies at 89". Reuters. August 3, 2008. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL31313220080803. 
  20. ↑ John Bayley's introduction and the chronology in the Knopf edition of the Willetts translation.
  21. ↑ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1970 Presentation Speech by Karl Ragnar Gierow. The Nobel citation is "for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature." Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn did not personally receive the Prize until 1974 after he had been deported from the Soviet Union.
  22. ↑ The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/01/home/solz-ivan.html. 
  23. ↑ One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1963) at the Internet Movie Database
    One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1970) at the Internet Movie Database
  24. ↑ Films' censorship in Finland

References

In the early chapters, Solzhenitsyn describes how One Day came to be written and published.

External links