[
The Gulag Archipelago, first published from 1973 to 1976] – the author subtitles it “an experiment in literary (literally “artistic” [
khudozhestvennnoe] investigation” – is one of those works occasionally thrown up by Russian literature which is indeed
sui generis. Part oral history, part autobiography, part straight historical account and part political and philosophical disquisition, its seven parts – usually published in three large volumes – seek nothing less than to fill a huge historical, moral and ideational gap, namely the unvarnished story of the Soviet penal system and its countless victims. Solzhenitsyn examines the ideological roots of the system, catalogues, as far as he can, the statistics relating to its casualties, its enactment…
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Citation: Porter, Robert. "Archipelag GULag, 1918-1956". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 May 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13848, accessed 13 December 2024.]