The story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” is a true depiction of the Siberian everyday life of victims of Stalin’s repressions. The work allows the reader to imagine what fate awaited those who did not please the Soviet regime. At school they study it in high school. The analysis of the work presented in the article will help you quickly prepare for the lesson and refresh your knowledge about the story before the Unified State Exam.

Brief Analysis

Year of writing - 1959.

History of creation- A. I. Solzhenitsyn conceived the work in the winter of 1950-1951, when he was in a camp in northern Kazakhstan. The plan was realized only 9 years later in 1959 in Ryazan.

Subject- The work develops the theme of camp life of political prisoners, victims of the Stalinist regime.

Composition- A.I. Solzhenitsyn described one day in the life of a prisoner, so the basis for the composition was the time frame from morning to evening, or rather, from getting up to lights out. The analyzed work is a weave of stories and thoughts in which details play an important role.

Genre- A story, although before publication the editor recommended A. Solzhenitsyn to call his work a story, and the author heeded the advice.

Direction- Realism.

History of creation

The history of the creation of the work is connected with the camp life of A. Solzhenitsyn. The writer conceived it in 1950-1951. Then he served time in northern Kazakhstan. Later, Alexander Isaevich recalled: “In 1950, on some long winter camp day, I was carrying a stretcher with my partner and thought: how to describe our whole camp life?” He decided that a detailed description of one day in the life of those who were in “eternal exile” was sufficient. Alexander Isaevich began to implement the plan 9 years after returning from exile. It took about a month and a half to write the story (May-June 1959).

1961 is the year a version of the work was written without some of the most strident political moments. In the same 1961, Solzhenitsyn handed over the manuscript to the editor-in-chief of the New World magazine A. Tvardovsky. The author did not sign the work, but A. Berzer, an editorial employee, added the pseudonym A. Ryazansky. The story made a “strong impression” on the editor, as evidenced by the entry in his workbook.

The editors suggested that Alexander Isaevich change the title: and the manuscript was called “Shch-854. One day for one prisoner." The publishers also made adjustments to the genre definition, proposing to call the work a story.

The author sent the story to fellow writers and asked for feedback on it. In this way he hoped to promote his work for publication. However, Alexander Isaevich understood that the work may not pass censorship. They turned to N. Khrushchev for help, and he obtained permission to publish. Solzhenitsen’s story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” saw the world on the pages of the magazine “New World” in 1962.

The publication of the work was a grand event. Reviews about him appeared in all magazines and newspapers. Critics believed that the story became a destructive force for the hitherto dominant socialist realism.

Subject

To better assimilate the material from A. Solzhenitsyn’s story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,” its analysis should begin with a description of the motives.

In the literature of the “post-Stalin” era, the motives of repression and exile actively develop. They occupy a special place in the works of writers who happened to visit the camps. The analyzed work reveals the theme of the life of political prisoners in exile. Main characters story - prisoners and guards.

A. Solzhenitsyn describes just one day in the life of a man exiled to the northern regions, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, which determined meaning of the name.

This is a peasant who honestly defended his Motherland at the front. Shukhov was taken prisoner, but he managed to escape, for which he was sent into exile. Inhuman living conditions could not kill the truly peasant soul. Ivan Denisovich retained his simplicity and kindness. At the same time, he was cunning. His inner core helped him survive.

In addition to Ivan Denisovich, there are other images of prisoners in the work. With undisguised admiration, A. Solzhenitsyn talks about Alyosha the Baptist, who, under the pressure of conditions, did not give up his views, about Ukrainians praying before meals. The reader can also watch the commander who took care of his charges like a real father.

Each image is a tool for revealing a certain facet of camp life. In the context of the main theme, the problems of the story are formed. Particular attention should be paid to the following problems: human cruelty, injustice of the regime, mutual assistance as a way of survival, love for one’s neighbor, faith in God. The author only raises pressing questions for his era, but the reader must draw his own conclusions.

Story idea- show how a political regime can destroy destinies, cripple human bodies and souls. A. Solzhenitsyn condemns repression so that descendants do not make such mistakes.

Composition

The structure of the story is dictated by its content and the time frame of the events described. First, A. Solzhenitsyn talks about getting up at five o’clock in the morning. This is the exposition that takes the reader to the camp barracks and introduces him to the main character.

The development of events is all the troubles that Ivan Denisovich gets into during the day. First, he is found lying down after “getting up”, then he is sent to wash the floors in the guard’s room. Conversations with Alexei the Baptist and an agreement with the prisoner who received a rich parcel also relate to the development of events.

There are at least two climaxes in the work - the episode when the warden leads Shukhov to serve his sentence and the scene where Caesar hides food from the guards. The denouement is lights out: Shukhov falls asleep, realizing that he has lived a happy day.

Main characters

Genre

A.I. Solzhenitsyn, at the insistence of the editors, defined the work as a story. In fact, it's a story. In it one can notice the following signs of a small literary genre: small volume, the author’s attention is concentrated on Shukhov’s storyline, the system of images is not very branched. The direction of the work is realism, as the author truthfully describes human life.

Work test

Rating analysis

Average rating: 4.2. Total ratings received: 733.

Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn is a writer and publicist who entered Russian literature as an ardent opponent of the communist regime. In his work, he regularly touches on the theme of suffering, inequality and vulnerability of people to Stalinist ideology and the current state system.

We present to your attention an updated version of the review of Solzhenitsyn’s book -.

The work that brought A.I. Solzhenitsyn's popularity became the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich." True, the author himself later made an amendment, saying that in terms of genre specifics, this is a story, albeit on an epic scale, reproducing the gloomy picture of Russia at that time.

Solzhenitsyn A.I. in his story, he introduces the reader to the life of Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, a peasant and military man who ended up in one of Stalin’s many camps. The whole tragedy of the situation is that the hero went to the front the very next day after the attack of Nazi Germany, was captured and miraculously escaped, but when he reached his own people, he was recognized as a spy. This is what the first part of the memoirs is dedicated to, which also includes a description of all the hardships of the war, when people had to eat corneas from the hooves of dead horses, and the command of the Red Army, without remorse, abandoned ordinary soldiers to die on the battlefield.

The second part shows the life of Ivan Denisovich and hundreds of other people staying in the camp. Moreover, all the events of the story take only one day. However, the narrative contains a large number of references, flashbacks and references to the life of the people, as if by chance. For example, correspondence with my wife, from which we learn that in the village the situation is no better than in the camp: there is no food and money, the residents are starving, and the peasants survive by dyeing fake carpets and selling them to the city.

As we read, we also learn why Shukhov was considered a saboteur and a traitor. Like most of those in the camp, he was convicted without guilt. The investigator forced him to confess to treason, who, by the way, couldn’t even figure out what task the hero was performing, allegedly helping the Germans. In this case, Shukhov had no choice. If he had refused to admit to something he never did, he would have received a “wooden pea coat,” and since he cooperated with the investigation, then “at least you’ll live a little longer.”

Numerous images also play an important part in the plot. These are not only prisoners, but also guards, who differ only in how they treat the camp inmates. For example, Volkov carries with him a huge and thick whip - one blow of it tears a large area of ​​skin until it bleeds. Another bright, albeit minor character is Caesar. This is a kind of authority in the camp, who previously worked as a director, but was repressed without ever making his first film. Now he is not averse to talking with Shukhov on topics of contemporary art and presenting him with a small piece of work.

Solzhenitsyn very accurately reproduces in his story the life of prisoners, their drab life and hard work. On the one hand, the reader does not encounter blatant and bloody scenes, but the realism with which the author approaches the description makes him horrified. People are starving, and the whole point of their life comes down to getting themselves an extra slice of bread, since they won’t be able to survive in this place on a soup of water and frozen cabbage. Prisoners are forced to work in the cold, and in order to “pass the time” before sleeping and eating, they have to work in a race.

Everyone is forced to adapt to reality, find a way to deceive the guards, steal something or secretly sell it. For example, many prisoners make small knives from the tools, then exchange them for food or tobacco.

Shukhov and everyone else in these terrible conditions look like wild animals. They can be punished, shot, beaten. All that remains is to be more cunning and smarter than the armed guards, try not to lose heart and be true to your ideals.

The irony is that the day that constitutes the time of the story is quite successful for the main character. He was not put in a punishment cell, he was not forced to work with a team of construction workers in the cold, he managed to get a portion of porridge for lunch, during the evening search they did not find a hacksaw on him, and he also worked part-time at Caesar’s and bought tobacco. True, the tragedy is that during the entire period of imprisonment, three thousand six hundred and fifty-three such days accumulated. What's next? The term is coming to an end, but Shukhov is sure that the term will either be extended or, worse, sent into exile.

Characteristics of the main character of the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”

The main character of the work is a collective image of a simple Russian person. He is about 40 years old. He comes from an ordinary village, which he remembers with love, noting that it used to be better: they ate potatoes “in whole frying pans, porridge in cast iron pots...”. He spent 8 years in prison. Before entering the camp, Shukhov fought at the front. He was wounded, but after recovery he returned to the war.

Character appearance

There is no description of his appearance in the text of the story. The emphasis is on clothing: mittens, pea coat, felt boots, wadded trousers, etc. Thus, the image of the main character is depersonalized and becomes the personification of not only an ordinary prisoner, but also a modern resident of Russia in the mid-20th century.

He is distinguished by a feeling of pity and compassion for people. He worries about the Baptists who received 25 years in the camps. He feels sorry for the degraded Fetikov, noting that “he won’t live out his term. He doesn’t know how to position himself.” Ivan Denisovich even sympathizes with the security guards, because they have to be on duty on towers in the cold or in strong winds.

Ivan Denisovich understands his plight, but does not stop thinking about others. For example, he refuses parcels from home, forbidding his wife to send food or things. The man realizes that his wife has a very hard time - she raises children alone and looks after the household during the difficult war and post-war years.

A long life in a convict camp did not break him. The hero sets certain boundaries for himself that cannot be violated under any circumstances. It's corny, but he makes sure not to eat fish eyes in his stew or always take off his hat when eating. Yes, he had to steal, but not from his comrades, but only from those who work in the kitchen and mock his cellmates.

Ivan Denisovich is distinguished by honesty. The author points out that Shukhov never took or gave a bribe. Everyone in the camp knows that he never shirks from work, always tries to earn extra money and even sews slippers for other prisoners. In prison, the hero becomes a good mason, mastering this profession: “with Shukhov you won’t be able to dig into any distortions or seams.” In addition, everyone knows that Ivan Denisovich is a jack of all trades and can easily take on any task (patches padded jackets, pours spoons from aluminum wire, etc.)

A positive image of Shukhov is created throughout the entire story. His habits as a peasant, an ordinary worker, help him overcome the hardships of imprisonment. The hero does not allow himself to humiliate himself in front of the guards, lick the plates or inform on others. Like every Russian person, Ivan Denisovich knows the value of bread, carefully storing it in a clean rag. He accepts any work, loves it, and is not lazy.

What then is such an honest, noble and hardworking man doing in a prison camp? How did he and several thousand other people end up here? These are the questions that arise in the reader as he gets to know the main character.

The answer to them is quite simple. It's all about an unjust totalitarian regime, the consequence of which is that many worthy citizens find themselves prisoners of concentration camps, forced to adapt to the system, live away from their families and be doomed to long torment and hardship.

Analysis of the story by A.I. Solzhenitsyn "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"

To understand the writer’s intention, it is necessary to pay special attention to the space and time of the work. Indeed, the story depicts the events of one day, even describing in great detail all the everyday moments of the regime: getting up, breakfast, lunch, dinner, leaving for work, the road, the work itself, constant searches by security guards and many others. etc. This also includes a description of all prisoners and guards, their behavior, life in the camp, etc. For people, real space turns out to be hostile. Every prisoner does not like open places, tries to avoid meeting the guards and quickly hide in the barracks. Prisoners are limited by more than just barbed wire. They don’t even have the opportunity to look at the sky - the spotlights are constantly blinding them.

However, there is also another space - internal. This is a kind of memory space. Therefore, the most important are the constant references and memories, from which we learn about the situation at the front, suffering and countless deaths, the disastrous situation of the peasants, as well as the fact that those who survived or escaped from captivity, who defended their homeland and their citizens, often in the eyes of the government they become spies and traitors. All these local topics form the picture of what is happening in the country as a whole.

It turns out that the artistic time and space of the work is not closed, not limited to just one day or the territory of the camp. As it becomes known at the end of the story, there are already 3653 such days in the hero’s life and how many will be ahead is completely unknown. This means that the title “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” can easily be perceived as an allusion to modern society. A day in the camp is impersonal, hopeless, and for the prisoner it becomes the personification of injustice, lack of rights and a departure from everything individual. But is all this typical only for this place of detention?

Apparently, according to A.I. Solzhenitsyn, Russia at that time was very similar to a prison, and the task of the work becomes, if not to show deep tragedy, then at least categorically to deny the position of the one described.

The merit of the author is that he not only describes what is happening with amazing accuracy and with a lot of detail, but also refrains from openly displaying emotions and feelings. Thus, he achieves his main goal - he allows the reader to evaluate this world order and understand the meaninglessness of the totalitarian regime.

The main idea of ​​the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”

In his work A.I. Solzhenitsyn recreates the basic picture of life in that Russia, when people were doomed to incredible torment and hardship. A whole gallery of images opens before us that personify the fate of millions of Soviet citizens who were forced to pay for their faithful service, diligent and diligent work, faith in the state and adherence to ideology with imprisonment in terrible concentration camps scattered throughout the country.

In his story, he depicted a situation typical for Russia, when a woman has to take on the worries and responsibilities of a man.

Be sure to read Alexander Solzhenitsyn's novel, banned in the Soviet Union, which explains the reasons for the author's disillusionment with the communist system.

The short story clearly reveals the list of injustices of the state system. For example, Ermolaev and Klevshin went through all the hardships of war, captivity, worked underground, and received 10 years in prison as a reward. Gopchik, a young man who recently turned 16, becomes proof that repression is indifferent even to children. The images of Alyosha, Buinovsky, Pavel, Caesar Markovich and others are no less revealing.

Solzhenitsyn's work is imbued with hidden but evil irony, exposing the other side of life in the Soviet country. The writer touched upon an important and pressing issue, which had been taboo all this time. At the same time, the story is imbued with faith in the Russian people, his spirit and will. Having condemned the inhumane system, Alexander Isaevich created a truly realistic character of his hero, who is able to withstand all the torment with dignity and not lose his humanity.

The history of the creation of “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”

“One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” is connected with one of the facts of the biography of the author himself - the Ekibastuz special camp, where in the winter of 1950-51 this story was created during general work. The main character of Solzhenitsyn's story is Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, an ordinary prisoner of Stalin's camp.

In this story, the author, on behalf of his hero, tells about only one day out of three thousand six hundred and fifty-three days of Ivan Denisovich’s sentence. But this day is enough to understand what the situation was like in the camp, what orders and laws existed, to learn about the life of prisoners, to be horrified by it. The camp is a special world that exists separately, parallel to ours.

There are completely different laws here, different from those we are used to; everyone here survives in their own way. Life in the zone is shown not from the outside, but from the inside by a person who knows about it not by hearsay, but from his own personal experience. That is why the story amazes with its realism. “Glory to you, Lord, another day has passed!” Ivan Denisovich ends his story, “A day has passed, unclouded by anything, almost happy.”

On this day, Shukhov was really lucky: the brigade was not sent to Sotsgorodok to pull wire in the cold without heating, he passed the punishment cell, got away with only washing the floors in the guard's room, received an extra portion of porridge for lunch, he got a familiar job - laying a wall at a thermal power plant, did it happily, passed it safely carried out a search and carried a hacksaw into the camp, worked in the evening at Caesar’s, bought two glasses of samosada from a Latvian, and the most important thing is that he didn’t get sick, he got over it. Ivan Denisovich Shukhov was sentenced to ten years on a trumped-up case: he was accused of returning from captivity on a secret German mission, but no one could figure out what exactly it was. Shukhov suffered the same fate as millions of other people who fought for their Motherland, but at the end of the war, prisoners of the German camps turned out to be prisoners of the Stalinist Gulag camps.

This is a real jackal, living off the scraps of others. Licking other people's plates, looking into a person's mouth in anticipation of leaving something for him is a common thing for him. He cannot cause disgust; even prisoners refuse to work with him, calling him mom. In the zone he does not have even a drop of male pride left; he openly cries when he is beaten for licking plates. Indeed, everyone chooses a path of survival for themselves, but the most unworthy path is the path of the informer Panteleev, who lives by informing on other prisoners.

Under the pretext of illness, he remains in the zone and voluntarily attends the opera. Such people are hated in the camp, and the fact that three were stabbed to death did not surprise anyone. Death is commonplace here, and life turns into nothing. This is what scares me the most.

In contrast, Ivan Denisovich “was not a jackal even after eight years of general work - and the further he went, the more firmly he established himself.” He does not beg, does not humiliate himself. He tries to earn money only through his own labor: he sews slippers, brings felt boots to the foreman, stands in line for parcels, for which he receives his honestly earned money. Shukhov has retained the concepts of pride and honor, so he will never slide to Fetyukov’s level, because he earns money on the side, and does not try to serve, “grease up.”

Like any peasant, Shukhov is a surprisingly economical person: he cannot just pass by a piece of a hacksaw, knowing that it can be made into a knife, and this is an opportunity to earn extra money. Former captain of the second rank Buinovsky also deserves respect, who “looks at camp work as at naval service: if you say do it, then do it.”

He does not try to evade common work, he is used to doing everything conscientiously, and not for show. Shukhov says that he “has become very haggard over the past month, but he’s still pulling the team.” Buinovsky cannot come to terms with the arbitrariness of the guard, so he starts a dispute with Volkovsky about an article of the criminal code, for which he received ten days in a punishment cell.

Brigadier Tyurin is likable, who ended up in the camp only because his father was a kulak. For the brigade, he is like a father, he always tries to defend the interests of the brigade: to get more bread, a profitable job. In the morning, Tyurin gives to whomever needs it so that his people are not kicked out for the construction of the Social Town.

Ivan Denisovich’s words that “a good foreman will give a second life” are fully suitable for characterizing Tyurin as a foreman. These people, despite everything, survive due to their labor. They would never have been able to choose for themselves the path of survival of Fetyukov or Panteleev.

Alyoshka the Baptist evokes pity. He is very kind, but very weak-hearted - “he is not commanded only by those who do not want to.” For him, imprisonment is the will of God; he sees only good in his imprisonment; he himself says that “here there is time to think about the soul.” But Alyoshka cannot adapt to the camp conditions and, according to Ivan Denisovich, will not last long here. The grip that Alyosha the Baptist lacks is possessed by Gopchik, a sixteen-year-old boy who is cunning and never misses an opportunity to snatch a piece. He was convicted of bringing milk to the forest to Bendera residents. In the camp they predict a great future for him: “The right one from Gopchik will be a camp prisoner... they don’t predict a fate for him less than a bread-cutter.”

In a special position in the camp is Cesar Markovich, a former director who did not have time to shoot his first film when he got to the camp. He receives parcels from the outside, so he can afford many things that other prisoners cannot: wears a new hat and other prohibited things, works in an office, avoids general work.

Although Caesar has been in this camp for quite a long time, his soul is still in Moscow: discussing theater premieres and cultural news of the capital with other Muscovites. He avoids the rest of the prisoners, sticks only to Buinovsky, remembering the existence of others only when he needs their help.

Largely thanks to his detachment from the real world, in my opinion, and messages from the will, he manages to survive in these conditions. Personally, this person does not evoke any feelings for me. He has business acumen and knows who to give and how much to give.

The work took less than a month and a half.

In 1950, on one long winter camp day, I was carrying a stretcher with my partner and thought: how to describe our entire camp life? In fact, it is enough to describe just one day in detail, in the smallest detail, moreover, the day of the simplest worker, and our whole life will be reflected here. And there is no need to intensify any horrors, it is not necessary for this to be some kind of special day, but an ordinary one, this is the very day from which years are formed. I thought like this, and this idea remained in my mind, I didn’t touch it for nine years, and only in 1959, nine years later, I sat down and wrote it. ... I didn’t write it for long, just about forty days, less than a month and a half. It always turns out like this if you write from a dense life, the way of life of which you know too much, and not only that you don’t have to guess at something, try to understand something, but you only fight off unnecessary material, just so that the unnecessary does not creep in , but to accommodate the most necessary things.

In 1961, a “lighter” version was created, without some of the harshest judgments about the regime.

In the editorial office of "New World"

On December 11, Tvardovsky asked Solzhenitsyn by telegram to urgently come to the editorial office of Novy Mir.

On December 12, Solzhenitsyn arrived in Moscow and met with Tvardovsky, Berzer, Kondratovich, Zaks, and Dementiev at the editorial office of Novy Mir (Kopelev was also present at the meeting). The story, which was originally called “Shch-854. One day of one prisoner,” it was proposed to call it a story called “One Day of Ivan Denisovich.” An agreement was concluded between the editors and the author.

First reviews. Editorial work

In December 1961, Tvardovsky gave the manuscript of “Ivan Denisovich” for reading to Chukovsky, Marshak, Fedin, Paustovsky, Ehrenburg. At Tvardovsky's request, they wrote their written reviews of the story. Tvardovsky planned to use them when promoting the manuscript for publication.

Chukovsky called his review “Literary Miracle”:

Shukhov is a generalized character of the Russian common man: resilient, “evil-willed,” hardy, a jack of all trades, crafty - and kind. Brother of Vasily Terkin. Although he is spoken of here in the third person, the entire story is written in HIS language, full of humor, colorful and apt.

At the same time, “Ivan Denisovich” began to be distributed in handwritten and typewritten copy lists.

Members of the editorial board of the New World, in particular Dementyev, as well as high-ranking figures of the CPSU, to whom the text was also presented for review (Chernoutsan, head of the fiction sector of the Department of Culture of the CPSU Central Committee), expressed a number of comments and complaints to the author of the work. Basically, they were dictated not by aesthetic, but by political considerations. Amendments directly to the text were also proposed. As Lakshin points out, all proposals were carefully recorded by Solzhenitsyn:

Solzhenitsyn carefully wrote down all comments and suggestions. He said that he divides them into three categories: those with which he can agree, even believes that they are beneficial; those that he will think about are difficult for him; and finally, impossible - those with which he does not want to see the thing printed.

Solzhenitsyn later wrote ironically about these demands:

And, the funniest thing for me, a Stalin hater, was that at least once it was necessary to name Stalin as the culprit of the disaster. (And indeed, he was never mentioned by anyone in the story! This is not accidental, of course, it happened to me: I saw the Soviet regime, and not Stalin alone.) I made this concession: I mentioned “the mustachioed old man” once...

"Ivan Denisovich", Tvardovsky and Khrushchev

In July 1962, Tvardovsky, feeling that the censorship was preventing the story from being published for political reasons, wrote a short preface to the story and a letter addressed to the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR N. S. Khrushchev with a brief assessment of the work. On August 6, Tvardovsky handed over the letter and manuscript of “Ivan Denisovich” to Khrushchev’s assistant V. Lebedev:

<…>We are talking about the amazingly talented story by A. Solzhenitsyn “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.” The name of this author has not been known to anyone until now, but tomorrow it may become one of the remarkable names in our literature.
This is not only my deep conviction. The unanimous high assessment of this rare literary find by my co-editors for the New World magazine, including K. Fedin, is joined by the voices of other prominent writers and critics who had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with it in manuscript.
<…>Nikita Sergeevich, if you find an opportunity to pay attention to this manuscript, I will be happy, as if it were my own work.

On October 12, 1962, under pressure from Khrushchev, the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee decided to publish the story, and on October 20, Khrushchev announced this decision of the Presidium to Tvardovsky.

Between November 1 and November 6, the first magazine proof of the story appeared.

In a 1982 radio interview on the 20th anniversary of the release of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich for the BBC, Solzhenitsyn recalled:

It is absolutely clear: if Tvardovsky had not been the editor-in-chief of the magazine, no, this story would not have been published. But I'll add. And if Khrushchev had not been there at that moment, it would not have been published either. More: if Khrushchev had not attacked Stalin one more time at that very moment, it would not have been published either. The publication of my story in the Soviet Union, in 1962, is like a phenomenon against physical laws<…>Now, from the reaction of Western socialists, it is clear: if it had been published in the West, these same socialists would have said: everything is a lie, none of this happened, and there were no camps, and there were no exterminations, nothing happened. It was only because everyone was speechless that it was published with the permission of the Central Committee in Moscow that it shocked me.

"Ivan Denisovich" was published

The news of this publication spread throughout the world. Solzhenitsyn immediately became a celebrity.

On December 30, 1962, Solzhenitsyn was accepted as a member of the USSR Writers' Union.

After a fairly short time - in January 1963 - the story was republished by Roman-Gazeta (No. 1/277, January 1963; circulation 700 thousand copies) and - in the summer of 1963 - as a separate book in the publishing house "Soviet Writer" (circulation 100 thousand copies).

Solzhenitsyn received a stream of letters from readers:

... when “Ivan Denisovich” was published, letters to me exploded from all over Russia, and in the letters people wrote what they experienced, what they had. Or they insisted on meeting me and telling me, and I started dating. Everyone asked me, the author of the first camp story, to write more, more, to describe this whole camp world. They did not know my plan and did not know how much I had already written, but they carried and brought me the missing material.
...so I collected indescribable material, which cannot be collected in the Soviet Union, only thanks to “Ivan Denisovich.” So it became like a pedestal for the “GULAG Archipelago”

On December 28, 1963, the editors of the magazine “New World” and the Central State Archive of Literature and Art nominated “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” for the Lenin Prize in Literature for 1964. The nomination of a literary work of “small form” for such a high prize was perceived by many “literary generals” as at least blasphemous; this had never happened in the USSR. Discussion of the story at meetings of the Prize Committee took the form of fierce debate. On April 14, 1964, the candidacy was defeated during a vote in the Committee.

During the years of stagnation

After Khrushchev’s resignation, the clouds began to thicken over Solzhenitsyn, and assessments of “Ivan Denisovich” began to take on different shades. Noteworthy is the response of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan, Rashidov, expressed in the form of a note to the Central Committee of the CPSU on February 5, 1966, where Solzhenitsyn was directly called a slanderer and enemy of “our wonderful reality”:

His story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,” under the guise of debunking the cult of personality, gave bourgeois ideologists food for anti-Soviet propaganda.

Solzhenitsyn finally edited the text in April 1968.

In 1971-1972, all editions of Ivan Denisovich, including the magazine edition, were secretly removed from public libraries and destroyed. The pages with the text of the story were simply torn out of the magazine, the author's surname and the title of the story in the table of contents were glossed over. Officially, the Main Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, in agreement with the Central Committee of the CPSU, decided to withdraw Solzhenitsyn's works from public libraries and the bookselling network on January 28, 1974. On February 14, 1974, after the writer was expelled from the USSR, Glavlit Order No. 10 was issued specifically dedicated to Solzhenitsyn, which listed the issues of the magazine “New World” containing the writer’s works that were to be removed from public libraries (No. 11, 1962; No. 1, 7, 1963 ; No. 1, 1966) and separate editions of “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,” including a translation into Estonian and a book “for the blind.” The order was accompanied by a note: “Foreign publications (including newspapers and magazines) containing the works of the specified author are also subject to seizure.” The ban was lifted by a note from the Ideological Department of the CPSU Central Committee dated December 31, 1988.

Again, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” has been published in his homeland since 1990.

Brief Analysis

For the first time in Soviet literature, readers were shown truthfully, with great artistic skill, Stalin's repressions.

It tells about one day in the life of prisoner Ivan Denisovich Shukhov:

I understood Ivan Denisovich from the very beginning that he should not be like me, and not some particularly developed one, he should be the most ordinary camp inmate. Tvardovsky later told me: if I had made the hero, for example, Caesar Markovich, well, some kind of intellectual who somehow worked in an office, then a quarter of the price would not have been there. No. He was supposed to be the most average soldier of this Gulag, the one on whom everything falls.

The story begins with the words:

At five o'clock in the morning, as always, the rise struck - with a hammer on the rail at the headquarters barracks.

and ends with the words:

The day passed, unclouded, almost happy.
There were three thousand six hundred and fifty-three such days in his period from bell to bell.
Due to leap years, three extra days were added...

Criticism and reviews

There was intense controversy surrounding the publication.

The first review, written by Konstantin Simonov, “On the past in the name of the future,” appeared in the Izvestia newspaper literally on the day of publication of “Ivan Denisovich”:

<…>Laconic and polished prose of great artistic generalizations<…>The story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” was written by the hand of a mature, original master. Strong talent has come to our literature.

The rejection of the story by the “literary generals” was indicated in the allegorical poem “Meteor” by Nikolai Gribachev, published in the Izvestia newspaper on November 30.

In November, under the fresh impression of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Varlam Shalamov wrote in a letter to the author:

A story is like poetry - everything in it is perfect, everything is purposeful. Every line, every scene, every characteristic is so laconic, smart, subtle and deep that I think that “New World” has not published anything so integral, so strong since the very beginning of its existence. And so necessary - because without an honest solution to these very issues, neither literature nor public life can move forward - everything that comes with omissions, in detours, in deception - has brought, is bringing and will only bring harm.
There is another huge advantage - this is the deeply and very subtly shown peasant psychology of Shukhov. I must admit, I have not seen such delicate, highly artistic work for a long time.
In general, the details, the details of everyday life, the behavior of all the characters are very accurate and very new, scorchingly new.<…>There are hundreds of such details in the story - others, not new, not accurate, not at all.
Your whole story is that long-awaited truth, without which our literature cannot move forward.

On December 8, in the article “In the Name of the Future” in the newspaper “Moskovskaya Pravda,” I. Chicherov wrote that Solzhenitsyn unsuccessfully chose the peasant Shukhov as the main character of the story; it would be necessary to strengthen the “line” of Buinovsky, “real communists, party leaders.” “For some reason the writer was of little interest to the tragedy of such people.”

The emigrant press and criticism responded vividly to the historical literary event: on December 23, an article by Mikhail appeared in the New Russian Word. Koryakov “Ivan Denisovich”, and on December 29 “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” was published for the first time abroad in Russian (in the newspaper “New Russian Word”; the newspaper published the story in parts, until January 17, 1963). On January 3, 1963, G. Adamovich wrote an article about Solzhenitsyn under the heading “Literature and Life” in the newspaper “Russian Thought” (Paris).

In January 1963, articles by I. Druta “On the courage and dignity of man” appeared (in the magazine “Friendship of Peoples”, No. 1):

A short story - and how spacious our literature has become!

in March - V. Bushin’s “Daily Bread of Truth” (in the magazine “Neva”, No. 3), N. Gubko “Man Wins” (in the magazine “Zvezda”, No. 3):

The best traditional features of Russian prose of the 19th century were combined with the search for new forms, which can be called polyphonic, synthetic

In 1964, S. Artamonov’s book “The Writer and Life: Historical, Literary, Theoretical and Critical Articles” was published, which promptly included the article “On Solzhenitsyn’s Tale.”

In January 1964, the magazine “New World” published an article by V. Lakshin “Ivan Denisovich, his friends and foes”:

If Solzhenitsyn had been an artist of lesser scale and flair, he would probably have chosen the most miserable day of the most difficult period of Ivan Denisovich’s camp life. But he took a different path, possible only for a writer confident in his strength, aware that the subject of his story is so important and severe that it excludes vain sensationalism and the desire to horrify with a description of suffering and physical pain. Thus, by placing himself in seemingly the most difficult and unfavorable conditions in front of the reader, who never expected to get acquainted with the “happy” day in the life of a prisoner, the author thereby guaranteed the complete objectivity of his artistic testimony...

On April 11, under the title “High Demanding,” Pravda published a review of letters from readers about the story “One Day...”, at the same time, a selection of letters from readers “Once again about the story by A. Solzhenitsyn” was removed from Novy Mir (No. 4) One day of Ivan Denisovich."

From December 1962 to October 1964, more than 60 reviews and articles were devoted to Solzhenitsyn’s stories (including “One Day...”, “Matryonin’s Dvor”, “An Incident at Kochetovka Station”, “For the Good of the Cause”) in periodicals.

The nature of the controversy surrounding the story is outlined by Chukovsky. In his diary, published many years later (in 1994), Korney Ivanovich wrote on November 24, 1962:

...met Kataev. He is outraged by the story “One Day,” which was published in Novy Mir. To my amazement, he said: the story is false: it does not show protest. - What protest? - Protest of a peasant sitting in the camp. - But this is the whole truth of the story: the executioners created such conditions that people have lost the slightest concept of justice and, under the threat of death, do not dare to think that there is conscience, honor, humanity in the world. The man agrees to consider himself a spy so that the investigators do not beat him. This is the whole essence of a wonderful story - and Kataev says: how dare he not protest, at least under the covers. Did Kataev himself protest a lot during the Stalinist regime? He composed slave hymns, like everyone else (we).

In the fall of 1964, an anonymous (written by V.L. Teusch) analysis of the main ideas of the story began to circulate in samizdat. This analysis was very accurately assessed by “plainclothes writers”:

In the anonymous document, the author seeks to prove that the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” is important, since it reveals not only the life of a specific forced labor camp, but is essentially a reflection of one day in the life of Soviet society. He draws a direct analogy of the relationship, on the one hand, between the leaders of the camp and the prisoners, and on the other, between the leading figures of the country and the population; between the situation of prisoners and the life of Soviet people, the backbreaking labor of prisoners and the “slave” labor of Soviet workers, etc. All this is disguised as an image of the period of the cult of personality, although in fact there is an obvious criticism of the socialist system.

The writer received a large number of letters from readers in response to the publication: .

When the former prisoners immediately learned from the trumpet calls of all the newspapers that some story about the camps had been published and the newspapermen were praising it to excess, they decided unanimously: “It’s nonsense again! we got it wrong and lied about it.” That our newspapers, with their usual exorbitance, would suddenly rush to praise the truth - after all, this, after all, was unimaginable! Others did not even want to take my story into their hands. When they began to read, a common, united groan escaped, a groan of joy and a groan of pain. Letters began to flow.

A significant amount of research and reminiscences appeared in 2002, on the 40th anniversary of the first publication.

On stage and screen

Editions

Due to the large number of publications, the list of which significantly affects the length of the article, only the first or different editions are given here.

In Russian

• A. Solzhenitsyn. One day of Ivan Denisovich. - M.: Soviet writer, 1963. - The first edition of the story as a separate book. Library of Congress: 65068255.
• A. Solzhenitsyn. One day of Ivan Denisovich. - London: Flegon press, . - The first pirated edition in Russian abroad.
• Solzhenitsyn A. Stories. - M.: Center “New World” - 1990. (Library of the magazine “New World”) ISBN 5-85060-003-5 (Reprint edition. Published according to the text of the Collected Works of A. Solzhenitsyn, Vermont-Paris, YMCA-PRESS, t 3. The original pre-censored texts have been restored, re-checked and corrected by the author). Circulation 300,000 copies. - The first publication of the book in the USSR after a long break caused by the exile of the writer in 1974.
• Solzhenitsyn A.I. Collected works in 30 volumes. T. 1. Stories and Tiny Things. - M.: Time, 2006. ISBN 5-94117-168-4. Circulation 3000 copies. - Text verified by the author. (With careful comments by Vladimir Radzishevsky).

In other languages

Has gone through at least four translations into English.

• English One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich. With an introduction. by Marvin L. Kalb. Foreword by Alexander Tvardovsky. New York, Dutton, 1963. - Translation by Ralph Parker. Library of Congress: 63012266
• English One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich / translated by Max Hayward and Ronald Hingley; introduction by Max Hayward and Leopold Labedz. New York: Praeger, 1963. - Translation by Max Hayward and Ronald Hingley. Library of Congress: 6301276
• English One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich / Alexander Solzhenitsyn; translated by Gillon Aitken. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971. - Translated by Gillon Aitken. Library of Congress: 90138556
• English Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich: a screenplay, by Ronald Harwood from the translation by Gillon Aitken. London, Sphere, 1971. ISBN 0-7221-8021-7 - Film script. Written by Ronald Harwood, translated by Gillon Aitken.
• English One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich / Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; translated by H.T. Willetts. 1st ed. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1991. ISBN 0-374-22643-1 - Translation by Harry Willetts, authorized by Solzhenitsyn.

• Bulgarian Alexander Solzhenitsyn. One day on Ivan Denisovich: Tale: Razkazi. - Sofia: Interprint, 1990.

• Hungarian Aleksandr Szolzsenyicin. Ivan Gyenyiszovics egy napja. Ford. Wessely László. - 2. kiad. - Budapest: Europe, 1989. ISBN 963-07-4870-3.

• date Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. En dag i Ivan Denisovitjs liv. Gyldendal, 2003. ISBN 87-02-01867-5.

• German Ein Tag im Leben des Iwan Denissowitsch: Erzählung / Alexander Solschenizyn. - Berlin-Grunewald: Herbig, 1963. - Translation by Wilhelm Loeser, Theodor Friedrich and others.
• German Ein Tag im Leben des Iwan Denissowitsch: Roman / Alexander Solschenizyn. - München - Zürich: Droemer/Knaur, 1963. - Translation by Max Hayward and Leopold Labedzi, edited by Gerda Kurz and Sieglinde Zummerer. Has gone through at least twelve editions.
• German Ein Tag des Iwan Denissowitsch und andere Erzählungen / Alexander Solschenizyn. Mit e. Essay von Georg Lukács. - Frankfurt (Main): Büchergilde Gutenberg, 1970. ISBN 3-7632-1476-3. - Translation by Mary von Holbeck. Essay by György Lukács.
• German Ein Tag des Iwan Denissowitsch: Erzählung / Alexander Solschenizyn. - Husum (Nordsee): Hamburger-Lesehefte-Verlag, 1975 (?). ISBN 3-87291-139-2. - Translation by Kai Borowski and Gisela Reichert.
• German Ein Tag des Iwan Denissowitsch: Erzählung / Alexander Solschenizyn. Dt. von Christoph Meng. - München: Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, 1979. ISBN 3-423-01524-1 - Translation by Christophe Meng. Has gone through at least twelve editions.
• German Ein Tag im Leben des Iwan Denissowitsch / Alexander Solschenizyn. Gelesen von Hans Korte. Regie und Bearb.: Volker Gerth. - München: Herbig, 2002. ISBN 3-7844-4023-1. - Audiobook on 4 CDs.

• Polish Aleksander Sołzenicyn. Jeden dzień Iwana Denisowicza. Przekł. Witold Dąbrowski, Irena Lewandowska. - Warszawa: Iskry, 1989 . ISBN 83-207-1243-2.

• room Alexandr Soljeniţin. O zi din viaţa lui Ivan Denisovici. On rom. de Sergiu Adam şi Tiberiu Ionescu. - Bucureşti: Quintus, 1991. ISBN 973-95177-4-9.

• Serbohorv. Aleksandar Solzenjicin. Jedan dan Ivana Denisoviča; prev. sa rus. Mira Lalić. - Beograd: Paideia, 2006. ISBN 86-7448-146-9.

• fr. Une journée d’Ivan Denissovitch. Paris: Julliard, 1969. Library of Congress: 71457284
• fr. Une journée d"Ivan Denissovitch / par Alexandre Soljenitsyne; trad. du russe par Lucia et Jean Cathala; préf. de Jean Cathala. - Paris: Julliard, 2003 . ISBN 2-264-03831-4. - Translation by Lucie and Jean Catal.

• Czech Alexandr Solženicyn. Jeden den Ivana Děnisoviče. Prague: Nakladatelství politické literatury, 1963.
• Czech Alexandr Solženicyn. Jeden den Ivana Děnisoviče a jiné povídky. Z rus. orig. přel. Sergej Machonin and Anna Nováková. - Praha: Lid. nakl., 1991. ISBN 80-7022-107-0. - Translation by Sergei Makhonin and Anna Novakova.

• Swede. Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. En dag i Ivan Denisovitjs liv [översättning av Hans Björkegren]. 1963 .
• Swede. Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. En dag i Ivan Denisovitjs liv. Arena, 1963, oversättning av Rolf Berner. Trådhäftad med omslag av Svenolov Ehrén - Translation by Rolf Berner.
• Swede. Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. En dag i Ivan Denisovitjs liv. Wahlström & Widstrand, 1970. Nyöversättning av Hans Björkegren. Limhäftad med omslag av Per Åhlin - Translation by Hans Björkegren.

The title of the story is a transcript of the English-language ditloid - acronym DITLOID = One D ay I n T he L ife O f I van D enisovich

see also

Notes

1. Solzhenitsyn reads One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. BBC Russian Service. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
2. Solzhenitsyn A. I. Collected works in thirty volumes / Edited by Natalia Solzhenitsyna. - M.: Time, 2006. - T. first. Stories and little things. - ISBN 5-94117-168-4
3. Lydia Chukovskaya. Notes about Anna Akhmatova: In 3 volumes - M., 1997. - T. 2. - P. 521. Syllable breakdown and italics - Lydia Chukovskaya.
4. Solzhenitsyn A. I. Stories and Little Things. // Collected works in 30 volumes. - M.: Time, 2006. - T. 1. - P. 574. - ISBN 5-94117-168-4
5. Solzhenitsyn A. I. // Journalism: In 3 volumes ISBN 5-7415-0478-7.
6. The manuscript of the story was burned. - Solzhenitsyn A. I. Collected works in 30 volumes. T. 1. Stories and little things / [Comm. - Vladimir Radzishevsky]. - M.: Time, 2006. - P. 574. - ISBN 5-94117-168-4
7. Alexander Tvardovsky. Workbooks from the 60s. 1961 Entry dated 12.XII.61. // Banner. - 2000. - No. 6. - P. 171. Tvardovsky writes the author's surname from his voice, by ear, distorting it.
8. The friends agreed to refer to the story as an “article” during correspondence for purposes of secrecy.
9. At the insistence of Tvardovsky and against the author's will. Biography of Solzhenitsyn (S. P. Zalygin, with the participation of P. E. Spivakovsky)
10. They suggested that I call the story a story for the sake of it... I shouldn’t have given in. In our country, the boundaries between genres are being blurred and forms are being devalued. “Ivan Denisovich” is, of course, a story, albeit a long, labored one. ( Solzhenitsyn A. I. A calf butted heads with an oak tree // New world. - 1991. - No. 6. - P. 20.
11. ...the title Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky proposed this, the current title, his own. I had Shch-854. One day for one prisoner." And he suggested it very well, it went well... - Solzhenitsyn A. I. Radio interview given to Barry Holland on the 20th anniversary of the release of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich for the BBC in Cavendish on June 8, 1982 // Journalism: In 3 volumes. - Yaroslavl: Upper Volga, 1997. - T. 3: Articles, letters, interviews, prefaces. - ISBN 5-7415-0478-7.
12. ...without allowing any objections, Tvardovsky said that with the title “Shch-854” the story could never be published. I didn’t know their passion for softening, diluting renaming, and I also didn’t defend it. By throwing assumptions across the table with the participation of Kopelev, they jointly composed: “One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich.” - Solzhenitsyn A. I. A calf butted heads with an oak tree // New world. - 1991. - No. 6. - P. 20.
13. <…>at the highest rate accepted by them (one advance is my two-year salary)<…> - A. Solzhenitsyn. A calf butted heads with an oak tree. Sketches of Literary Life. - Paris: YMCA-PRESS, 1975.
14. L. Chukovskaya. Notes about Anna Akhmatova: In 3 volumes - M.: Vremya, 2007. - Vol. 2. - P. 768. - ISBN 978-5-9691-0209-5
15. Vladimir Lakshin.“New World” during the time of Khrushchev: Diary and related stuff. 1953-1964. - M., 1991. - P. 66-67.
16. A. Solzhenitsyn. A calf butted an oak tree: Essays on literary life. - M., 1996. - P. 41.
17. TsHSD. F.5. Op.30. D.404. L.138.
18. Quote By: // Continent. - 1993. - No. 75 (January-February-March). - P. 162.
19. A. Tvardovsky. Workbooks of the 60s // Banner. - 2000. - No. 7. - P. 129.
20. Not the Politburo, as some sources indicate, in particular, brief explanations of the work at the end of each edition. The Politburo did not yet exist at that time.
21. A. Tvardovsky. Workbooks of the 60s // Banner. - 2000. - No. 7. - P. 135.
22. Solzhenitsyn A. Radio interview for the 20th anniversary of the release of “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” for the BBC [Cavendish, June 8, 1982] / Solzhenitsyn A.I. Journalism: In 3 volumes. Volume 3: Articles, letters, interviews, prefaces. - Yaroslavl: Upper Volga, 1997. - pp. 21–30. - ISBN 5-7415-0478-7
23. Solzhenitsyn A. I. One day of Ivan Denisovich // New world. - 1962. - No. 11. - P. 8-71.
24. Alexander Tvardovsky wrote a special article “Instead of a Preface” for this issue of the magazine.
25. According to Vladimir Lakshin, the mailing started on November 17.
26. Solzhenitsyn A. I. Collected works in 30 volumes / Comm. V. Radzishevsky. - M.: Time, 2006. - T. 1. Stories and little things. - P. 579. - ISBN 5-94117-168-4
27. Niva J. Solzhenitsyn / Transl. from fr. Simon Markish in collaboration with the author. - M.: Hood. lit, 1992.
28. Gul R.B. Solzhenitsyn and socialist realism: “One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich” // Odvukon: Soviet and emigrant literature. - New York: Bridge, 1973. - P. 83.
29. On June 11, 1963, Vladimir Lakshin wrote in his diary: “Solzhenitsyn gave me a hastily published “One Day...” by “Soviet Writer...” The publication is truly shameful: gloomy, colorless cover, gray paper. Alexander Isaevich jokes: “They released it in the Gulag edition “"" - V. Lakshin."New World" during the time of Khrushchev. - P. 133.
30. Television interview with Walter Cronkite for CBS on June 17, 1974 in Zurich. - Solzhenitsyn A. I. From a television interview with CBS (June 17, 1974) // Journalism: In 3 volumes. - Yaroslavl: Upper Volga, 1996. - T. 2: Public statements, letters, interviews. - P. 98. - ISBN 5-7415-0462-0.
31. Solzhenitsyn A. I. Radio interview given to Barry Holland on the 20th anniversary of the release of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich for the BBC in Cavendish on June 8, 1982 // Journalism: In 3 volumes. - Yaroslavl: Upper Volga, 1997. - T. 3: Articles, letters, interviews, prefaces. - P. 92-93. - ISBN 5-7415-0478-7.
32. Note from the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan Sh. R. Rashidov on the punishment of A. Solzhenitsyn on February 5, 1966 - TsKHSD. F.5. Op.36. D. 155. L. 104. Quoted. By: Documents from the archives of the CPSU Central Committee on the case of A. I. Solzhenitsyn. // Continent. - 1993. - No. 75 (January-February-March). - pp. 165-166.
33. TsHSD. F.5. Op.67. D.121. L.21-23. - Quote By: Documents from the archives of the CPSU Central Committee on the case of A. I. Solzhenitsyn. // Continent. - 1993. - No. 75 (January-February-March). - P. 203.
34. Arlen Bloom. Banned books by Russian writers and literary critics. 1917-1991: Index of Soviet censorship with comments. - St. Petersburg. , 2003. - P. 168.
35. Solzhenitsyn A. I. Collected works in 30 volumes. T. 1. Stories and little things / [Comm. - Vladimir Radzishevsky]. - M.: Time, 2006. - P. 584. - ISBN 5-94117-168-4
36. Simonov K. About the past in the name of the future // Izvestia. 1962. November 18.
37. Baklanov G. So that it never happens again // Literary newspaper. 1962. November 22.
38. Ermilov V. In the name of truth, in the name of life // Pravda. 1962. November 23.
39. Varlam Shalamov. New book: Memoirs; Notebooks; Correspondence; Investigative cases. - M., 2004. - P. 641-651.
40. Chicherov I. In the name of the future // Moskovskaya Pravda. - 1962. - December 8. - P. 4.- Quote by: G. Yu. Karpenko. Literary criticism of the 1960s about A. Solzhenitsyn’s story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”
41. Drutse I. About courage and human dignity // Friendship of Peoples. 1963. No. 1.
42. Kuznetsov F. A day equal to life // Banner. 1963. No. 1.]
43. Gubko N. Man wins. // Star. 1963. No. 3. P. 214.
44. Lakshin V. Ivan Denisovich, his friends and enemies // New World. 1964. No. 1. P. 225-226.
45. Marshak S. True story // Pravda. 1964. January 30.
46. Kuzmin V.V. Poetics of stories by A.I. Solzhenitsyn. Monograph. Tver: TvGU, 1998, 160 pp., without ISBN.
47. Korney Chukovsky. Diary. 1930-1969. - M., 1994. - P. 329.
48. Note from the USSR Prosecutor's Office and the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR On measures in connection with the dissemination of an anonymous document with an analysis of A. Solzhenitsyn's story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” dated August 20, 1965 - TsKhSD. F.5. Op.47. D.485. L. 40-41. Quote from: Continent, No. 75, January-February-March 1993, p. 165-166
49. Reading “Ivan Denisovich” (Review of Letters) - Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Collected works in six volumes. Volume five. Plays. Stories. Articles. - Frankfurt/Main: Possev-Verlag, V. Gorachek KG, 2nd edition, 1971.
50. Alexander Solzhenitsyn. GULAG Archipelago. Volume 3 (parts 5, 6 and 7). YMCA-PRESS, Paris, 1973. - Part seven. Chapter 1.
51. “40 years like One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” Interview with Natalia Solzhenitsyna. //Russian Newspaper, 11/19/2002
52. Directed by Daniel Petrie, the story was prepared for stage production by Mark Rogers. Duration - 60 minutes.
53. And Ivan Denisovich’s day lasts longer than a century // Novaya Gazeta, November 17, 2003
54. Camp readings // Kommersant - Weekend, 10/06/2006
55. Gerosin V. One trance of “Ivan Denisovich”. At the Praktika theater, the text of “Ivan Denisovich” was read by actor Alexander Filippenko. Vzglyad: Business newspaper (October 31, 2008). Archived from the original on February 21, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
56. Gaikovich M. It happened! World premiere of the opera “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” in Perm // Independent newspaper. - May 18, 2009. - P. 7. (Retrieved May 21, 2009)
57. Ralph Parker (1963); Ron Hingley and Max Hayward (1963); Gillon Aitken (1970); H. T. Willetts (1991, ) - authorized by Solzhenitsyn

Literature

• Fomenko L. Great Expectations: Notes on fictional prose of 1962 // Literary Russia. - 1963, January 11.
• Sergovantsev N. The tragedy of loneliness and “continuous life” // October. - 1963. - No. 4.
• Tvardovsky A. Confidence of the artist // Literary newspaper. - 1963, August 10.
• Chalmaev V.“Saints” and “demons” // October. - 1963. - No. 10.
• Pallon V.. “Hello, kavtorang” // Izvestia. - 1964, January 15.
• Lakshin V. Ivan Denisovich, his friends and foes // New world: magazine. - 1964. - No. 1.
• Karyakin Yu. F. An episode from the modern struggle of ideas // Problems of peace and socialism. - 1964. - No. 9. The article was reprinted in “New World” (1964, No. 9).
• Geoffrey Hosking. Beyond socialist realism: Soviet fiction since Ivan Denisovich. - London etc.: Granada publ., 1980. - ISBN 0-236-40173-4.
• Latynina A. The collapse of ideocracy. From “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” to “The Gulag Archipelago” // Literary Review. - 1990. - No. 4.
• Murin D. N. One day, one hour, one human life in the stories of A. I. Solzhenitsyn // Literature at school. - 1990. - No. 5.
• From the history of the social and literary struggle of the 60s: Tvardovsky, Solzhenitsyn, “New World” according to documents of the USSR Writers Union. 1967-1970. Publication prepared by Yu. Burtin and A. Vozdvizhenskaya // October. - 1990. - No. 8-10.
• Lifshits M. About A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”; About the manuscript of A. I. Solzhenitsyn “In the First Circle” / Publ. L. Ya. Reinhardt. // Questions of literature. - 1990. - No. 7.
• Scientific conference "A. Solzhenitsyn. To the 30th anniversary of the publication of the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” // Russian literature. - 1993. - No. 2.
• Molko A. A. Solzhenitsyn’s story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” in a literature lesson // Study of literature of the 19th-20th centuries according to new school programs. - Samara, 1994.
• Muromsky V. P. From the history of literary controversy around A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.” // Literature at school. - 1994. - No. 3.
• Yachmeneva T. Camp prose in Russian literature (A. I. Solzhenitsyn and V. Shalamov). // Literature. Supplement to the newspaper “First of September”. 1996. No. 32.
• Karpenko G. Yu.

Solzhenitsyn conceived the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” when he was in the winter of 1950-1951. in the Ekibazstuz camp. He decided to describe all the years of imprisonment in one day, “and that will be all.” The original title of the story is the writer's camp number.

The story, which was called “Shch-854. One day of one prisoner,” written in 1951 in Ryazan. There Solzhenitsyn worked as a teacher of physics and astronomy. The story was published in 1962 in the magazine “New World” No. 11 at the request of Khrushchev himself, and was published twice as separate books. This is Solzhenitsyn's first published work, which brought him fame. Since 1971, editions of the story were destroyed according to the unspoken instructions of the Party Central Committee.

Solzhenitsyn received many letters from former prisoners. He wrote “The Gulag Archipelago” on this material, calling “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” a pedestal for it.

The main character Ivan Denisovich has no prototype. His character and habits are reminiscent of the soldier Shukhov, who fought in the Great Patriotic War in Solzhenitsyn’s battery. But Shukhov never sat. The hero is a collective image of many prisoners seen by Solzhenitsyn and the embodiment of the experience of Solzhenitsyn himself. The rest of the characters in the story are written “from life”; their prototypes have the same biographies. The image of Captain Buinovsky is also collective.

Akhmatova believed that every person in the USSR should read and memorize this work.

Literary direction and genre

Solzhenitsyn called “One Day...” a story, but when published in Novy Mir, the genre was defined as a story. Indeed, in terms of volume, the work can be considered a story, but neither the duration of action nor the number of characters correspond to this genre. On the other hand, representatives of all nationalities and segments of the population of the USSR are sitting in the barracks. So the country seems to be a place of confinement, a “prison of nations.” And this generalization allows us to call the work a story.

The literary direction of the story is realism, not counting the mentioned modernist generalization. As the title suggests, it shows one day of a prisoner. This is a typical hero, a generalized image of not only a prisoner, but also a Soviet person in general, a survivor, not free.

Solzhenitsyn's story, by the very fact of its existence, destroyed the harmonious concept of socialist realism.

Issues

For Soviet people, the story opened up a forbidden topic - the life of millions of people trapped in camps. The story seemed to expose Stalin’s personality cult, but Solzhenitsyn mentioned Stalin’s name once at the insistence of the editor of Novy Mir, Tvardovsky. For Solzhenitsyn, a once devoted communist who was imprisoned for scolding “Godfather” (Stalin) in a letter to a friend, this work is an exposure of the entire Soviet system and society.

The story raises many philosophical and ethical problems: human freedom and dignity, the justice of punishment, the problem of relationships between people.

Solzhenitsyn turns to the traditional problem of the little man in Russian literature. The goal of numerous Soviet camps is to make all people small, cogs in a big mechanism. Those who cannot become small must die. The story generally depicts the entire country as a large camp barracks. Solzhenitsyn himself said: “I saw the Soviet regime, and not Stalin alone.” This is how readers understood the work. The authorities quickly realized this and outlawed the story.

Plot and composition

Solzhenitsyn set out to describe one day, from early morning until late evening, of an ordinary person, an unremarkable prisoner. Through the reasoning or memories of Ivan Denisovich, the reader learns the smallest details of the life of prisoners, some facts of the biography of the main character and his entourage, and the reasons why the heroes ended up in the camp.

Ivan Denisovich considers this day almost happy. Lakshin noted that this is a strong artistic move, because the reader himself can imagine what the most miserable day could be like. Marshak noted that this is a story not about a camp, but about a person.

Heroes of the story

Shukhov- peasant, soldier. He ended up in the camp for the usual reason. He fought honestly at the front, but ended up in captivity, from which he escaped. This was enough for the prosecution.

Shukhov is the bearer of folk peasant psychology. His character traits are typical of the Russian common man. He is kind, but not without cunning, hardy and resilient, capable of any work with his hands, an excellent craftsman. It’s strange for Shukhov to sit in a clean room and do nothing for 5 minutes. Chukovsky called him the brother of Vasily Terkin.

Solzhenitsyn deliberately did not make the hero an intellectual or an unjustly injured officer, a communist. This was supposed to be “the average soldier of the Gulag, on whom everything falls.”

The camp and Soviet power in the story are described through the eyes of Shukhov and acquire the features of the creator and his creation, but this creator is the enemy of man. The man in the camp resists everything. For example, the forces of nature: 37 degrees Shukhov resists 27 degrees of frost.

The camp has its own history and mythology. Ivan Denisovich recalls how they took away his boots and gave him felt boots (so that he didn’t have two pairs of shoes), how, in order to torture people, they were ordered to pack bread in suitcases (and they had to mark their piece). Time in this chronotope also flows according to its own laws, because in this camp no one had an end to their term. In this context, the statement that a person in a camp is more valuable than gold sounds ironic, because instead of a lost prisoner, the warden will add his own head. Thus, the number of people in this mythological world does not decrease.

Time also does not belong to the prisoners, because the camp inmate lives for himself only 20 minutes a day: 10 minutes at breakfast, 5 at lunch and dinner.

There are special laws in the camp according to which man is a wolf to man (no wonder the surname of the head of the regime, Lieutenant Volkova). This harsh world has its own criteria of life and justice. Shukhov is taught them by his first foreman. He says that in the camp “the law is the taiga,” and teaches that the one who licks the bowls, hopes for the medical unit and knocks “kuma” (Chekist) on others perishes. But, if you think about it, these are the laws of human society: you cannot humiliate yourself, pretend and betray your neighbor.

The author, through the eyes of Shukhov, pays equal attention to all the characters in the story. And they all behave with dignity. Solzhenitsyn admires the Baptist Alyoshka, who does not give up prayer and so skillfully hides a little book in which half the Gospel is copied into a crack in the wall that it has not yet been found during a search. The writer likes Western Ukrainians, Banderaites, who also pray before eating. Ivan Denisovich sympathizes with Gopchik, a boy who was imprisoned for carrying milk to Bandera’s men in the forest.

Brigadier Tyurin is described almost lovingly. He is “a son of the Gulag, serving his second term. He takes care of his charges, and the foreman is everything in the camp.

The former film director Caesar Markovich, the former captain of the second rank Buinovsky, and the former Bandera member Pavel do not lose their dignity in any circumstances.

Solzhenitsyn, along with his hero, condemns Panteleev, who remains in the camp to snitch on someone who has lost his human appearance; Fetyukov, who licks bowls and begs for cigarette butts.

Artistic originality of the story

The story removes language taboos. The country became familiar with the jargon of prisoners (prisoner, shmon, wool, download license). At the end of the story there was a dictionary for those who were lucky enough not to recognize such words.

The story is written in the third person, the reader sees Ivan Denisovich from the outside, his whole long day passes before his eyes. But at the same time, Solzhenitsyn describes everything that happens in the words and thoughts of Ivan Denisovich, a man of the people, a peasant. He survives by cunning and resourcefulness. This is how special camp aphorisms arise: work is a double-edged sword; for people, give quality, but for the boss, show off; you have to try. so that the warden does not see you alone, but only in a crowd.