Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation changed the course of the 20th century. It became very difficult to retain an attachment to Soviet Communism and even Marxism after its publication in France. Now in its 50th anniversary of the English publication, Solzhenitsyn’s searing and deep indictment of the Communist project has lost none of its power.

A defiant testimony to truth written in the very center of the Lie, Solzhenitsyn deftly sketches the particular evil of Communist tyranny in its manifold aspects. It belongs to no one genre, being by turns historical, philosophical, autobiographical, political, and even theological. Its eloquence, wisdom, moral clarity, and urgency ensure it a place on the shelf of enduring works never to be forgotten.

Image: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn writing at his homemade table in Vermont, circa 1985.

 

The Gulag Archipelago with Flagg Taylor

This course takes place weekly on Wednesdays, via Zoom, from 6 PM to 8 PM ET. Fellows will receive a $150 stipend contingent upon participation in the course and completion of a brief response paper. All course materials will be provided.

Faculty

Flagg Taylor

Flagg Taylor is an Associate Professor of Government at Skidmore College, and serves on the Academic Council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. He is editor most recently of The Long Night of the Watchman: Essays by Václav Benda, 1977–1989. He is currently writing a book on Czech dissent in the 1970s and 1980s and hosts The Enduring Interest podcast.

Preview the Syllabus by Week/Session

Readings

  • The Gulag Archipelago (Vintage Classics), Part I, “The Prison Industry,” pp. 1–145

Discussion Questions

  1. How does Solzhenitsyn account for the widespread use of torture during the interrogation of arrestees?
  2. Who are the “Bluecaps” and how does Solzhenitsyn characterize their motives in performing their work?
  3. What sort of history is Solzhenitsyn writing in Part I, Ch. 2 (“The History of our Sewage Disposal System”)? Who or what occupies his attention and why?
  4. How is Solzhenitsyn’s own story woven into these early chapters? What does he tell us about himself and why?

Readings

  • The Gulag Archipelago (Vintage Classics), Part II, “Perpetual Motion” & Part III, “The Destructive-Labor Camps,” Chs. 1–11, pp. 149–246
  • Women of the GULAG. Directed by Marianna Yarovskaya, Mayfilms, 2019

Discussion Questions

  1. Who is Erik Arvid Andersen? Why do you think Solzhenitsyn devotes some attention to his story?
  2. What are the origins of the corrective-labor camp system? What accounts for its dramatic expansion?
  3. What is the story of the White Sea – Baltic Canal (Belomor) and what does Solzhenitsyn emphasize about its construction?
  4. How are people dehumanized in the corrective labor camps (see especially Part III, Chs. 7 and 8)?

Readings

  • The Gulag Archipelago (Vintage Classics), Part III, “The Destructive Labor Camps,” Chs. 12–end & Part IV, “The Soul and Barbed Wire,” pp. 247–328

Discussion Questions

  1. How does Solzhenitsyn approach the question of the camp system’s profitability to the Soviet Union in economic and political terms?
  2. What does Solzhenitsyn mean by “ascent?” What must happen inside the human soul for genuine ascent to occur?
  3. What are the objections raised by some authors (e.g., Shalamov) to the possibility of “ascent?” How does Solzhenitsyn respond to such objections?
  4. In “Our Muzzled Freedom” Solzhenitsyn names ten traits of “free life” that were shaped by the presence of the Archipelago. Which two or three would you suggest are most destructive to a human life well-lived?

Readings

  • The Gulag Archipelago (Vintage Classics), Part V, “Katorga,” 331–418

Discussion Questions

  1. What is the relationship between moral and political freedom? What role does public opinion play with respect to these two kinds of freedom?
  2. Who is Georgi Tenno and in what way is his life instructive for readers of The Gulag Archipelago?
  3. How does Solzhenitsyn treat the phenomena of camp rebellions and escapes?
  4. How was Solzhenitsyn able to write poetry while in the gulag?

Readings

Discussion Questions

  1. Who are the so-called “kulaks?” What does Solzhenitsyn choose to emphasize about their story and why?
  2. What are the effects of freedom on former zeks?
  3. What is the significance of the events at Novocherkassk in 1962? Why do you think Solzhenitsyn gives these events such prominence in this concluding chapter?
  4. How does Konchalovsky’s cinematic treatment of these events compare to Solzhenitsyn’s?
  5. How does Lyuda’s attachment to the Party and Communism change over the course of the film?

Readings

  • The Gulag Archipelago (Vintage Classics), Afterword, pp. 469–70
  • The Gulag Archipelago (Vintage Classics), Forward by Natalia Solzhenitsyn, pp. xi–xxviii
  • Invisible Allies (Counterpoint Press), Ch. 4, “The Estonians,” pp. 46–64
  • “From Rostov-on-Don to Moscow or the KGB v. Solzhenitsyn,” Reflections of a Chekist, Boris Ivanov (Appendix B of Invisible Allies, pp. 307–18)
  • Letter to the Fourth Congress of Soviet Writers (1967)
  • Nobel Lecture (1972)
  • “Live Not by Lies” (1974)

Discussion Questions

  1. Describe the obstacles to The Gulag Archipelago’s composition and existence. What strikes you as most remarkable about its path to completion and publication?
  2. What are the functions of art and artist according to Solzhenitsyn? What are the greatest threats to art properly understood?

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