The Slavic Literature Pod Kolyma Tales by Shalamov
Show Notes:
This week, Matt and Cameron read Kolyma Tales by Varlam Shalamov. Although the Gulag narrative was most popularized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's works, Shalamov’s tales are equally compelling, especially driven by their mix of reality and fantasy. As a not one, not two, but three-time convict sentenced to hard labor Shalamov wrote stories that combined his real experiences with fantasy in order to convey the realities and feelings of life in the camp. Stay tuned for this one, because it’s super interesting!
Major themes: gulags, carnivorousness, latent classicism, guerilla warfare.
32:18 - It would be more accurate to say Red Army soldiers, since there were many more ethnicities than only Russian in the Soviet military.
The music used in this episode was “soviet march,” by Toasted Tomatoes. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and YouTube.
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