Soviet prison-camp literature: The structure of confinement

Soviet prison-camp literature is an emerging literature whose theme has been addressed in a variety of genres. Despite the fact that this body of literature has become a new event in the Russian literary process, its significance and uniqueness have gone unrecognized.; This dissertation is a preliminary exploration of Russian prison-camp literature through interpretation of the texts of V. Shalamov, S. Dovlatov and G. Vladimov. These three writers have been chosen because of their different life experiences and relationships to the prison camp, and because their works are important not just for the theme they express but also for their other literary qualities. The works chosen for analysis are landmarks in the development of the new aesthetic that has evolved in modern Soviet literature. Shalamov's works are representative of the significant body of prison-camp literature written by survivors. Dovlatov presents the prison camp from the viewpoint of the camp guard. For Shalamov and Dovlatov the prison camp is not only a personal experience but the source of the aesthetic and ethical basis of their writing. Vladimov was chosen because he adopts the same aesthetic even though he himself did not experience the prison camp. This study demonstrates the effect of the prison camp experience on the works of the three writers. Camp literature examines the camp as a human cultural structure whose ethic has a powerful impact on the writers. This ethic is reflected in the aesthetic that may be seen in their works.; The works analyzed encourage a reexamination of the relationship between documentary and fiction, which brings about certain changes in literary form. The question of the necessity of personal experience in this literature is discussed with regard to the three authors.; Interpretation of the three treatments of the prison-camp theme makes it possible to identify features common to all of them and to demonstrate that these works are not just a commemoration of a horrible period in Soviet life but represent an identifiable body of literature that has had an effect on the Russian literary process.