The Work of Memory in The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Abstract

This article analyses the formative nature of the work of memory in The Gulag Archipelago of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn inspired by the writer’s desire to tell about the victims of Gulag and become a witness. This approach determines the uniqueness of the genre and temporality of the work and the history of its creation. The combination of the personal memory of the narrator and collective memory of other victims is not achieved through a mechanical multiplication of different positions, but through a framework of testimonies. In the article, the figure of the witness is examined in the context of the typology of witnesses proposed by Aleida Assmann and through the prism of reflections by Primo Levi and Giorgio Agamben. The desire to become a witness of Gulag victims does not only require an intellectual effort of memory (attention, memorisation) from the author but also obliges him to make a moral choice (i.e. show readiness to share the destiny of victims, risk his life in the process of writing and publishing the book) and demonstrate capacity for accumulated suffering and deep empathy. The testimony is made on behalf of a diverse group marked as “we” and mainly implying prisoners. This group is opposed by another one marked as “they” and consisting of warders and executioners. By means of sympathising and demonstrating capacity for inner transformation, one can transfer from the second group to the first one. The figure of the reader is very important in this work of memory. The reader may join the group denoted as “we” from the very beginning, following the narrator on his way of suffering, thus transforming themselves and becoming someone who is capable of perceiving the testimony. Besides real memories, the text includes typologically modelled situations. They can be recognised as true both by witnesses and by readers as they are represented from the position of a real witness.

Keywords

• память
• Солженицын
• Архипелаг ГУЛАГ
• свидетель
• страдание
• жертва.