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The page of Salamov, Varlam Tyihonovics, English biography

Image of Salamov, Varlam Tyihonovics
Salamov, Varlam Tyihonovics
(Шаламов, Варлам Тихонович)
(1907–1982)
 

Biography

Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov was born in Vologda, Russia on June 18, 1907. His father was an orthodox minister and his mother was a teacher. In 1926 Shalamov entered Moscow University where he studied law. Around this time, he joined a group of Trotskyites. This involvement lead to Shalamov's first arrest in 1929 where he was sentenced to three years of hard labor in Solovki, an island converted from an Orthadox monastery to a Soviet work camp. He began to publish writing in 1932. During the purges, Shalamov was arrested again, charged with, "counter-revolutionary Trotskyite activities." This time Shalamov was sent to Kolyma. Kolyma has been called "the land of white death." Conservative estimates calculcate that 35 percent of the prisoners died in the Kolyma camps per year.
Five years after his second sentence, Shalamov was retried and found guilty of "anti-Soviet agitation." His crime was merely calling Ivan Bunin, a Nobel Laureate, a "classic Russian writer." Oddly, this resentencing worked to Shalamov's benefit. "Anti-Soviet agitation" was a label far less grave than Shalamov's earlier crime of "Trotskyite activities." Because of this sentence, he was moved to another camp, and then spent time in the prison hospital where he was able to regain some health. Shalamov worked in the gold mines of Kolyma, by far the deadliest occupation as well as in logging camps.
Shalamov was released from the camps in 1951, but forbidden to leave the Magadan area. In 1953, after 17 years in Siberia, he was permitted to leave the area but not allowed to live in a big city. Shalamov was allowed to return to Moscow in 1956, having been officially 'rehabilitated.' After his release, Shalamov began writing Kolyma Tales. He was also working as a journalist and published poems. Five collections of his poems were published in the Soviet Union. Naturally, because of the content, Shalamov's Kolyma tales were not published in the Soviet Union until the late eighties. However, the stories were brought to the West where they were first published in 1966 in American literary journals. Selections were also published French and German.The complete Russian version did not appear until 1978. Publishers always stated that Shalamov's stories were being published without the author's knowledge or consent. In 1972 Shalamov retracted the Kolyma Tales, stating that they were no longer a relevant topic. While this shocked many of his admirers, the statement was probably forced by the government and not sincere. After the statement, his writing was again published. In 1987 Kolyma Tales were finally published in Russian on Russian soil in literary journals.
Shalamov died on January 17, 1982 after several years of failing heath. He lost his vision and hearing and lived the last few years of his at a home for the elderly.

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