 First edition | |
| Author | Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn |
|---|---|
| Original title | В круге первом |
| Translator | H. T. Willetts |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre | semi-autobiographical novel |
| Publisher | Harper & Row (Eng. edition) |
Publication date | 1968 (In the West), 1990USSR |
| Publication place | Soviet Union |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Pages | 741 pp. |
| ISBN | 0-06-147901-2 |
| OCLC | 37011369 |
| 891.73/44 21 | |
| LC Class | PG3488.O4 V23 1997 |
In the First Circle (Russian:В круге первом,romanized: V kruge pervom; also published asThe First Circle) is a novel by Russian writerAleksandr Solzhenitsyn, released in 1968. A more complete version of the book was published in English in 2009.
The novel depicts the lives of the occupants of asharashka (a research and development bureau made ofGulag inmates) located in the Moscow suburbs. This novel is highly autobiographical. Many of the prisoners (zeks) are technicians or academics who have been arrested underArticle 58 of theRSFSR Penal Code inJoseph Stalin'spurges following theSecond World War. Unlike inhabitants of other Gulaglabor camps, the sharashka zeks were adequately fed and enjoyed good working conditions; however, if they found disfavor with the authorities, they could be instantly shipped to Siberia.
The title is an allusion toDante'sfirst circle, orlimbo of Hell inThe Divine Comedy, wherein the philosophers of Greece, and othervirtuous pagans, live in a walled green garden. They are unable to enter Heaven, as they were born before Christ, but enjoy a small space of relative freedom in the heart of Hell.
Innokentii Volodin, a diplomat, makes a telephone call to an old family doctor (Dobrumov) he feels obliged by conscience to make, even though he knows he could be arrested. His call is taped and theNKVD seek to identify who has made the call.
Thesharashka prisoners, or zeks, work on technical projects to assist state security agencies and generally pander to Stalin's increasing paranoia. While most are aware of how much better off they are than "regular"gulag prisoners (some of them having come from gulags themselves), some are also conscious of the overwhelming moral dilemma of working to aid a system that is the cause of so much suffering. As Lev Rubin is given the task of identifying the voice in the recorded phone call, he examines printed spectrographs of the voice and compares them with recordings of Volodin and four other suspects. He narrows it down to Volodin and one other suspect, both of whom are arrested.
By the end of the book, several zeks, including Gleb Nerzhin, the autobiographical hero, choose to stop co-operating, even though their choice means being sent to much harsher camps.
Volodin, initially crushed by the ordeal of his arrest, begins to find encouragement at the end of his first night in prison.
The book also briefly depicts several Soviet leaders of the period, including Stalin himself, who is depicted as vain and vengeful, remembering with pleasure the torture of a rival, dreaming of one day becoming emperor of the world, or listening to his subordinateViktor Abakumov and wondering: "...has the day cometo shoot him yet?"
The novel addresses numerous philosophical themes, and through multiple narratives is a powerful argument both for astoic integrity andhumanism. Like other Solzhenitsyn works, the book illustrates the difficulty of maintaining dignity within a system designed to strip its inhabitants of it.
Solzhenitsyn first wrote this book with 96 chapters. He felt he could never get this version published in the USSR, so he produced a "lightened" version of 87 chapters. In the long version, the diplomat Volodin's phone call (chapter 1) was to the US embassy, warning them of a Soviet attempt to get atomic bomb secrets. In the short version this call is to an old family doctor warning him not to share a new medicine with some French doctors he will visit. Another difference, in the long version Sologdin is a Roman Catholic, while in the short version his faith is not described.
Shortly afterOne Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was published, Solzhenitsyn submitted his "lightened" version for publication in the USSR, but it was never accepted. This version was first published abroad in 1968. An English version was first published in Great Britain by Collins and the Harvill Press in 1968. A paperback edition, still consisting of 87 chapters was published in 1988, translated from the Russian by Max Hayward, Manya Harari and Michael Glenny. The complete 96 chapter version (with some later revisions) was published in Russian by YMCA Press in 1978, and has been published in Russia as part of Solzhenitsyn's complete works. Excerpts from the full 96 chapter version were published in English byThe New Yorker and inThe Solzhenitsyn Reader.[1] An English translation of the full version was published by Harper Perennial in October 2009, entitledIn the First Circle rather thanThe First Circle.[2]
The Polish directorAleksander Ford made an English language film based on the novel in 1973,The First Circle. While it adhered closely to Solzhenitsyn's plot, the film was a critical and commercial failure.[citation needed]
The 1992 TV movie based on the novel,The First Circle, won Canada'sGemini Award for Best Photography in a Dramatic Program or Series, awarded toRon Orieux. Directed by Larry Sheldon, it received nominations for best dramatic miniseries, best actor, best actress, and best writing in the category.[3] It starredVictor Garber as the protagonist,Christopher Plummer,Robert Powell andDominic Raacke, withF. Murray Abraham as Stalin. It was released on DVD.
In January 2006, theRossiya Telekanal aireda miniseries directed byGleb Panfilov.[4] Solzhenitsyn helped adapt the novel for the screen and narrated the film.[5]
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