{"product_id":"sketches-of-the-criminal-world-further-kolyma-stories-paperback","title":"Sketches of the Criminal World: Further Kolyma Stories - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eVarlam Shalamov\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eDonald Rayfield\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator), \u003cb\u003eAlissa Valles\u003c\/b\u003e (Introduction by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe astonishing follow-up to 2018's \u003ci\u003eKolyma Stories\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 1936, Varlam Shalamov, a journalist and writer, was arrested for counterrevolutionary activities and sent to the Soviet Gulag. He survived fifteen years in the prison camps and returned from the Far North to write one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century literature, an epic array of short fictional tales reflecting the years he spent in the Gulag. \u003ci\u003eSketches of the Criminal World \u003c\/i\u003eis the second of two volumes (the first, \u003ci\u003eKolyma Stories\u003c\/i\u003e, was published by NYRB Classics in 2018) that together constitute the first complete English translation of Shalamov's stories and the only one to be based on the authorized Russian text. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In this second volume, Shalamov sets out to answer the fundamental moral questions that plagued him in the camps where he encountered firsthand the criminal world as a real place, far more evil than Dostoyevsky's underground: \"How does someone stop being human?\" and \"How are criminals made?\" By 1972, when he was writing his last stories, the camps were being demolished, the guard towers and barracks razed. \"Did we exist?\" Shalamov asks, then answers without hesitation, \"I reply, 'We did.'\"\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eVarlam Shalamov\u003c\/b\u003e (1907-1982) was a Russian writer, journalist, poet, and survivor of the Gulag. NYRB Classics publishes his \u003ci\u003eKolyma Stories\u003c\/i\u003e, which, together with \u003ci\u003eSketches of the Criminal World\u003c\/i\u003e, comprise the first complete English translation of all of Shalamov's Kolyma writings. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cb\u003eDonald Rayfield\u003c\/b\u003e is an emeritus professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary University of London. He translated Nikolai Gogol's \u003ci\u003eDead Souls\u003c\/i\u003e for NYRB Classics. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlissa Valles \u003c\/b\u003eis the author of the poetry books \u003ci\u003eOrphan Fire\u003c\/i\u003e (2008) and \u003ci\u003eAnastylosis\u003c\/i\u003e (2014), the editor and cotranslator of Zbigniew Herbert's \u003ci\u003eCollected Poems and Collected Prose\u003c\/i\u003e, and the translator of Ryszard Krynicki's \u003ci\u003eOur Life Grows\u003c\/i\u003e for NYRB Poets.\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 576\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.2 x 8 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e January 14, 2020\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51770362429728,"sku":"9781681373676","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/c977ae601fdd9fcb07c29b56f2dc5010.webp?v=1780370205","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/sketches-of-the-criminal-world-further-kolyma-stories-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}