Is this book worth the read? Does it hold merit outside of pure documentation? Best English translation? Abridged or no?
Gulag's didn't happen, shit's a hoax made up by capitalists
>>9400254
And just like that, the thread is dead on arrival.
Enjoy the show, guys, I'll go look for help elsewhere
>>9400230
It's a fantastic story and Solzenytsin is a magnificent writer. It's never boring and it's one of the funniest books I've ever read. I would never recommend an abridged version.
>>9400279
>funniest
Are you fucking with me or is it actually? I really don't know anything about the structure of the book, I had heard it was a crushing read
>>9400230
Honestly pretty bleak and funny. I'd recommend 8.5/10
>>9400254
woah where's the topic police to demand citation and a strict adherence to literature? i guess stalin's deathcamps just didn't kill anyone who mattered...
>>9400230
>it's another pseud memed in by Peterson
Just read it OP, this board is full of unironic Marxists who'll try to discredit it.
>>9400321
Do I get any good boy points if I wasn't introduced to Peterson through the pronoun fiasco?
>>9400230
It's unironically a masterpiece. Read it.
>>9400284
Solzenytsin is very salty and funny at the same time, his descriptions of Soviet incompetence and insluts to various Western communists like Russell and Sartre are absolutely hilarious.
>>9400230
Read it. It will make you cry tears of horror.
>>9400284
He is very dry, and uses massive amounts of sarcasm and irony.
Its a great book, very enjoyable.
>Abridged.
>>9400254
Absolutely correct.
inb4 REMEMBER THE 50 TRILLION THAT DIED UNDER STALIN, PROLE! COMMUNISM WILL NEVER WORK!
>>9400935
>In 1974, when Mr. Solzhenitsyn was living in exile in the United States and preparing to publish ''The Gulag Archipelago,'' the Soviet authorities persuaded Miss Reshetovskaya to intervene with her former husband to try to get him to stop publication.
really make you think
>>9400983
Take this!
>>9400995
No, vile, scientistic bureaucrat... Take this!
>>9400968
>>9400254
>State led violence happens
>is documented
>anonymous posters call it revision
>Except Rwanda because niggers
so fucking predictable, especially holodomor deniers.
>>9400254
Solzhenistsin was a reactionary, religious piece of shit that greatly exaggerated what was going on.
This is an article from an American source, so it can hardly be biased in favor of the Soviets: https://www.nps.gov/malu/learn/news/upload/Gulag_Fact_Sheet.pdf
>It is important to remember, however, that in most years more people were
amnestied from the Gulag than died in it. Excepting the brutal war years, the most common
experience of the Gulag was surviving it.
Not to mention that the number of people incarcerated is always greatly inflated: at most, 18 million people passed through the gulag, out of a population of 160 million.
>>9403044
so, read it as an entertaining piece of fiction. got it.
>>9403044
>weird upload directory of the US National Park Service has a plain two page PDF 'fact sheet' about the Soviet gulag system
wtf.jpg
Are you one of those dissident anti-Trump US park rangers? And have you taken up Marxism as well?
>>9402530
see no one cares about stalin's crimes, but u mention the so-called holocaust and the thread is covered with shills like flies on shit, hmm
>>9400230
>Pure documentation
Get ready for all the commies to tell you that Alyosha lied his ass off to paint the Soviets in a bad light.
>>9403044
Wow look at all those amazing sources in the pdf! If the National Park Service organization isn't THE go-to source for info on the Gulag, I don't know what isfuck yourself
>>9400230
It holds no merits as documentation.
It's literally, and I mean in the objective sense, 'literary fiction'.
>>9400308
There are no citations in the Gulag Archipelago though so how is this fair to say?
>ywn live a life of pure contemplation at peace with yourself while you burn out your life digging gold in siberia
>>9400230
I'm reading the abridged version at the moment.
The accounts of the gulag are truly horrific. They can evoke disgust, pity and rage all in one paragraph. There is just enough dry humour interspersed to make it an enjoyable read. I would say you would benefit from knowing a bit of Russian history before delving into it. The unabridged version is very long and I would say requires a great deal of interest on the part of the reader to get through.
>>9403827
This. I'm not even a communist. If you can't tell the diference between a chronicle and an actual work of documentation you shouldn't be reading.