‘This story is a masterpiece in the great Russian tradition. There have been many literary sensations since Stalin died. Dr Zhivago, apart, few can stand up in their own right as works of art… Ivan Denisovich is different. This is the story of one day – January 1951 – in the life of… a peasant carpenter, inmate in a “special” camp for so-called “political” prisoners… The story is told throughout in… a rich and simple peasant speech with the even richer camp slang superimposed… The nearest parallel that comes to my mind is Hemingway. Like all great Russian literature it has religious undertones… it concerns the triumph of the spirit over its environment.’ – Leonard Schapiro, New Statesman.
‘Mr Solzhenitsyn writes with imposing compactness and vividness… The characterization is… an alternating current of variety and humanity. The book does not sermonize; the lesson it teaches is thereby more valid and penetrating.’- Times Literary Supplement.
