Shalamov’s Memory

Mapping Spaces as Factography: Human Traces and Negated Genres in Varlam Shalamov’sKolymskie rasskazy

“…42 He maintains that every story is 'absolute authenticity' (VI, p. 486), and describes every fact in Kolymskie rasskazy as 'irrefutable' (neoproverzhim, V, p. 147). 43 However, his commentary on the story 'Sherri-brendi' (Cherry Brandy) makes clear that authenticity for Shalamov does not exclude the imagined, but draws together the typical, the actual, and the projected, in order to narrate as fact a story that history otherwise cannot provide: Although on the rhetorical level we may accept this explanation and the necessity of Shalamov's approach, the overt and insistent incorporation of fictionalizing elements on the formal level may be more problematic, as, far from consolidating the factual status of his work, he thereby appears to undermine it. For example, the response to the letter complaining about equipment in 'Inzhektor', consisting of a note from the mine director demanding the arrest of prisoner Inzhektor and his replacement by a free worker (I, p. 88), bears a strong resemblance to contemporary legend.…”