The Gulag Archipelago, ch. 3

Chapter 3, 93-143. Solzhenitsyn continues his description of the system with "The Interrogation". I am still finding much of it hard to believe (though, as I think on it, the factors causing it seem to cohere entirely too well for my equanimity), but there were some anecdotal passages I found impressive, like the following hypothetical.

( Excerpt: a hypothetical anecdote about a possible interrogation )

You know, it occurred to me while copying that authors like David Weber who try to depict totalitarian regimes would have done well to have read this book. He in particular made a rather unimpressive regime in writing his story.

Gulag Archipelago, Preface and notes

First off, the original Russian title of the book is transliterated "Arkhipelag GULag", which has a catchy rhyme that is essentially impossible to translate into English.

(For the record, the translator of my edition is one Thomas P. Whitney. Translators get such low billing, I thought I should mention it.)

Second, the beginning of Solzhenitsyn's preface rather caught my attention:

( In 1949, some friends and I came upon a noteworthy news item in Nature... )

And third, and final, the dedication.

I dedicate this
to all who did not live
to tell it.

And may they please forgive me
for not having seen it all
nor remembered it all,
for not having divined all of it.