34 Facts About Varlam Shalamov

Varlam Shalamov spent much of the period from 1937 to 1951 imprisoned in forced-labor camps in the Arctic region of Kolyma, due in part to his support of Leon Trotsky and praise of writer Ivan Bunin.

Varlam Shalamov remained in that role for the duration of his sentence, then for another two years after being released, until 1953.

Varlam Shalamov was born in Vologda, Vologda Governorate, a Russian city with a rich culture famous for its wooden architecture, to the family of a hereditary Russian Orthodox priest and teacher, Father Tikhon Nikolayevich Shalamov, a graduate of the Vologda Seminary.

At first young Shalamov was named and baptized after the patron of Vologda, Saint Varlaam of Khutyn ; Shalamov later changed his name to the more common Varlam.

Varlam Shalamov's mother, Nadezhda Aleksandrovna, was a teacher as well.

Varlam Shalamov enjoyed poetry, and Varlam speculated that she could have become a poet if not for her family.

Varlam Shalamov's father worked as a missionary in Alaska for 12 years from 1892, and Varlam's older brother, Sergei, grew up there ; they returned as events were heating up in Russia by 1905.

In 1914, Varlam Shalamov entered the gymnasium of St Alexander's and graduated in 1923.

At that time Varlam Shalamov was convinced that he would become a literature specialist.

Varlam Shalamov praised Dostoevsky, Savinkov, Joyce and Hemingway, about whom he later wrote a long essay depicting the myriad possibilities of artistic endeavors.

Varlam Shalamov joined a Trotskyist-leaning group and on February 19,1929, was arrested and sent to Butyrskaya prison for solitary confinement.

Varlam Shalamov was later sentenced to three years of correctional labor in the town of Vizhaikha, convicted of distributing the "Letters to the Party Congress" known as Lenin's Testament, which were critical of Joseph Stalin, and of participating in a demonstration marking the tenth anniversary of the Soviet revolution with the slogan "Down with Stalin".

Varlam Shalamov was taken by train to the former Solikamsk monastery, which was transformed into a militsiya headquarters of the Vishera department of Solovki ITL}.

Varlam Shalamov was released in 1931 and worked in the new town of Berezniki, Perm Oblast, at the local chemical plant construction site.

Varlam Shalamov was given the opportunity to travel to Kolyma for colonization.

Sarcastically, Varlam Shalamov said that he would go there only under enforced escort.

Varlam Shalamov returned to Moscow in 1932, where he worked as a journalist and managed to see some of his essays and articles published, including his first short story, "The three deaths of Doctor Austino".

At the outset of the Great Purge, on January 12,1937, Varlam Shalamov was arrested again for "counter-revolutionary Trotskyist activities" and sent to Kolyma, known as "the land of white death", for five years.

Varlam Shalamov was already in jail awaiting sentencing when one of his short stories was published in the literary journal Literary Contemporary.

In 1943, Varlam Shalamov was sentenced to another term, this time for 10 years, under Article 58, in part, for having called Nobelist Ivan Bunin a "great Russian writer".

Varlam Shalamov was repeatedly sent to punishment zones, both for his political crimes and for his attempt to escape.

The new career allowed Varlam Shalamov to survive and concentrate on writing poetry.

In 1951, Varlam Shalamov was released from the camp, and continued working as a medical assistant for the forced labor camps of Sevvostlag while still writing.

In 1952, Varlam Shalamov sent his poetry to Boris Pasternak, who praised his work.

Varlam Shalamov was allowed to leave Magadan in November 1953 following Stalin's death in March of that year, and was permitted to go to the village of Turkmen in Kalinin Oblast, near Moscow, where he worked as a supply agent.

From 1954 to 1973, Varlam Shalamov worked on his book of short stories of labour camp life, Kolyma Tales.

Varlam Shalamov was allowed to return to Moscow after having been officially exonerated in 1956.

Varlam Shalamov's health had been broken by his years in the camps, and he received a disability pension.

Varlam Shalamov proceeded to publish poetry and essays in the major Soviet literary magazines while writing his magnum opus, Kolyma Tales.

Varlam Shalamov was acquainted with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Boris Pasternak, and Nadezhda Mandelstam.

Late in life, Varlam Shalamov got on bad terms with Solzhenitsyn and other fellow dissidents, and opposed the publication of his own works abroad.

Varlam Shalamov wrote a series of autobiographical essays that vividly bring to life the city of Vologda and his life before prison.

Varlam Shalamov died on January 17,1982, and, despite having been an atheist, was given an Orthodox funeral ceremony and was interred at Kuntsevo Cemetery, Moscow.

Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov was rehabilitated in the Soviet Union on July 18,1956 by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union.