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Tag Archives: gulag

Trade Your Life for a Joke? Posted by on Oct 15, 2014

What does it feel like to be arrested for retelling a joke, or even an anecdote? For those living in Russia during Stalin’s reign, it was a reality. Gulags were home to not just societies most dangerous and, therefore, worthy criminals; professors, doctors, all sorts of educated professionals could also call it home – some…

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Do We Really Know the Meaning of Misery? Posted by on May 20, 2014

As any voracious reader can tell you, once in a great while a book makes its way into your hands that really helps put your life in perspective, to change your thoughts on deep-rooted subjects, to provide you with a renewed appreciation for your life. This happened recently as I read Journey Into The Whirlwind by Eugenia Ginzburg.  This is her memoir of…

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«По уральским местам Варлама Шаламова» [Visiting Varlam Shalamov’s Ural ‘Sites’] Posted by on Jul 18, 2009

The map on the left shows a ‘cluster’ of towns in the Ural Mountains connected with the fate of the great Russian writer and poet «Варлам Тихонович Шаламов» [Varlam Tikhonovich Shalamov], all four of them are located in the northern part of «Пермский край» [Perm Administrative Division (of Russian Federation)]. (The red dot marked with…

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