Merzlakov, once a robust stable-hand, now fights hunger, pain and exhaustion after a year and a half at a labour camp. An enormous man given little food, he sees the larger men dying first, their bodies conquered by starvation. In his desperation for survival, he begins a yearlong struggle of pain and injury. It ends with the inscrutable and punctilious Dr Peter Ivanovich. In a curious mix of empathy and haunting objectivity, this short story describes a snapshot of life in a Russian labour-camp. Written after Varlam Shalamov's own experiences at a gulag, it is one episode in the many that make up Kolyma Tales.
- ISBN10 0718196457
- ISBN13 9780718196455
- Publish Date 6 March 2014
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
- Edition Digital original
- Format eBook (EPUB)
- Pages 46
- Language English