Varlam Shalamov

Memoirs

Site collects only historically valuable works which authenticity is adequately proven by other sources. The problem of authenticity of memoirs about Shalamov is specified in Irina Sirotinskaya article “There are no memoirs, only memoirists” (Russian page).


  • Irina Sirotinskaya The Years We Talked

  • My first impression of Varlam Tikhonovich? Big. There was the physique, tall and broad-shouldered, and then a clear sense of an extraordinary, formidable personality — from his first words, at first glance. I was to know him for many years. That first impression never changed, but it gained in complexity… It is impossible, nor should one reduce this complex, contradictory personality to a single denominator. Within him, different facets of his personality co-existed and battled, always at the boiling point.