The First Circle Summary
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Everything you need to understand or teach The First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

  • The First Circle Summary & Study Guide

The First Circle Summary

The title suggests the major themes of the novel, deriving from the epic spiritual poem of the medieval Italian poet Dante, The Divine Comedy (c.1320), whose hero visits Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Dante's hell is a tapering funnel of ten circles or levels. Its first circle, the abode of good pagans, lacks the fiery tortures of the other nine circles which entrap various kinds of sinners. Mavrino is the first circle of the...

(read more from the Short Guide)

Study Pack

The The First Circle Study Pack contains:

The First Circle Short Guide