One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich | Historical Context

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Historical Context

Censorship in Russian Literature

The history of Russian literature has been one of censorship, first under the czars and then under the Soviets. In the 19th century, the poet Pushkin, the novelists Turgenev, Tolstoy and Dostoyevski, and the dramatists Gogol and Chekhov, to name a few, elevated Russian literature to world renown, but these writers labored under the threat of exile, imprisonment, or death if their works were deemed politically unacceptable. Pushkin was exiled for a time. Dostoyevski had a crueler experience: he was condemned to the firing squad before the czar's messenger brought the order to commute the execution at the very last minute. In the 20th century, under the Soviets, censorship seemed even more severe and difficult to contain under the explosive advances of mass communication. But the Soviets felt that if communism wasn't the practical solution to all social ills, they would not allow that failing to come to the attention...
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