One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
question
Narrative perspective in One Day in the Life...
V.
Aug 14, 2011 11:50PM
I found the frequently shifting perspective of the narrative voice an interesting feature of his book. Sometimes it seemed to slip very seamlessly in and out of 3rd person and 2nd person- switching from an omniscient view and interior monologue from Shukhov.
Does anyone know if this is a product of translation from Russian to English, or deliberate style on the part of Solzhenitsyn?
Does anyone know if this is a product of translation from Russian to English, or deliberate style on the part of Solzhenitsyn?
It's written in 'skaz' which is an old Russian form of oral story telling. Pretty much you have to imagine that the story is written from the first person perspective of a ghost that follows Shukhov around and knows everything that Shukhov does, thats why it regards Shukhov in the first person yet everything is from Shukhov's perspective. It's so confusing, I know.
I just finished reading it and I noticed the same thing. It seems a mix of omniscient and close third person. Usually this blend is a big no no that makes writing confusing, but he pulls it off.
Is it the edition? I read it years ago, and found it deeply moving and profoundly uplifting (in a strange kind of way) but I don't remember any narrative POV shifts.
I'm fairly sure that it was a feature of the Russian. I'm probably overthinking it - it might sound natural in Russian, I don't know - but it could perhaps show that Solzhenitsyn is demonstrating the general case (the millions of people who ended up in gulags) via a single, more relatable case (Shukhov's day).
Solzhenitzyn wrote it in Russian and a Brit translated it. If you find One Day interesting, try Gulag Archipelago -- three enormous compelling volumes. Shorter but equally compelling is First Circle, the tale of scientific zeks trying to their own strange hell to which Stalin (and communism itself) condemned them
It just seemed to me like Solzhenitsyn was using projection to get his own story across... I mean that was in the back of my mind all the time from when I first started reading it, so the perspective, his portraying Ivan Denisovitch's thoughts and perceptions, just seemed like the natural way to go about it
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