Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

Second Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Wyman, Alina

Keywords

Shalamov, Varlam, Body, Dehumanization, Kolyma Tales

Area of Concentration

Russian Language and Literature

Abstract

This thesis seeks to interpret Varlam Shalamov’s cycle of short stories Kolyma Tales through the unifying theme of dehumanization. Chapter one examines historic and artistic interpretations of Shalamov’s work in order to substantiate the methodology used in interpreting the tales with the notion of dehumanization. The chapter then supplies an analysis of “Lend-Lease” in order to demonstrate the methodology. Chapter two analyzes “Sententious” by tracking the narrator’s body in relation to his surroundings in a story of unusually long duration relative to the quick moments captured in other tales. The story is emblematic of a reversal of dehumanization to the extent that is possible for somebody to reclaim aspects of their humanity in such a dire context. Chapter three again utilizes the body as a conceptual marker of dehumanization, but rather focuses on two stories that are emblematic of quick but potent moments of dehumanization in the cycle. The analysis of “Magic” and “Prosthetic Appliances” compliments that of “Sententious” by demonstrating that the point of view in the cycle is essential in understanding dehumanization as a unifying theme. The variety of methods used to interpret dehumanization reflects the multiplicity of ways that Kolyma Tales can be understood through a unifying theme of dehumanization.

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