A World Apart (book)
Encyclopedia
A World Apart - a memoir written by Gustaw Herling-Grudziński
, first published in 1951 in London
(in Polish language first published in London in 1953, in Poland
in the underground press in 1980, and officially in 1988), combining various literary genres: novel
, essay
, psychological portrait
, sociological and political dissertation. The book takes its Polish subtitle ('Soviet Notes) from the Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel, Notes from the House of the Dead
, which expresses Herling's convictions that the World War II concentration camp does not belong to the normal, human world, but is a type of sick and distinctive civilisation which is contrary to all previous human experience.
The book A World Apart contains the author's recollections beginning from his time spent incarcerated in the former USSR in a labour camp in Yertsevo in Siberia
, and a description of the journey he took to join the Polish divisions forming in Persia. Written 10 years before Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
, it brought him international acclaim but also criticism from Soviet sympathizers.
The book contains detailed, often drastic depictions from the lives of Gulag prisoners. Much of the book is given to the analysis and interpretation of the attitudes, behaviour and emotions of specific prisoners and also to the internal mechanisms and independent laws of behaviour in the camps.
The book was initially greeted well in England, with a foreword written by Bertrand Russell
but had to wait until 1985 for its publication in France. According to Herling, this was due to the reluctance of the left-leaning publishing houses in that country. With greater interest in the Gulag, it has been reprinted in Britain, with the foreword written this time by Anne Applebaum
.
As Herling noted in a preface to the Russian edition (1986) of his book, the cultural establishment almost always followed Sartre’s advice: "even if it is true, don’t speak about it". The Russian edition preceded some Western language editions: the French translation of the book was not published until 1995, the Italian one until 1994, both delayed by the unwillingness of local pro-Soviet sympathizers to discuss Soviet crimes. The Polish bibuła underground edition was published in 1980, the normal edition was published only near the fall of communism in Poland, in 1988.
Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski
Gustaw Herling-Grudziński was a Polish writer, journalist, essayist and soldier. He is best known for writing a personal account of life in the Soviet gulag - A World Apart.-Biography:...
, first published in 1951 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(in Polish language first published in London in 1953, in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
in the underground press in 1980, and officially in 1988), combining various literary genres: novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
, essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
, psychological portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
, sociological and political dissertation. The book takes its Polish subtitle ('Soviet Notes) from the Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel, Notes from the House of the Dead
The House of the Dead (novel)
The House of the Dead is a novel published in 1861 in the journal Vremya by Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky, which portrays the life of convicts in a Siberian prison camp...
, which expresses Herling's convictions that the World War II concentration camp does not belong to the normal, human world, but is a type of sick and distinctive civilisation which is contrary to all previous human experience.
The book A World Apart contains the author's recollections beginning from his time spent incarcerated in the former USSR in a labour camp in Yertsevo in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, and a description of the journey he took to join the Polish divisions forming in Persia. Written 10 years before Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is a novel written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, first published in November 1962 in the Soviet literary magazine Novy Mir . The story is set in a Soviet labor camp in the 1950s, and describes a single day of an ordinary prisoner, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov...
, it brought him international acclaim but also criticism from Soviet sympathizers.
The book contains detailed, often drastic depictions from the lives of Gulag prisoners. Much of the book is given to the analysis and interpretation of the attitudes, behaviour and emotions of specific prisoners and also to the internal mechanisms and independent laws of behaviour in the camps.
The book was initially greeted well in England, with a foreword written by Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
but had to wait until 1985 for its publication in France. According to Herling, this was due to the reluctance of the left-leaning publishing houses in that country. With greater interest in the Gulag, it has been reprinted in Britain, with the foreword written this time by Anne Applebaum
Anne Applebaum
Anne Elizabeth Applebaum is a journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author who has written extensively about communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. She has been an editor at The Economist, and a member of the editorial board of The Washington Post...
.
As Herling noted in a preface to the Russian edition (1986) of his book, the cultural establishment almost always followed Sartre’s advice: "even if it is true, don’t speak about it". The Russian edition preceded some Western language editions: the French translation of the book was not published until 1995, the Italian one until 1994, both delayed by the unwillingness of local pro-Soviet sympathizers to discuss Soviet crimes. The Polish bibuła underground edition was published in 1980, the normal edition was published only near the fall of communism in Poland, in 1988.