SOURCE: “On Some Aspects of the Narrative Method in ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,’” in Russian Philology: In Honor of Professor Victor Levin, edited by W. Moskovich, Hebrew University, 1992, pp. 270-82.

In the following essay, Toker examines the narrative presentation of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, drawing attention to Solzhenitsyn's use of selective description and narrative ambiguity to convey tension and implicit ethical concerns.

The Novyi Mir publication of Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in 1962 was a major event in the literature and history of the Soviet Union.¹ Thousands of camp survivors felt that their voice had finally been heard, while millions of other readers thought that they could finally understand what it was like in the camps. The latter reaction extended to the Western reader as well, even though various camp materials had been steadily trickling...