In the essay below, Cismaru reflects on the important role food plays in not only the physical but also the psychological survival of prisoners in the gulag.

The year 1983 marks the twentieth anniversary of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Although this important work has benefited from numerous critical comments abroad, in this country there have been only cursory exegeses.With the hindsight of two decades it may be profitable to look at it again. Because the theme of physical survival is at the core of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and because, so far, its importance has been eclipsed by critics in favor of that of spiritual victory, this essay will emphasize Solzhenitsyn's concern with food collection, ingestion, digestion, and with body preservation in general.

Those who know Solzhenitsyn are aware of the fact that he is a hearty...