Hrůza vyjádřená rozpáleným drátem
Horror expressed by hot wire

Summary/Abstract: An interview with Stanislav Kolíbal, a Czech artist who created the original illustrations for the first Czech edition of Solzhenitsyn's novella in 1963, which was also the first edition outside the Soviet Union. Kolíbal explains how he got the commission from the translator Sergej Machonin, who admired his work, and how he chose a unique technique of burning images into wood with a heated wire to express the horror of the Gulag. Kolíbal also talks about his admiration for Russian culture, especially the persecuted and exiled authors and artists, and how he never joined the Communist Party despite his proletarian background. He recalls the difficulties he faced as an illustrator under the communist regime, the censorship and bans he encountered, and the people who supported him and helped him publish his works. He reflects on the impact and reception of Solzhenitsyn's novella, which was a sensation in Czechoslovakia and sold out quickly, and how it was related to his own artistic vision and expression.

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