GUSTAW HERLING-GRUDZIŃSKI O PISARZACH ROSYJSKICH DOBY TOTALITARYZMU (DZIENNIK PISANY NOCĄ)
GUSTAW HERLING-GRUDZIŃSKI ABOUT RUSSIAN WRITERS OF THE TOTALITARIAN PERIOD (THE DIARY WRITTEN BY NIGHT)

Summary/Abstract: The Diary Written by Night was being written for 30 years and published in series in “Kultura” edited in Paris by Jerzy Giedroyc. Among many other topics mentioned there, the author dedicates a great deal of it to Russian writers such as: Cvetaeva, Mandelshtam, Achmatova, Pasternak, Bulhakov, Shalamov, Solzenicyn, Platonov, and Pilniak. All of them suffered restrictions from the communist system and many of them, like the author himself, were persecuted and sent to labour camps, ‘lagrs’. Grudziński writes mostly about Solzenicyn, who wrote One Day of Ivan Denisovich. Grudziński’s story Another World describes the life of people in a ‘lagr’, and so does Solzenicyn’s book and the series of Kolymskie Stories, written by Shalamov. The reason why Grudziński says so much about other authors is that he does not only want to talk about himself but he wants to create a portrait of the epoch for the future generations to know their history. The excellent knowledge of the Russian culture and literature let Grudziński clearly portray Russian reality and the attitude of the authorities to remarkable artists and writers. Therefore The Diary Written by Night is the piece of enormous historical value depicting the totalitarian system and people who lived in it.

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