This is a remarkable and unique piece of prison literature. Based on the author's letters to his wife during his incarceration in a Soviet forced-labour camp in the 1960s, it was published under Andrei Sinyavsky's nom de plume "Abram Tertz" . Because of the strict censorship control over what Sinyavsky could and could not write in these letters, his references to camp life and to conditions there are of necessity subtly oblique. More open is the revelation of the inner world of the author's thoughts and reflections. In a richly textured prose of exceptional power, he debates major themes such as art, religion and the mysteries of human life. He builds extraordinary miniature essays into his letters; whether on the Russian criminal world or on Byzantine emperors, the theory of evolution or the importance of the Holy Ghost, Irish legend or English literature, his range is dazzling. The babble, or "chorus", of voices surrounding Sinyavsky in the bleak, overcrowded camp compound offset his silent thoughts, their language mirroring their spiritual desolation. Yet, far from being bleak and bitter, Sinyavsky's letters de profundis are full of serenity, love and benevolence.

Prison Work-camp Autobiography Russia Soviet Underground