One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) is a short novel[1] by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn which was one of the greatest to emerge from the communist Soviet Union. It extols the ability of the human will to triumph over the most inhumane conditions. When Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, the presentation speech highlighted both the novel's instant impact and how it established its author as "a major new writer."[2]
The novel, despite having plain anti-communist themes, was unanimously endorsed by the Soviet regime at the time and officially published by the Soviet "New World" (Новый Мир) magazine throughout the country in 1962.[3]
An excerpt from the book:
| “ | A man can live here, just like anywhere else. Know who croaks first? The guy who licks out bowls, puts his faith in the sick bay, or squeals to godfather [a snitch].[4] | ” |