Talk:Prussian Nights

A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on March 18, 2008.

The text of the entry was: Did you know ...that Alexander Solzhenitsyn composed his 12,000-line-long poem Prussian Nights while imprisoned in a GULAG camp, writing down each day a few lines on a bar of soap?

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[Untitled]

I wonder if there were samizdat editions in Soviet Union and when was it first published there (or in Russia) officially - if ever? --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk} 06:09, 13 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In his memoir Ugodilo zernyshko mezhdu dvukh zhernovov [1] Solzhenitsyn writes: И рядом — как ГБ выловило “Прусские ночи” из Самиздата — и “тотчас же излюбленный „Штерн” предложил рукопись в „Цайт””, — это место они не догадались оспорить. (Just then KGB caught Prussian Nights in Samizdat their beloved Stern proposed the manuscript to Zeit...) and В декабре 1969 начала “Ди Цайт” печатать “Прусские ночи”, подкинутые ей всё тем же неутомимым “Штерном” с просьбой от моего имени: как можно скорее печатать!! У самой “Цайт” не хватило соображения, что такую вещь печатать нельзя, сильно преждевременно, губительно для меня ещё и с новой стороны, — (in December 1969 Die Zeit started print Prussian Nights ....)

Thus, I guess the poem was in Samizdat before 1969, assuming we can trust Solzhenitsyn that while caught in Samizdat KGB organized printing the poem to harm Solzhenitsyn and that KGB was good in catching Samizdat literature I would guess it went to Samizdat 1968-1969 Alex Bakharev (talk) 05:11, 20 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, this source [2] tells: it was finished in 1951, apparently when he still was a prisoner, this seem to be his first literary work [Последние фронтовые впечатления - выход из окружения в Восточной Пруссии (январь 1945) - отразились в написанных в лагере поэме "Прусские ночи" и пьесе "Пир победителей" (обе 1951)]. So this Latvian (?) WP article [3] provides correct date. This link [4] tells it was his first work he wrote and memorized in Ekibastuz camp ("Steplag").Biophys (talk) 01:41, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn bibliography starts with 1963. If PN was indeed his first work, this should be mentioned both in this and his bio article! --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk} 02:45, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It depends if his works are sorted by the date of their creation:

"Прусские ночи" (“Naktis Prūsijā”) - Prussian Nights, 1951.
"Пир победителей" (“Uzvarētāju dzīres”), 1951.
"Республика труда" (“Darba republika”), 1954.
"В круге первом" (“Pirmajā lokā”) 1955.-1958.(as here: [5]),

or by the date of official publication in "big press" rather then samizdat (which probably amounts to a self-publication). First publication in "big press" was probably in 1974 - should be checked.Biophys (talk) 04:52, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There is a difference between finished and sent to Samizdat especially in the case of such a cautious author as Solzhenitsyn. There is no reason to not believe Solzhenitsyn that the poem was first written as a Chapter of a huge Dorozhenka poem when he worked in Sharashka 1947 and restored in 1951 when he worked in Ekiastuz labor camp in 1951. Obviously he did not allow the poem to appear in Samizdat in 1951 (there was not Samizdat in 1951 anyway). I guess the poem went to Samizdat in the second half of 1960ies (from Solzhenitsyn memoirs we can guess that in 1969 it was in Samizdat and in 1965 when he read the poem to Tchukovsky family it was not[[6]] Alex Bakharev (talk) 08:13, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Solzhenitsyn's article is indeed very poor. Maybe it is worth to call an Improvement Drive for it Alex Bakharev (talk) 09:19, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

WP:AID is dead. As usual, if you want something done right... :> --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk} 12:48, 21 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

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