In the first circle
In the first circle ( Russian В круге первом , W krugje perwom ), also called the first circle or, in the first German translation, the first circle of hell , is a novel by Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn . The book published in 1968 describes life in a so-called “ Sharaschka ”, a labor camp for scientists and engineers. It is based on Solzhenitsyn's own experience in Special Prison No. 16 of the MGB in Moscow.
The title is a reference to Dante's Divine Comedy . Dante held the Greek philosophers in high esteem, but as a devout Christian he could not let them appear in heaven in his work. They live in a walled, green garden, much better than the other inmates of hell, but they are denied access to paradise.
“The sharashka is only the highest, best, the first circle of hell. It is - almost paradise. "
The inmates of the Sharashka feel the same way: They live more comfortably than the other GULAG inmates ; without hard work, get enough to eat and do not have to freeze, but instead make their labor available to a system that is hostile to them.
History of origin
The full version of the book contains 96 chapters. Since Solzhenitsyn could not hope to publish the book in this form in the USSR, an abridged version was created, which he tried to get published in 1965, but was rejected. It was this version that was first published outside the Soviet Union in 1968. The complete version, which Solzhenitsyn subsequently compiled, was first published in Russian by YMCA Press in 1978, and later also in translations.
Plot (1968 version)
The following summary of the plot follows the version from 1968. The telephone call made by the diplomat Volodin is about a medical "secret". Later versions are about the atomic bomb. The action takes place from Saturday, December 24th, 1949 through Tuesday, December 27th, 1949. The book includes a number of flashbacks.
On the evening of December 24th, the Russian diplomat Innokentij Volodin called from a phone booth at the medical professor Dr. Dobroumow, whom he knows from his childhood. Volodin wants to warn Dobroumov because the state authorities suspect that Dobroumov is trying to reveal a secret to French colleagues. However, Volodin only reaches an unknown female person and is unable to properly pronounce his warning. The connection is interrupted during the call.
On the same evening, some German prisoners of war celebrate Christmas in the Sharaschka Marfino near Moscow - also called Laboratory Number 7 . With them is the Soviet Jew Lev Rubin. Rubin carried out Soviet propaganda in Germany during the war and was subsequently imprisoned for protesting the treatment of the defeated Germans.
Gleb Nerschin, a friend of Rubin's, is appointed chief engineer Yakonov. He offers him to work in a new working group on cryptography . Nerschin refuses, although he knows that this means safe deportation to a “real” GULAG labor camp for him. Serafima, a free - not imprisoned - employee of the Sharashka, and Nershin get closer. It is alleged that each of the more than 20 freelancers made strictly prohibited - sometimes intimate - contact with an inmate.
On the same evening, the Minister for State Security, Abakumov , summoned the head of Sharashka, Jakonov, and his superiors. He does not believe their assurances that a device for "secret telephony", which is being worked on in Marfino, will soon be ready. Abakumov summons Prjantschikow and Bobynin, who confirm his suspicions. Fearful, Abakumov sets out to report to Stalin . However, Stalin forgets to bring up the issue with Abakumov. Before introducing Stalin as a character in a novel, Solzhenitsyn devotes a few chapters to a short cynical biography told from Stalin's point of view.
The next day, Nerschin's birthday, his wife Nadja more or less by chance receives permission to visit her husband. On this occasion he says goodbye to her. After Nadja had stood by her husband for many years, she is now seriously considering divorce for the first time in view of the repression that she is subjected to as a member of a political prisoner.
Rubin is also given the opportunity to found a new research group: It's about identifying voices on the phone. Jakonow's deputy Roitmann takes over the management. The first job is to identify the caller to Professor Dobroumow. The freelancer Klara, daughter of the public prosecutor Makarygin and sister-in-law of the diplomat Volodin, kisses the prisoner Rusjka while doing her “voluntary” Sunday work in the laboratory.
In the evening Nerschin celebrates his birthday with some friends. A discussion ensues between Rubin and Sologdin, which degenerates into an argument. The consequences are grave. Sologdin, who has been secretly working on a cryptography machine, decides to burn his plans. Rubin is eager to devote himself to voice identification.
On Monday, Jakonow called Sologdin to see him: he happened to find out about his work on the cryptography machine. Sologdin must undertake to continue working on the machine in order not to be “sent”.
At lunchtime, the inmates wait for their mail in front of the security officer's office. The prison administration uses this occasion to pay the informers among the prisoners. A double agent among the informers, inmate Rusjka, wants to betray the other informers. Another informant, Siromacha, informs the security officer. Thanks to Rusjka's help, however, the prisoners were able to expose a dozen informers.
Rubin worked on voice identification all day and was able to narrow the list from five suspects to two. That same evening, Volodin and one of his colleagues are arrested.
Finally, on Tuesday morning, twenty inmates were called back to a labor camp for the next transport. Among them are Nerzhin and Rusjka.
people
Senior staff of the state apparatus
- Viktor Semyonovich Abakumov : Minister for State Security under Stalin; shot one year after Stalin's death (historical figure)
- Mikhail Dmitrievich Ryumin : Deputy Minister for State Security under Abakumov (historical figure). Solzhenitsyn writes in The Gulag Archipelago that Ryumin “gladly” took over the torture of detainees on remand
- Pyotr Afanassjewitsch Makarygin: Public Prosecutor, father of Dinara, Dotnara and Klara.
- Dinära Petrovna Galachova: daughter of the public prosecutor Makarygin (Di-n-era means “daughter of the new era”), wife of Galachov
- Nikolai (Kolja) Arkadievich Galachov: Successful writer
- Innokentij Artemjewitsch Volodin: Russian diplomat who was about to take up a position in New York. He's over the phone to warn a suspect. His call later leads to his arrest. Nothing is known to the reader about his further fate
- Awenir: Volodin's uncle in Twjer, married to Raissa Timofejewna. After a visit, Volodina turns his life around and warns the suspect.
- Dotnara (Dotti) Petrovna Volodina: Innokentijs wife, second daughter of the public prosecutor Makarygins (Dot-nar-a as an abbreviation for "daughter of the people", Russian dotsch narody )
Marfino personnel not detained
- Klimentiev: Director of the Marfino Special Prison.
- Major Schikin: Institute security officer. Believes himself fair, but is hated by the inmates.
- Major Myshin: prison security officer. The prisoners call the duo of the two security officers Shishkin-Myshkin.
- Oberleutnant Nadelaschin: Overzealous overseer who is considered to be mild because he has little enthusiasm for his job; would actually have preferred to become a tailor
- Schustermann: Another overseer who likes to harass Rubin.
- Anton Nikolajewitsch Jakonow: A former prisoner himself, he is now Marfino's chief engineer. His rivalry with his deputy Roitmann is one of the reasons for poor work results in Marfino. Is very afraid of failure because he has to expect to be convicted again himself.
- Adam Wenjaminowitsch Roitmann: Jakonov's deputy and his worst rival. He is responsible for the acoustics laboratory and later also for the inmate Rubin's new research group. It is more likely to be a success for him than for Jakonow.
- Klara Petrovna Makarygina: Youngest daughter of the public prosecutor Makarygin. Works in the vacuum laboratory and fell in love with prisoner Rusjka.
- Larissa Nikolajewna Jemina: Freelance worker in the design office. A possible affair with inmate Sologdin is suggested.
- Serafima Witaljewna (Sima, Simotschka): Freelance worker in the vacuum laboratory. Fell in love with inmate Nerschin, who seemed to reply, but refused to enter into a relationship with Simotschka after visiting his wife.
Prisoners (and their relatives)
- Gleb Wikentjewitsch Nerschin: mathematician, autobiographical person. Refuses to cooperate with the state authorities and is sent back to a labor camp.
- Nadeschda (Nadja) Umgebung Nerschina: His wife, chemistry doctoral student in Moscow. thinks about divorce because she has difficulty hiding her marriage to an inmate to avoid harassment. Finally breaks under the load and confides her secret to an acquaintance, Shchagov.
- Andrej Andrejewitsch Potapow: Engineer in laboratory number seven, imprisoned because he is said to have sold the plans for a power plant (which at that time had long been destroyed) to the Germans. Considered a robot that only lives for work. Good friend of Nerschin, with whom he shared a bunk while in custody.
- Lev Grigoryevich Rubin: convinced communist and even more convinced comedian. Imprisoned for protesting the treatment of Germans after the war. His first assignment in a new research group is to identify the caller at the American embassy. Based on Solzhenitsyn's friend Lev Kopelev .
- Dmitrij Alexandrowitsch Sologdin: Constructor who is already serving his second sentence. He is considered a good friend of Rubin because they shared a bunk while in custody, but the two quarrel over political views. He's secretly working on a cryptographer; but when Jakonov found out about it, he had to finish developing the machine. Sologdin is based on Solzhenitsyn's friend Dmitrij Michailowitsch Panin, who later wrote a book called "Sologdin's Notebooks".
- Grigory Borisovich Abramson: Engineer, the second time in prison, works in the vacuum laboratory.
- Ilya Terentevich Khorobrov: Imprisoned because he wrote some swear words next to the candidate's name on his ballot paper. In the end, he is sent out because of his unwillingness to work and because of his constant criticism of the system.
- Alexander Evdokimytsch Bobynin: Head of Laboratory Number Seven, is described as a very strong personality, for whom even his superiors have respect. Even the lecture he gives Minister Abakumov has no consequences for him (also because, as he himself says, there is nothing more to threaten him with, since he has nothing more to lose).
- Konstantin Dvojetjossow: head of the vacuum laboratory; The prisoner Rusjka owes it to him that he came to Marfino permanently.
- Valentin (Walentulja) Martinytsch Prjantschikow: Head of the acoustic laboratory. Is not taken seriously by the others because he is usually very childish.
- Isaak Kagan: head of the battery laboratory. Convicted of violating the duty to report criminal offenses, he becomes a spy in Marfino.
- Rostislav (Rusjka) Vadimytsch Doronin: Having come to the Sharashka by mistake, his job in the vacuum laboratory is very insecure. He agrees to spy for the security officers ("Schischkin-Myshkin"), but instead uses his knowledge to help the other prisoners to expose the other informers. Discovered, indicates that he will be sentenced a second time.
- Artur Siromacha: The "premier of the informers" has done nothing else in his life. It is he who sees through Rusjka's plan and reports it to Shikin.
- Viktor Lyubimitschew: Although he is considered a good-hearted boy, he is exposed as a spy.
- Ivan Feofanowitsch Dyrsin: Is being interrogated by Schikin because of his wife's letters, which are full of complaints.
- Illarion Pawlowitsch Gerassimowitsch: Optician, receives the offer to work on the development of various surveillance cameras in another Sharashka, declines and is sent.
- Natalja Pavlovna Gerasimowitsch: His wife; When he visits, begs him to do everything possible to be released early.
- Jakov Ivanowitsch Mamurin: Former military man, fallen out of favor with Stalin. Now working diligently in laboratory number seven and has a special position in Marfino. The solitary cell there earned him the nickname "Iron Mask".
- Wladimir Erastowitsch Tschelnow: Mathematics Professor. In prison for 18 years, he travels from Sharashka to Sharashka to solve math problems.
- Spiridon Daniljewitsch Jegorow: Almost blind court warden in Marfino. Nerschin sought his friendship for a long time, but Spiridon was only able to trust him late. Lived in Germany for a long time and returned home at the request of his children, with disastrous results for the whole family.
Film adaptations
Aleksander Ford directed the first Danish-Swedish-Polish film adaptation in 1973. Although the film adaptation remains very faithful to the book, it was unsuccessful.
Larry Sheldon made a miniseries in 1991; an American-Canadian co-production. Among others, Victor Garber (Lev Rubin), Christopher Plummer (Abakumow), Robert Powell (Gleb Nerschin) and F. Murray Abraham (Stalin) played here. This film version exists on DVD.
In January 2006, RTR TV broadcast a ten-part miniseries by Gleb Panfilow . Solzhenitsyn himself helped to adapt his work and spoke the narrator. This film is also available on DVD, but only in Russian.
swell
- "The first circle of hell" 1968, S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main / licensed edition for Bertelsmann, Reinhard Mohn OHG, Gütersloh (the text ends with the years "1955 - 1964" and has 87 chapters)
- In the first circle: Complete edition of the restored original version of the novel “The First Circle of Hell” , by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (author) and Swetlana Geier (translator), Fischer paperback, ISBN 978-3596258734