Page 84 - Cat Salon Paris 2018

Édition originale de ce long poème de Soljénitsyne composé de tête
alors qu’il était prisonnier au goulag.

Bel exemplaire conservé broché, tel que paru.

59. solJenitsyne, Alexandre. Proesskie notsJie (Prussian nigHts).
Paris, YMCA Press, 1974.

In-12 de 64 pp., broché.

160 x 105 mm.
très rare édition oriGinale de ce lonG Poème de solJenitsyne comPosé de tête alors qu’il
était Prisonnier au GoulaG.

“In the Second World War, Solzhenitsyn’s disturbing poem “Prussian Nights”, with its ruthlessly
unremitting realism, its depiction of mass rape, arson and murder, stands as a morbid monument
to the terrors of Stalinism and to the inhumanity of the Soviet regime” (Joseph Pearce).

Prussian Nights presents an entirely new aspect of the genius of Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
It is a long narrative poem he composed, then committed to memory, during his prison-camp
years.
For the first time he uses his own experiences as a young artillery officer during the Second
World War as he describes the exhilarating and horrifying events of a few days on the Eastern
front in January 1945. Solzhenitsyn’s thoughts and feelings in this physical and ethical maels-
trom are characteristic.
He turns to the principle of personal responsibility as against the war-time urges of self-indul-
gence, destructiveness, sensuality and arrogance. The rhythm of Prussian Nights suggests the
sweep and spirit of the advance, its detail intensifies the soldier’s tension and fear. The poem,
a re-creation of the grim realities of the front, is a masterpiece, a narrative of epic proportions
which deserves a prominent place in his work.

« The pictorial quality of the whole poem is an eye-opener. There is always a tendency, on the
part of his detractors, to make of Solzhenitsyn something less than he is, but here is further evi-
dence that he is something more than even his admirers thought » (Clive James).

bel exemPlaire conservé broché, Partiellement non couPé, tel que Paru.
Très rare édition originale : aucun exemplaire n’est répertorié sur le marché public depuis le
début des relevés, il y a plus de 35 ans (ABPC).

2 000 €