James H. Billington Lecture | Tamizdat Project and Contraband Russian Literature: The Case of Varlam Shalamov

On September 21, 2021 we hosted a lecture with 2020-2021 Billington Fellow Yasha Klots. He discussed the ways in which Russian literature written in the USSR but denied publication at home was smuggled out and first published abroad during the Cold War. Taking Varlam Shalamov’s Kolyma Tales as a case study, the discussion traced the itinerary of Shalamov’s manuscript from Moscow to New York in 1966, dwell on the patterns of its reception abroad, and situate Shalamov’s “new prose” in the historical and literary contexts of Gulag narratives as a genre. The talk resorted to the wide range of relevant sources available via Tamizdat Project – a public-scholarship initiative that reconstructs the history of circulation, first publications, and reception of contraband Russian literature outside the USSR.     

The James H. Billington Fellowship was established in 2016 in tribute to the co-founder of the Kennan Institute, former Director of the Wilson Center, and former Librarian of Congress. Dr. Billington made enduring contributions to the field of Russian Studies, and in our nation’s ability to understand and maintain bridges of dialogue with the Russian people.

Selected Quotes

“Ironically to explore the perils and dangers and all kinds of other hoops and obstacles of disseminating print editions back in the days, in the late 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, Tamizdat project resorts to digital means, and it is ironic because arguably it’s not just the political change of the late 80s and early 90s that have made that Tamizdat obsolete and pushed it into history and it became history ever since. But it was also largely a technological change of course.”  

“Tamizdat did not really repeat itself ever since no matter how much of a battlefield internet has become, right? It has clearly gone a very long distance from being considered the ultimate freedom of speech in its 30 days to yet another warfare, cyber warfare. With all kinds of consequences of course, and yet it is something that as far as literature is concerned, at least, perhaps now a days it’s very different.”