Varlam Shalamov’s mysterious ‘Fortinbras’

Abstract

The article is devoted to a ‘ballad’ / ‘small epic poem’ (in the author’s definitions of the genre) of Fortinbras, the most detailed and conceptually relevant Shakespearean text penned by Shalamov in 1954–1955 with a clearly drawn parallel between Fortinbras and Stalin. Shalamov may have been familiar with Pasternak’s translation of Hamlet, the article therefore relates Olga Freidenberg’s perception of the tragedy and the character of Fortinbras gleaned from her correspondence with Pasternak. Shalamov views Fortinbras as a ruler who has triumphed in his pursuit of power and to whom everybody still standing pays obeisance — in other words, Shalamov may have alluded to Stalin. The original documentary quality of Shakespearian allusions is further developed by Shalamov’s metaphysical subject. Had ‘Fortinbras’ been published in the 1950s or 1960s, it would have easily resonated with the readers, who were quick to pick up on a Stalin subtext. Shalamov intended to include the ballad in his first volumes of collected works as early as in 1961, but the only publication during his lifetime happened much later, in the last collection of poems The Boiling Point [Tochka kipeniya] (1977), with 10 out of the original 36 stanzas.