Cancer Ward
by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn · Раковый корпус
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1968
- Form
- Novel
- Language
- Russian
- Length
- Long · 540 pp300 to 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendCancer Ward, translated by Nicholas Bethell and David BurgFarrar, Straus and Giroux, 1991The standard English translation, still in print.
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In a cancer ward in Tashkent in 1955, two years after Stalin's death, patients from every level of Soviet society lie side by side. Oleg Kostoglotov, a former prisoner living in permanent exile, argues with Pavel Rusanov, a personnel official who denounced his neighbours and cannot understand why the world is changing. Around them doctors debate treatment and their own illnesses, and Kostoglotov, half cured, walks out into a city he is free to see for one day.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Cancer Ward are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
