All of Shalamov's prose works are deeply connected to his own personal experiences in the forced labor camps of Kolyma. Most of Shalamov's Kolyma Tales are autobiographical and can be viewed as both historical records and literary works. His writing is stark and brutally honest. Although the writing style could easily become sentimental and emotional as a response to the intense subject matter, Shalamov always maintains a cool detachment from his topics, no matter how emotional they may be. The objectivity of his writing is often noted by critics. The objectivity of Shalamov's prose only adds to the chilling intensity of the stories. Perhaps distancing himself from the events about which he was writing was the only way Shalamov could face presenting such brutal tales. Brutality and inhumanity face us readers when reading Shalamov, and yet, humanity and glory are likewise evident. Shalamov shows us how people remain human, retain compassion in even the most inhumane circumstances. Shalamov's stories are also a reminder of the resiliency of man; how resistant people can be in circumstances of complete mental and physical oppression. Shalamov's own survival from the death camps of Kolyma make even the most painful story in Kolyma Tales that much more triumphant.

On Chekhov and Shalamov:

"Although Shalamov's stories describe a far more savage era than that depicted by Chekhov, they are nevertheless in the Chekhovian tradtion: a brief plot devoted to one incident (although the stories are occaisionally more compact than Chekhov's), an objective, dispassionate narration intended to provide a contrast to the horror of the moment, a a pointe at the end. The Shalamov-Solzhenitsyn comparison is actually a repitition of the Chekhov-Tolstoy comparisons made earlier by a number of Russian and Western European critics. Chekhov, a writer who respected the rights of the readerin the artistic process, conciously avoided making coclusions for the reader. Tolstoy, on the other hand (like Solzhenitsyn later), constantly lectured the reader on what her should think."

Shalamov, Varlam. Graphite. Translated by John Glad. Norton, 1981. From the forward by the translator.

On the differences between Solzhenitsyn and Shalamov:

"Like Gulag Archipelago...This volume constitutes a chronicle and indictment of labour camp life. yet anyone who comes to it with Gulag Archipelago in mind is likely to be very suprised. Outwardly at least, Shalamov's work is about as different from Solzhenitsyn's as it is possible to imagine. Where Solzhenitsyn constructs a single vast panorama, loose and spraling, Shalamov chooses the most concise of literary forms, the short story, and shapes it consciously nad carefully so that his overall structure is like a mosaic made of tiny pieces. Where Solzhenitsyn writes with anger, sarcasm and bitterness, Shalamov adopts a studiedly dry and neutral tone. Where Solzhenitsyn plunges into his characters' fates, telling their story from a variety of subjective viewpoints, Shalamov takes strict control of his discourse, usually conducting his narrative from an undivided viewpoint and aiming at complete objectivity. Where Solzhenitsyn is fiercely moralistic and preaches redemption through suffering, Shalamov contents himself with cool aphorisms and asserts that real suffering, such as Kolyma imposed in its inmates, can only demoralize and break the spirit.

'The Ultimate Circle of Stalinist Inferno,' New Universities Quarterly,
34, Spring 1980. As quoted in the preface of Kolyma Tales.

An excerpt from a review of Kolyma Tales when first released in book form in the US in 1980:

"Shalamov's tone is flat, factual. Party, of course, the flatness accentuates the horrors. Partly however, the tone reflects the condition of the narrators. A man led from one place to another, likely to be shot, expresses no curiousity about his fate. Now an old man whose only published work in the Soviet Union consists of some poetry, Varlam Shalamov is determined to rememeber, to remember and write down. Thanks to luck, he survived, and thanks to him, we can peer, shading our eyes, into the hell that was Kolyma."

Josephine Woll. The New Republic. A review of Kolyma tales at its release in 1980. September 20, 1980.