Paradoxes of Varlam Shalamov

The article focuses on such ambiguous manifestations of Shalamov's attitude to life as the denial of the value of communication with several people, fidelity to one as an ideal figure. On the other hand, there is a sincere acceptance of people close to him in spirit, a desire to help and support them. Shalamov was disappointed in people, in the human race in general. But at the same time, he went on a demonstration in defense of A. Sinyavsky and Y. Daniel, wrote detailed and interested letters about Doctor Zhivago to B. Pasternak and about One Day ... to A. Solzhenitsyn. A notable worldview oxymoron, which is addressed in this study, is the problem of faith, the religiosity of the writer. The antagonism of the real camp world prompted V. Shalamov in creating an artistic model to use the contrast technique at different levels of plot and poetics.