Based on Dovlatov’s actual experience of being a prison
guard in Soviet Russia in the 1960s, and full of comic
and humane detail,
The Zone depicts the absurd day-to-
day life of a camp in an insightful and unusual way,
challenging commonly held perceptions of the relations
between incarcerators and the incarcerated.
A priceless chronicle of its time which highlights
universal themes, Dovlatov’s genre-defying novel also
provides moments of high entertainment and humour,
rendered in his characteristically sharp, concise and
sardonic style.
________
'One wishes that he’d lived longer, been
published sooner, given us more.'
Francine Prose
________
Read an excerpt from
The Zone
By the same author: