Abstract
SummaryIn Kolyma Tales, Varlam Shalamov recounts his experience in the world of Soviet labor camps. Countless characters make up this frame: the Blatar, a prisoner already formed by the laws of banditry; the porchak, a sporadic criminal, partially corrupted but not yet a blatar; the fraier, an ordinary man, naive in the world of crime and victim of other prisoners. Along with trained crim…