ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Solzhenitsyn's technique of character portrayal, concentrating on three main issues: point of view, use of irony and choice of vocabulary. Since Solzhenitsyn employs all his techniques of characterisation, including quoted dialogue, in the first of the Stalin 186chapters in Circle-96, the new Chapter 19, the long biographical Chapter 20 represents a continuation, rather than a culmination of Solzhenitsyn's strategy of character portrayal. Although narrated monologue in the present tense is occasionally used to emphasise the present, immediate quality of Stalin's thoughts, narrated monologue in the past tense is Solzhenitsyn's basic method of character delineation. The principal irony in Solzhenitsyn's portrait lies in the contrast between the viewpoint of the author and that of the character. Solzhenitsyn's successful imitation of the rhythms of Stalin's own style testifies to his close study of Stalin's writings. Throughout Stalin's monologue Solzhenitsyn emphasises Stalin's crudeness and sarcastic attitude towards his opponents.
