Question

The speaker declares that “an oppressed man / Strives again to reach the pure mountain” in this author’s poem “To the Moon.” An allegory of this real-life person is told “we’ve got Shakespeare there” and “we play solitaire / and violin” in the poem (10[1])“Notes from a Nonexistent Himalayan Expedition.” This person’s words are “measures of weights” and fingers “ten thick worms” in a poem that describes (10[1])“the huge laughing cockroaches on his (-5[1])top lip.” (10[1])The novel In the First Circle (-5[1])chronicles the rule of this person, the subject of an “Epigram” by Osip Mandelstam. An autobiographical novel in three volumes set during this leader’s rule describes (10[1])the timeline of a typical “zek.” For 10 points, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago (10[1])describes the era of rule of what Soviet dictator? (10[1])■END■ (10[3])

ANSWER: Joseph Stalin [or Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin; or Ioseb Dzhugashvili; accept Soselo; prompt on yeti by asking “what real-life person does that represent?”] (“Notes from a Nonexistent Himalayan Expedition” is by Wisława Szymborska.)
<European Literature>
= Average correct buzz position

Back to tossups

Summary

2024 ACF Winter at Clemson2024-11-16Y8100%0%0%101.38
2024 ACF Winter at Lehigh2024-11-16Y7100%0%0%94.43
2024 ACF Winter at Northwestern2024-11-16Y9100%0%22%103.11
2024 ACF Winter at Ohio State2024-11-16Y7100%0%0%103.00
2024 ACF Winter at UBC2024-11-16Y3100%0%33%99.33

Buzzes

PlayerTeamOpponentBuzz PositionValue
Arjun KalaUIUC BUChicago C4310
Justin HawkinsIndiana AWashU B6610
Arthur GaydenUChicago AUChicago B72-5
Michael HundingUIUC APurdue A7410
Jack CaseyUIUC CPurdue B80-5
Emily ZenUChicago DMiami10610
Stephen WalshNorthwestern APurdue C12010
Roy YangWashU DWashU C12910
Liam StarnesUChicago BUChicago A13010
Reilly MelvillePurdue BUIUC C13010
Jiping FangUIUC DPurdue D13010