Heat as cold

One of the constant themes of Gulag Archipelago, and also Ivan Denisovich, is the intense cold weather. This Solzhenitsyn fan was raised in California and has lived much of his adult life in west Africa, the few days I've experienced intense cold it has been mostly exotic rather than oppressive. A cartoon I remember seeing years ago has two Eskimos in a polar landscape asking a missionary "Can you tell us again about the endless fires that never go out?" I've sometimes daydreamed about reading Ivan Denisovich on a really hot day (it hit 109 F (43 C) here yesterday) wondering if it would be refreshing.

But living in Africa, one could write books about coping with the extreme heat. I remember one of my first days in Niger, my bedroom had a window mounted air conditioner right above the bed, and when I lay or sat on the bed, it felt tolerable. Getting off the bed and standing up felt at least ten degrees hotter. So there I was, huddling next to the AC, just like a Russian peasant sleeping on his stove in the winter.