Vasily Grossman (1905—1964) was born in Berdichev in
present-day Ukraine, the home of one of the largest Jewish
communities in Eastern Europe. After studying chemistry and working
as a mining engineer, he was discovered by Maxim Gorky, whose
support enabled him to begin publishing his writing. Grossman was a
combat correspondent during World War II, covering the defense of
Stalingrad, the fall of Berlin, and writing the first account in
any language of a German death camp. Although the manuscript for
Life and Fate was initially seized and suppressed by the KGB in
1960, and Grossman did not live to see it published, it was
smuggled out of the USSR a decade later with the help of Andrei
Sakharov and Vladimir Voinovich. The novel was eventually published
throughout Europe and North America in the early 1980s; it appeared
in Russia in 1988. A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red
Army, 1941—1945, a collection of Grossman’s journalistic writings
and notebook entries, was published in 2006.
Robert Chandler is the translator of selections of Sappho
and Apollinaire, as well as of Pushkin’s Dubrovsky and Leskov’s
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. His co-translations of Andrey Platonov
have won several prizes in both the UK and the US. He is the editor
of Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida; his most recent
translation is of Hamid Ismailov’s The Railway.
"Life and Fate . . . has been widely hailed as one of the
greatest books of the 20th century. For my money, Life
and Fate is one of the greatest books, period.” —Becca
Rothfeld, Jewish Currents
"Vasily Grossman is the Tolstoy of the USSR." —Martin Amis
“What better time to read Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman’s
epic novel about the second world war, to put our current troubles
into perspective? Grossman’s book, which traces the fate of the
family of the brilliant physicist Viktor Shtrum at the time of the
Battle of Stalingrad, records how humanity endured the monstrous
evils of Nazism and Stalinism, surviving like weeds in the cracks
of concrete slabs.”—John Thornhill, Financial Times#1 on
Antony Beevor's 2009 "Five Best of World War II Fiction" list
(The Wall Street Journal)“One of the greatest works of literature
to come out of Russia during the 20th century, Life and Fate could
be looked at as the closest thing the Second World War had to a War
and Peace. An absolute sprawling and haunting masterpiece that
should be on every list.” —Flavorwire“A delightfully readable 2006
translation by Robert Chandler, this edition preserves nearly all
the color of Russian sayings and dark humor while remaining a
devastating portrait of Stalin's Russia. Grossman shows how Russian
communism was a moral and ideological dead end, an almost exact
counterpart to Hitler's Nazism that was preordained from the moment
Lenin began killing his opponents instead of talking to them. . . .
In the end, he leads the reader to the inescapable conclusion that
Communism, like Nazism, had only one goal: power. Coming from a man
who once sat in on the privileged inner circles of this government,
as an acclaimed journalist and author, this is a devastating
message indeed.” —Forbes"A chronicle of the past century's two evil
engines of destruction-Soviet communism and German fascism—the
novel is dark yet earns its right to depression. But it depresses
in the way that all genuinely great art does—through an unflinching
view of the truth, which includes all the awfulness of which human
beings are capable and also the splendor to which in crises they
can attain. A great book, a masterpiece, Life and Fate is a book
only a Russian could write." —Joseph Epstein, The Wall Street
Journal“The greatest Russian novel of the 20th century. . .
. Life and Fate will continue to dazzle and inspire—as
unerring a moral guide today as it was 50 years ago.” —Foreign
Policy"It's a masterpiece." —Frederic Raphael"Grossman's depiction
of Soviet citizens as they struggle to survive is magnificent. Life
and Fate has been called the greatest Russian novel of the 20th
Century. I agree." —Daytona Beach News"World War II’s War and
Peace. Written (mainly) from the vantage point of a Soviet Jew,
this masterpiece was judged far too ambivalent in its treatment of
the 'Great Patriotic War' to be published in the author’s
lifetime." —Niall Ferguson, The New York Times"Life and Fate is not
only a brave and wise book; it is also written with Chekhovian
subtlety." —Prospect Magazine“[A] classic of 20th century Russian
literature.” —The New York Times “Grossman’s account of Soviet
life—penal, military and civilian—is encyclopedic and unblinkered .
. . enormously impressive . . . A significant addition to the great
library of smuggled Russian works.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Takes its place beside The First Circle and Doctor Zhivago as a
masterful evocation of the fate of Russia as it is expressed
through the lives of its people.” —USA Today“Among the most damning
indictments of the Soviet system ever written.” —The Wall Street
Journal“To read Life and Fate is, among other things, to have some
sense of how it feels not to be free. . . . In more ways than one,
Life and Fate is a testament to the strength of character that
terrorized human souls are capable of attaining. It is a noble
book.” —The Wall Street Journal“Read it, and rejoice that the 20th
century has produced so thoughtful and so profound a literary
humanist. The sufferings and self-revelations of these characters
provide us with some of the most troubling and occasionally
uplifting examinations of the human heart to be found in
contemporary literature. A novel for all time.” —Washington Post
Book World“[An] extraordinarily dark portrait of Soviet society.”
—David Remnick, The Washington Post“Fascinating and powerful . .
. Life and Fate does something that, as far as I know, no
other novel has tried to do fully—and that is to portray believing
Soviet Communists as ordinary characters, rather than as
predictable embodiments of evil.” —Vogue“Life and Fate has no
equals in contemporary Russian literature . . . I would go so far
as to say that Grossman in Life and Fate is the first free voice of
the Soviet nation.” —Commentary
“Vasily Grossman's novel ostensibly concerns World War II, which he
covered as a Soviet war correspondent. But his true subject is the
power of kindness—random, banal or heroic—to counter the numbing
dehumanization of totalitarianism. . . . By the novel's end, both
communism and fascism are reduced to ephemera; instinctive
kindness, whatever the consequences, is what makes us human.”
—Linda Grant, The Wall Street Journal blog
In 1961, this epic WWII Russian novel about the battle of Stalingrad was seized for being ``anti-Soviet'' by the KGB; it was finally published almost 20 years after the author's death, when a dissident publisher smuggled a microfilm copy to the West. (Jan.)
"Life and Fate . . . has been widely hailed as one of the
greatest books of the 20th century. For my money, Life and
Fate is one of the greatest books, period." -Becca Rothfeld,
Jewish Currents
"Vasily Grossman is the Tolstoy of the USSR." -Martin Amis
"What better time to read Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman's
epic novel about the second world war, to put our current troubles
into perspective? Grossman's book, which traces the fate of the
family of the brilliant physicist Viktor Shtrum at the time of the
Battle of Stalingrad, records how humanity endured the monstrous
evils of Nazism and Stalinism, surviving like weeds in the cracks
of concrete slabs."-John Thornhill, Financial Times#1 on Antony
Beevor's 2009 "Five Best of World War II Fiction" list (The
Wall Street Journal)"One of the greatest works of literature to
come out of Russia during the 20th century, Life and Fate
could be looked at as the closest thing the Second World War had to
a War and Peace. An absolute sprawling and haunting
masterpiece that should be on every list." -Flavorwire"A
delightfully readable 2006 translation by Robert Chandler, this
edition preserves nearly all the color of Russian sayings and dark
humor while remaining a devastating portrait of Stalin's Russia.
Grossman shows how Russian communism was a moral and ideological
dead end, an almost exact counterpart to Hitler's Nazism that was
preordained from the moment Lenin began killing his opponents
instead of talking to them. . . . In the end, he leads the reader
to the inescapable conclusion that Communism, like Nazism, had only
one goal: power. Coming from a man who once sat in on the
privileged inner circles of this government, as an acclaimed
journalist and author, this is a devastating message indeed."
-Forbes"A chronicle of the past century's two evil engines of
destruction-Soviet communism and German fascism-the novel is dark
yet earns its right to depression. But it depresses in the way that
all genuinely great art does-through an unflinching view of the
truth, which includes all the awfulness of which human beings are
capable and also the splendor to which in crises they can attain. A
great book, a masterpiece, Life and Fate is a book only a
Russian could write." -Joseph Epstein, The Wall Street
Journal"The greatest Russian novel of the 20th century. . . . Life
and Fate will continue to dazzle and inspire-as unerring a moral
guide today as it was 50 years ago." -Foreign Policy
"It's a masterpiece." -Frederic Raphael"Grossman's depiction of
Soviet citizens as they struggle to survive is magnificent. Life
and Fate has been called the greatest Russian novel of the 20th
Century. I agree." -Daytona Beach News"World War II's War
and Peace. Written (mainly) from the vantage point of a Soviet Jew,
this masterpiece was judged far too ambivalent in its treatment of
the 'Great Patriotic War' to be published in the author's
lifetime." -Niall Ferguson, The New York Times"Life and Fate
is not only a brave and wise book; it is also written with
Chekhovian subtlety." -Prospect Magazine"[A] classic of 20th
century Russian literature." -The New York Times "Grossman's
account of Soviet life-penal, military and civilian-is encyclopedic
and unblinkered . . . enormously impressive . . . A significant
addition to the great library of smuggled Russian works." -The
New York Times Book Review "Takes its place beside The First Circle
and Doctor Zhivago as a masterful evocation of the fate of Russia
as it is expressed through the lives of its people." -USA
Today"Among the most damning indictments of the Soviet system ever
written." -The Wall Street Journal"To read Life and Fate is, among
other things, to have some sense of how it feels not to be free. .
. . In more ways than one, Life and Fate is a testament to the
strength of character that terrorized human souls are capable of
attaining. It is a noble book." -The Wall Street Journal"Read it,
and rejoice that the 20th century has produced so thoughtful and so
profound a literary humanist. The sufferings and self-revelations
of these characters provide us with some of the most troubling and
occasionally uplifting examinations of the human heart to be found
in contemporary literature. A novel for all time." -Washington Post
Book World"[An] extraordinarily dark portrait of Soviet society."
-David Remnick, The Washington Post"Fascinating and powerful . . .
Life and Fate does something that, as far as I know, no other novel
has tried to do fully-and that is to portray believing Soviet
Communists as ordinary characters, rather than as predictable
embodiments of evil." -Vogue"Life and Fate has no equals in
contemporary Russian literature . . . I would go so far as to say
that Grossman in Life and Fate is the first free voice of the
Soviet nation." -Commentary
"Vasily Grossman's novel ostensibly concerns World War II, which
he covered as a Soviet war correspondent. But his true subject is
the power of kindness-random, banal or heroic-to counter the
numbing dehumanization of totalitarianism. . . . By the novel's
end, both communism and fascism are reduced to ephemera;
instinctive kindness, whatever the consequences, is what makes us
human." -Linda Grant, The Wall Street Journal blog
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