
Thirtieth anniversary of the publication of Vasily Grossman’s “Life and Fate” - merrier
https://www.newcriterion.com/issues/2018/10/totalitarian-physics-moral-threshing
======
RachelF
One of his other books "A Writer at War : a Soviet Journalist with the Red
Army, 1941-1945" is an excellent, if censored description of WW2 from an
eyewitness on the Soviet side.

Its description of the liberation of Treblinka [0] was used at the Nuremberg
Trials.

[0] [https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-human-
behavior/hell-...](https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-human-
behavior/hell-of-treblinka-vasily-grossman)

~~~
JamesCoyne
I'll toss in my two cents in support of this recommendation. It provides a
great narrative history of the Eastern Front. Somehow Grossman is on the
periphery of every major event of the Eastern Front.

------
rajekas
This is a wonderful book. The title is a clear play on Tolstoy's masterpiece
about the previous invasion of Russia, but so what? I was introduced to it by
a dear friend whose father was purged by Stalin so it's doubly poignant.

~~~
MichaelMoser123
I still don't understand how a single person could have created a convincing
and compassionate portrait for such a wide range of characters. I think this
range is much larger than what you have in "War and Peace". An awe-inspiring
book...

(I read the book as series of publications in a soviet literary journal some
thirty years ago, time moves fast if you come to think of it)

~~~
mlevental
I haven't read this but that's really high praise considering how war and
peace is impressive in exactly that way

------
gandhium
> 'Life and Fate' depicts Communism and Fascism as ideological mirror-images,
> two quarreling heads on one great monster.

I'm really worried that Grossman's definition is pretty unpopular now, because
ignoring that may lead to similar monstrosities in the future.

~~~
igivanov
That's nonsense, it's not his definition at all.

