Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

This thread is for the discussion of Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman.
Everyone is welcome to join in this buddy read.
If you don't have time to read the book now, you can always comment later, since the thread will stay open.

How does Saturday, January 19, work for you as a start date?

My copy, a hardbound version published by Harper & Row, has 880 pages, the last seven of which are a list of characters I expect I will frequently consult, and the initial 16 are Robert Chandler’s, the translator’s, Introduction.

Life and Fate is presented in three parts.

Part I pp. 17-322
Part II pp 323-612
Part III pp 613-872

If we approach it with a schedule of roughly 80-100 pages per week, we will finish around March 23-30. Does that appeal or do you prefer a faster pace or, in the alternative, no schedule and we see how it goes?

While contemplating, here’s a link to a couple of reviews I found both enlightening and challenging ...

From the NYTimes (2016) https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/bo...

From the London Review of Books (2007) — which link also includes a letter to the editor from Chandler, taking issue with a couple of the reviewer’s points.

https://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n20/john-la...

And lastly from Culture Trip, “Make No Mistake, the Greatest WWII Novel is Russian”:

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/rus...

A brief bio from New York Review Books:

https://www.nyrb.com/collections/vasi...

And two literary articles capturing aspects of his bio, each from The New Yorker:

From 2006 —https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

and from 2013:
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-...

Hi Carol,
Jan 19th is good for me. I have the NYRB version so thanks for posting the articles - I will check them out.

Kristen wrote: "Hi Carol,
Jan 19th is good for me. I have the NYRB version so thanks for posting the articles - I will check them out."

That’s great, Kristen. What’s your view on winging it vs a schedule?

A reminder for anyone who wants to join our buddy read: you have 8 days to get your copy in-hand...

Thanks for the reminder, Carol.

Would you mind putting a description of the read in a comment for others that might be curious??

Thank you! Its great to have a Buddy Read.

Lesle wrote: "Would you mind putting a description of the read in a comment for others that might be curious??

Thank you! Its great to have a Buddy Read."

@Lesle, For someone who has read the GR blurb and wants more, but not the information in messages 2 and 3 upthread which cover the topic robustly, the only thing I can think of to add is the summary from the Amazon site:

"...Life and Fate is an epic tale of World War II and a profound reckoning with the dark forces that dominated the twentieth century.

Interweaving a transfixing account of the battle of Stalingrad with the story of a single middle-class family, the Shaposhnikovs, scattered by fortune from Germany to Siberia, Vasily Grossman fashions an immense, intricately detailed tapestry depicting a time of almost unimaginable horror and even stranger hope.

Life and Fate juxtaposes bedrooms and snipers’ nests, scientific laboratories and the Gulag, taking us deep into the hearts and minds of characters ranging from a boy on his way to the gas chambers to Hitler and Stalin themselves.

This novel of unsparing realism and visionary moral intensity is one of the supreme achievements of modern Russian literature."

I hope this is what you were seeking.

Thank you Carol. Gives a good picture of what the book is about and hopefully will entice another Buddy!

Carol,
I'm so sorry but I'm afraid I can't commit right now -- too many irons in the fire. I hope you enjoy it and look forward to your review.

Best,
Kristen

Kristen wrote: "Carol,
I'm so sorry but I'm afraid I can't commit right now -- too many irons in the fire. I hope you enjoy it and look forward to your review.

Best,
Kristen"

Of course, Kristen. I certainly have plenty to read, so PM or text me if you are in the mood later in the year. Hope all is well.

I'm totally there, if you guys need another participant! I've already got my copy in hand.

@Pillsonista - excellent! If you’re up for it, I’m in. Let the reading and discussion begin!

Life and Fate (Russian: Жизнь и судьба) is a 1960 novel by Vasily Grossman and is seen as the author's magnum opus.
The novel at heart narrates the history of the family of Viktor Shtrum and the Battle of Stalingrad.
Life and Fate is a sprawling account of life on the eastern front, with countless plotlines taking place simultaneously all across Russia and Eastern Europe.

Looks like Carol and Pillsonista are getting ready to start reading and enjoying this Classic.

Anyone else in?

Well having read the very first chapter, I'm only now starting to appreciate just what I've gotten myself into...

Pillsonista wrote: "Well having read the very first chapter, I'm only now starting to appreciate just what I've gotten myself into..."

Ha! Let’s see how it goes and permit crying, “Uncle!” without shame, as necessary. As a starter benchmark, why don’t we each get to page 50 and pause to evaluate? Does that work?

Carol wrote: "Pillsonista wrote: "Well having read the very first chapter, I'm only now starting to appreciate just what I've gotten myself into..."

Ha! Let’s see how it goes and permit crying, “Uncle!” without..."

Oh I'm definitely all in. One way or another, I will finish this book.

It's not only what he's writing about, it's how he writes about it, and his purpose, as he said so himself, is to write for those "who lie in the ground." So from the start you know he is going to be unsparing; he is going to record the truth, and the truth that he witnessed (and witnessed bravely: Grossman was universally admired by all for his intellectual and physical courage), I can only take in small doses unless I become emotionally overwhelmed.

I was already getting chocked up just reading sections of the introduction, and the very first chapter of the novel is, clearly, if you'll forgive the spoiler, (view spoiler)[ about the early construction of a concentration camp. (hide spoiler)]

Pillsonista wrote: "Carol wrote: "Pillsonista wrote: "Well having read the very first chapter, I'm only now starting to appreciate just what I've gotten myself into..."

Ha! Let’s see how it goes and permit crying, “U..."

Oh, good, I’m most concerned about measuring out the impact on me, so I don’t spend days overwhelmed. As you said.

Chandler’s intro was perfect, and ended perfectly.

On page 21:

The very differences in the lives of the prisoners gave rise to a certain similarity. Whether their vision of the past was a small garden beside a dusty Italian road, the sullen boom of the North Sea, or an orange paper lantern in a house for senior personnel on the outskirts of Bobyrusk — all these prisoners, without exception, had enjoyed a wonderful past. The more difficult a man’s life had been before the camp, the more he furiously lied. The lie has no practical purpose; it served simply to glorify freedom.

I made it through chapter 9, and (view spoiler)[the burning of the oil tanks, along with many men. (hide spoiler)]. Much to contemplate for one night.

The passage on pages 48-49 about the differences in perception of time as between the soldier, a girl at a New Year’s ball and a a man imprisoned at Schlusselburg Prison is mesmerizing, as it brings chapter 11 to a close.

Then Chapter 12 begins:

It was morning. The bodies of the dead were lying in the burnt grass. The river lapped heavily and joylessly against its banks. Looking at the ploughed-up earth and the empty shells of buildings, one wanted to weep.

A new day was beginning and the war was about to fill it to the brim with smoke, rubble, iron and bloodstained bandages. Every day was the same. There was nothing left in the world but this battered earth and this blazing sky.

grossman’s language on the topic of time continues to mesmerize me. On page 51:

There is nothing more difficult than to be a stepson of the time; there is no heavier fate than to live in an age that is not your own. ..Time loves only those it has given birth to itself: its own children, its own heroes, its own labourers. Never can it come to love the children of a past age, any more than a woman can love the heroes of a past age, or a stepmother love the children of another woman.

Such is time: everything passes, it alone remains; everything remains, it alone passes. And how swiftly and noiselessly it passes.

Grossman has me looking over my shoulder for the Grim Reaper.