The book has been hailed as Grossman’s magnum opus and one of the foremost novels to come out of Russia and rightly so. Fortunately, Vladimir Voinovich was able to smuggle a microfilm of the book out of the Soviet union and it was published in Switzerland in 1980. He was never to see his book again and he died in 1964 of stomach cancer, not knowing whether his book would ever be published. After submitting the manuscript, his flat was raided and the KGB confiscated manuscripts, notes and even typewriter ribbons and carbons. This book was far less pro-Soviet, raised the issue of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust in a far more striking way and was not afraid to have Soviet characters who were seriously flawed. Though Stalin had died, Grossman had become more aware of his Jewishness, something he had previously been quite unenthusiastic about. In 1959, he completed Жизнь и судьба (Life and Fate) and submitted it for publication. It was not translated into English till 2019. This novel, based on Grossman’s experiences as a war reporter in Stalingrad, had considerable success in the Soviet Union, not least because it more or less toed the party line. In 1954, Grossmann published a novel based on his war experiences, called За правое дело. Home » Russia » Vasily Grossman » Жизнь и судьба (Life and Fate) Vasily Grossman: Жизнь и судьба (Life and Fate)
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