{"title":"Books by Vasily Grossman","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781529414752","title":"The People Immortal","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of Grossman's three great war novels - alongside \u003ci\u003eLife and Fate\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eStalingrad.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A significant, valuable addition to Grossman's small but powerful body of work\" WILLIAM BOYD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"\u003c\/i\u003eA remarkable novel that illuminates the terrible realities of Barbarossa and the banal horror of warfare with incomparable understanding and insight\" JONATHAN DIMBLEBY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"There are always good reasons for reading Grossman, but few times are as resonant as our own\" \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"At the heart of his writing lies a tireless humanity and empathy\" \u003ci\u003eTelegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Grossman combines a journalist's eye with a novelist's empathy\" \u003ci\u003eSpectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSet during the catastrophic defeats of the war's first months, it tracks a Red Army regiment that wins a minor victory in eastern Belorussia but fails to exploit this success.  A battalion is then entrusted with the task of slowing the German advance, and eventually encircled, before ultimately breaking out and joining with the rest of the Soviet forces.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrossman's descriptions of the natural world - and his characters' relationship to it - are both vivid and unexpected, as are his memorable character sketches:  eleven-year-old Lionya is determined to hang on to his toy revolver as he walks a long distance behind German lines; his defiant grandmother slaps a German officer in the face and is shot; Kotenko, a fiercely anti-Soviet peasant who initially welcomes the Germans, hangs himself in despair when they treat him with contempt; and Semion Ignatiev, a womanizer and gifted story-teller, turns out to be the boldest and most resourceful of the rank-and file soldiers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrossman spent most of the war years close to the front line. But \u003ci\u003eThe People Immortal\u003c\/i\u003e is far from being mere morale-boosting propaganda. On the contrary, as letters included in this volume make clear, it was read as a textbook, and as a work of military education. This edition includes not only the unredacted novel itself, translated here for the first time since 1946, but also a wealth of background material.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA heavily redacted English translation of \u003ci\u003eThe People Immortal \u003c\/i\u003ewas published in 1946. This current edition is the first that reflects Grossman's original text.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTranslated from the Russian by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128640831666,"sku":"9781529414752","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781529414752.jpg?v=1786023437"},{"product_id":"9780099506164","title":"Life and Fate","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLife and Fate\u003c\/i\u003e is an epic tale of twentieth-century Russia told through the fate of a single family, the Shaposhnikovs, from the \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of\u003ci\u003e Stalingrad\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs the battle of Stalingrad looms, Grossman's characters must work out their destinies in a world torn by ideological tyranny and war.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCompleted in 1960 and then confiscated by the KGB, this sweeping panorama of Soviet Society remained unpublished until it was smuggled into the West in 1980, where it was hailed as a masterpiece.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'One of the finest Russian novels of the 20th century' \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Compelling... Grossman's portrait is timelessly relevant... \u003ci\u003eLife and Fate\u003c\/i\u003e is worth all the audience it can find'\u003ci\u003e The Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201392869554,"sku":"9780099506164","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780099506164.jpg?v=1786011531"},{"product_id":"9781784871963","title":"Life And Fate (Vintage Classic Russians Series)","description":"\u003ci\u003eLife and Fate\u003c\/i\u003e is an epic tale of twentieth-century Russia told through the fate of a single family, the Shaposhnikovs, from the \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of\u003ci\u003e Stalingrad\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs the battle of Stalingrad looms, Grossman's characters must work out their destinies in a world torn by ideological tyranny and war.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCompleted in 1960 and then confiscated by the KGB, this sweeping panorama of Soviet Society remained unpublished until it was smuggled into the West in 1980, where it was hailed as a masterpiece.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'One of the finest Russian novels of the 20th century' \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Compelling... Grossman's portrait is timelessly relevant... \u003ci\u003eLife and Fate\u003c\/i\u003e is worth all the audience it can find'\u003ci\u003e The Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVINTAGE CLASSICS RUSSIAN SERIES - sumptuous editions of the greatest books to come out of Russia during the most tumultuous period in its history.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43205096800434,"sku":"9781784871963","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781784871963.jpg?v=1786025417"},{"product_id":"9781784878801","title":"Stalingrad","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'One of the great novels of the 20th century' \u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn April 1942, Hitler and Mussolini plan the huge offensive on the Eastern Front that will culminate in the greatest battle in human history.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHundreds of miles away, Pyotr Vavilov receives his call-up papers and spends a final night with his wife and children in the hut that is his home. As war approaches, the Shaposhnikov family gathers for a meal: despite her age, Alexandra will soon become a refugee; Tolya will enlist in the reserves; Vera, a nurse, will fall in love with a wounded pilot; and Viktor Shtrum will receive a letter from his doomed mother which will haunt him forever.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe war will consume the lives of a huge cast of characters - lives which express Grossman's grand themes of the nation and the individual, nature's beauty and war's cruelty, love and separation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor months, Soviet forces are driven back inexorably by the German advance eastward and eventually Stalingrad is all that remains between the invaders and victory. The city stands on a cliff top by the Volga River. The battle for Stalingrad - a maelstrom of violence and firepower - will reduce it to ruins. But it will also be the cradle of a new sense of hope.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eStalingrad\u003c\/i\u003e is a magnificent novel not only of war but of all human life: its subjects are mothers and daughters, husbands and brothers, generals, nurses, political officers, steelworkers, tractor girls. It is tender, epic, and a testament to the power of the human spirit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'You will not only discover that you love his characters and want to stay with them - that you need them in your life as much as you need your own family and loved ones - but that at the end... you will want to read it again' \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTHE PREQUEL TO \u003ci\u003eLIFE AND FATE\u003c\/i\u003e NOW AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH FOR THE FIRST TIME,\u003ci\u003e STALINGRAD\u003c\/i\u003e IS A \u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TIMES \u003c\/i\u003eBESTSELLER AND NOW A MAJOR RADIO 4 DRAMA\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION \"LOIS ROTH AWARD\" FOR TRANSLATIONS FROM ANY LANGUAGE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43230326522034,"sku":"9781784878801","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781784878801.jpg?v=1786025736"},{"product_id":"9780099519164","title":"Everything Flows","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Everything Flows is as important a novel as anything written by Solzhenitsyn, and Robert Chandler's superb translation makes it a joy to read'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAntony\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e Beevor\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIvan Grigoryevich has been in the Gulag for thirty years. Released after Stalin's death, he finds that the years of terror have imposed a collective moral slavery. He must struggle to find a place for himself in an unfamiliar world. Grossman tells the stories of those people entwined with Ivan's fate: his cousin Nikolay, a scientist who never let his conscience interfere with his career, Pinegin, the informer who had Ivan sent to the camps and Anna Sergeyevna, Ivan's lover, who tells of her involvement as an activist in the Terror famine of 1932-3.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eEverything Flows\u003c\/i\u003e is Vasily Grossman's final testament, written after the Soviet authorities suppressed \u003ci\u003eLife and Fate\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Vasily Grossman is the Tolstoy of the USSR' Martin Amis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43399962624178,"sku":"9780099519164","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780099519164_91fe5455-505e-4716-b86e-bb1d88ecff9c.jpg?v=1786011041"},{"product_id":"9781841594033","title":"Life and Fate","description":"\u003cp\u003eBased around the pivotal WWII battle of Stalingrad (1942-3), where the German advance into Russia was eventually halted by the Red Army, and around an extended family, the Shaposhnikovs, and their many friends and acquaintances, \u003ci\u003eLife and Fate \u003c\/i\u003erecounts the experience of characters caught up in an immense struggle between opposing armies and ideologies.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNazism and Communism are appallingly similar, 'two poles of one magnet', as a German camp commander tells a shocked old Bolshevik prisoner.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the height of the battle Russian soldiers and citizens alike are at last able to speak out as they choose, and without reprisal - an unexpected and short-lived moment of freedom.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrossman himself was on the front line as a war correspondent at Stalingrad - hence his gripping battle scenes, though these are more than matched by the drama of the individual conscience struggling against massive pressure to submit to the State. He knew all about this from experience too. His central character, Viktor Shtrum, eventually succumbs, but each delay and act of resistance is a moral victory.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThough he writes unsparingly of war, terror and totalitarianism, Grossman also tells of the acts of 'senseless kindness' that redeem humanity, and his message remains one of hope.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe dedicates his book, the labour of ten years, and which he did not live to see published, to his mother, who, like Viktor Shtrum's, was killed in the holocaust at Berdichev in Ukraine in September 1941.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43599633744050,"sku":"9781841594033","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781841594033_f108d865-5d2a-48ce-98f3-55f90400f1f2.jpg?v=1786027847"},{"product_id":"9780765805430","title":"The Complete Black Book of Russian Jewry","description":"\u003cem\u003eThe Complete Black Book of Russian Jewry\u003c\/em\u003eis a collection of eyewitness testimonies, letters, diaries, affidavits, and other documents on the activities of the Nazis against Jews in the camps, ghettoes, and towns of Eastern Europe","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56294748717429,"sku":"9780765805430","price":63.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780765805430_a6227bfb-527e-4914-9811-6e5beb934309.jpg?v=1786016103"},{"product_id":"9780857381941","title":"The Road","description":"\u003cp\u003eBy the author of Life and Fate, now a major Radio 4 drama starring Kenneth Branagh. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVasily Grossman is widely recognized as one of the outstanding literary figures of the twentieth century. The short fiction collected here - satire, comedy, tragedy and pure narrative - illustrate the remarkable breadth of his work, and demonstrate all the bold intelligence, delicate irony and extraordinary vividness for which he has become known. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn addition to the eleven stories, this volume includes the complete text of 'The Hell of Treblinka', one of the first descriptions of a Nazi extermination camp; a powerful and harrowing piece of journalism written only weeks after the camp was dissolved. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBeautifully illuminated by Robert Chandler's introductions and endnotes, with photographs from the family archive, and an Afterword by Grossman's stepson, Fyodor Guber.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56295091798389,"sku":"9780857381941","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780857381941_706282cd-c26b-4799-9d04-308333827714.jpg?v=1786016202"},{"product_id":"9781782060888","title":"An Armenian Sketchbook","description":"Few writers had to confront so many of the last century's mass tragedies as Vasily Grossman. He is likely to be remembered, above all, for the terrifying clarity with which he writes about the Shoah, the Battle of Stalingrad and the Terror Famine in the Ukraine. An Armenian Sketchbook, however, shows us a very different Grossman; it is notable for its warmth, its sense of fun and for the benign humility that is always to be found in his writing. After the 'arrest' - as Grossman always put it - of Life and Fate, Grossman took on the task of editing a literal Russian translation of a lengthy Armenian novel. The novel was of little interest to him, but he was glad of an excuse to travel to Armenia. This is his account of the two months he spent there. It is by far the most personal and intimate of Grossman's works, with an air of absolute spontaneity, as though Grossman is simply chatting to the reader about his impressions of Armenia - its mountains, its ancient churches and its people.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56303408120181,"sku":"9781782060888","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781782060888_85316429-a4ec-4f8d-baac-9a4aedb7675e.jpg?v=1786026338"},{"product_id":"9781845950156","title":"A Writer At War","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn the summer of 1941, as the Germans invade Russia, newspaper reporter Vasily Grossman is swept to the frontlines, witnessing some of the most savage atrocities in Russian history.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e As Grossman follows the Red Army from the defence of Moscow, to the carnage at Stalingrad, to the Nazi genocide in Treblinka, his writings paint a vividly raw and devastating account of Operation Barbarossa during World War Two. \u003cbr\u003eGrossman’s notebooks, war diaries, personal correspondence and newspaper articles are meticulously woven into a gripping narrative and provide a piercing look into the life of the author behind recent \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003ci\u003eStalingrad\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Writer at War\u003c\/i\u003e stands as an unforgettable eyewitness account of the Eastern Front and places Grossman as the leading Soviet voice of ‘the ruthless truth of war’.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘A remarkable addition to the literature of 1941 – 1945...a wonderful portrait of the wartime experience of Russia... A worthy memorial to a remarkable man’ \u003ci\u003eSunday Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308420280693,"sku":"9781845950156","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781845950156_873f62a0-984b-4e88-9a20-ebea262030ea.jpg?v=1786029603"},{"product_id":"dispatches-from-the-frontline","title":"Dispatches from the Frontline","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"There are always good reasons for reading Grossman, but few times are as resonant as our own\" \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"At the heart of his writing lies a tireless humanity and empathy\" \u003ci\u003eTelegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Grossman combines a journalist's eye with a novelist's empathy\" \u003ci\u003eSpectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJune 22, 1941: Launch of Operation Barbarossa. Hitler invades the Soviet Union. Vasily Grossman soon begins a new career as a war reporter.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDuring the next four years, he covers all the major battles of the Eastern Front, from Stalingrad to Berlin, crafting brutally vivid reports that were read by millions of soldiers and civilians alike. And, as the war draws to a close, he was one of the first to expose the horrors of the Treblinka death camp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrossman had a remarkable memory and the ability to win the trust of men and women from all walks of life: snipers, generals, fighter pilots, peasants, soldiers in a Soviet penal battalion and German prisoners of war. And his ability to write so vividly, and with such understanding, about world-changing events while they were still unfolding may well be unique.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis collection brings together the best of the forty-nine articles he wrote for the \u003ci\u003eRed Star\u003c\/i\u003e newspaper, often in newly unearthed versions that have not been distorted by censors. It demonstrates more clearly than ever what an extraordinary amount Grossman witnessed during only a few years.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTranslated from the Russian by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler\u003cbr\u003eIntroductory material, notes and editorial apparatus by Robert Chandler and Julia Volohova\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57484255854965,"sku":"9781529414691","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781529414691.jpg?v=1786266307"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-vasily-grossman.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}