first Russian-language publication of Grossman's 'Life and Fate'

Tue Aug 8 04:39:43 UTC 2006

Dear Mr.Chandler,

Recently I have reread Life and Fate but in English in your admirable  
translation. I really enjoyed it and did not even notice the difference 
between original text and your translation.
Thanks a lot.
The first book by Grossman that I read was Forever Flowing in samizdat in 
the middle of the  80-i.This very book convinced me not to believe in the 
beautiful myth of the” good Lenin”. The
Myth that I believed just like many people who were brought up in the Soviet 
Union.
Life and Fate published in Oktyabr’ really shook me.I  believe I was more 
shaken than by Soljenitsin and Conquest.
In the beginning of the 90-   ies  I made an acquaintance with Hugh Lunghi  
with whom I had a lot of  conversations in his house in Fleet, Hampsire  
about Literature and Politics in Life and Fate( By the way, the last  time I 
spoke with him was by telephone in the Summer of 2003.Thus,I have no idea 
how he is doing now.)
So life and Fate never seemed “dull” to me. I mean not only the history of 
the manuscript, which was confiscated , and then  came into the world again, 
but the extremely interesting writing with the profound ideas.
In September-October ,in Toronto’s Chapters bookstore ,I will be advertising 
in the way of lectures, masterpieces of Russian prose in order to promote 
sales of same.

Readings from Russia in September-October

Fathers and Sons by  Ivan Turgenev      -                Master and 
Margarita  by Mikhail Bulgakov

Crime and Punishment  by  Fedor Dostoyevsky   -          The Compromise  by  
  Sergey Dovlatov

War and Peace by Leo  Tolstoy - Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private 
Ivan Chonkin by Vladimir Voinovich

Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov  - Speak, Memory  by Vladimir Nabokov

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol   -  Life and Fate by  Vasily Grossman

I think that my efforts ,among other things ,will result in new readers of 
Life and Fate.

Regards,

Vladimir Shatsev

Language and Drama Teacher

Russian House Community Centre                                               
www.russianhouse.ca

Phone.: 416-236-5563
Cell : 416-333-2051

Email: vladimir.shatsev at russianhouse.ca

>From: Daniel Rancour-Laferriere <darancourlaferriere at COMCAST.NET>
>Reply-To: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list              
><SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU>
>To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
>Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] first Russian-language publication of Grossman's 
>'Life and Fate'
>Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 13:08:54 -0700
>
>7 August 06
>
>Dear Robert, and other colleagues,
>
>It is indeed curious that it took such a long time for Vasilii Grossman's 
>_Zhizn' i sud'ba_ to find a publisher.  Neither I nor my students found the 
>novel "dull," and indeed some of the most interesting class discussions I 
>can remember from my teaching days centered around that novel.  Students 
>were at least as excited about it as they were about Solzhenitsyn's works.
>
>I doubt, however, that Carl Proffer himself held any negative feelings 
>toward Jews in general or Grossman in particular, and we do know that Ardis 
>published the works of Jewish writers, or writers with some Jewish 
>background (Mandelshtam, Babel, Pasternak, Aksenov, Voinovich, and so on).  
>I suspect that Carl was just relying on his readers in this case.  From my 
>own experience I know that he relied on his readers' expertise (others may 
>have had different experiences).  I can also say that Carl was a very 
>decent man.
>
>It is true that hostility toward Grossman was expressed both by emigres and 
>by Soviets, and that Russian chauvinist sentiments played a role.  One of 
>his attackers, Igor' Shafarevich, is a known anti-Semite.  When "Vse 
>techet" was published  by Anatolii Anan'ev in _Oktiabr'_ in the late 1980s, 
>Grossman was accused of "Russophobia," and Anan'ev was fired as editor of 
>_Oktiabr'_ (then later reinstated).  In a response printed in _Moskovskie 
>novosti_ in 1990, Anan'ev stated: "the phrase about Russian soul being a 
>thousand-year-old slave provoked fury.  But if we are not slaves, then why 
>have we been submissively standing in lines for seventy years, why have we 
>been applauding any dogma that happens to be spoken from the rostrum?" (my 
>translation).
>
>Good questions.  Of course the idea of Russian slavishness did not 
>originate with Grossman.  He was influenced by Chaadaev, Custine, 
>Lermontov, Berdiaev, and others.  And I was influenced by all of them.  See 
>my book _The Slave Soul of Russia: Moral Masochism and the Cult of 
>Suffering_ (New York University Press, 1995).  There is a so-so translation 
>into Russian: _Rabskaia dusha Rossii_ (Moskva: Art-Biznes-Tsentr, 1996).
>
>I disagree with Maximov's characterization of that passage in Grossman's 
>novella as "an openly racist declaration."  It is, instead, a summing up of 
>a reality that many Russians and non-Russians alike have recognized.
>
>Regards to the list,
>
>Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
>
>
>
>
>
>Robert Chandler wrote:
>
>>Dear all,
>>
>>After the microfilms of “Zhizh’ i sud’ba”, reached the West, it took a
>>surprisingly long time to find a publisher.  Ardis definitely refused.
>>There was an occasion when Voinovich met Carl Proffer and the latter said
>>that his reader(s) had read the novel and considered it dull.
>>
>>I have heard that Russian emigres were hostile to Grossman because he was 
>>a
>>Jew, and because of the emphasis in the novel on Jewish experience.  In 
>>his
>>April 1986 article in “ Commentary” Markish writes that  Grossman was
>>“ecstatic  about Solzhenitsyn but I more than doubt that S. reciprocates 
>>his
>>feelings.  And quite recently, Vladimir Maximov, the novelist and editor 
>>of
>>the Paris-based Russian journal Kontinent, has branded Grossman’s bitter
>>thoughts on Russian history (i.e. the passage is VSE TECHET about the 
>>“slave
>>soul of Russia” -R.C.) “an openly racist declaration”.
>>
>>Can anyone say more about these issues?
>>
>>I’ll also be grateful to anyone who names short stories by G. that they
>>especially love.  I have made a provisional choice for a possible 
>>collection
>>in English, but am very much open to suggestions from the SEELANGS
>>community!!
>>
>>Best Wishes,
>>
>>Robert
>>
>>
>>
>>
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