Vasily Grossman

[Robert Chandler]

Dear Subhash and all,

Thank you very much indeed, Subhash, for all your generous words.  But there are a few points I must correct.

> I recently read wonderful translation of Grossman's stories published in The Road , translated by Robert Chandler who is listed as co-author.
In my copy of the book, I am named on the cover as the editor, and inside the book as one of the translators.  I don't know where you have seen me listed as co-author, but that is certainly wrong.  Please feel free to write to the website in question and point out the mistake.  And, if you give me the details, I will certainly do the same.
> 
> In the Neskol'ko  Pecha'lnikh Dnei there is story Avel (or Abel), which follows the story Doroga. The story Avel is about the bombing of Nagaskai. It is one of the most intriguing stories about the dropping of atomic bomb, I have read. The story is told from the eyes of the crew of the bomber.
> Somehow this story doesn't appear in the Robert Chandler's translation. Was this omission deliberate? If it was, and think it was, I would love to know the reason. Perhaps the topic was too sensitive for potential US readers of the book (The book as we know we re-issued as a NYRB classic).
The omission was entirely deliberate.  I simply don't think it a very good story. I did not find it psychologically convincing.  Most of the people I discussed this with were in agreement with me.  Like another story I omitted, "Tiergarten", it seems to me to be of interest more as an indication of the evolution of Grossman's political views than as a work of literature in its own right.

I'll take the opportunity to quote from my publicity for a talk I gave a year or so ago:
"The epic quality of much of Grossman's writing has sometimes blinded critics to its delicacy. In this talk - which coincides with the publication of a selection of Grossman's stories and articles entitled THE ROAD - Robert Chandler will discuss the subtlety of many of Grossman's perceptions and the extent to which he is not only a heroic chronicler of his age but also a supreme artist. In particular, he will focus on Grossman's dialogue with two other great writers of short stories - Isaak Babel and Andrey Platonov."

My own view is that the stories Grossman wrote in the last few years of his life - "Mama" and "The Road", above all - are among his very greatest achievements.  It was on them that I wanted to focus attention in this book.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to say this.

All the best,

Robert

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