Stalinist Terror and genocide

[Robert Chandler]

Thank you, Daniel.

I'll also add that Grossman's war diaries are now available in English.
They have been superbly edited and translated by Antony Beevor and Luba
Vinogradova.  The book will be published in the US in January 2006, but
until then it is available from amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/184343055X/ref=pd_bxgy_text_2_cp/02
6-3374729-0790815

The material is mostly taken from archives and has not been published in
Russian.

R.

> Interesting and valid observations below.  Let me add that Grossman's
> _Life and Fate_ is one of those fat novels that students do not seem to
> mind reading, at least in my teaching experience.  Back in the 80s I
> found students would get very excited about the parallels drawn there
> between Stalin's Soviet Union and Hitler's Germany.  Reading
> Solzhenitsyn's fat novels, on the other hand, seemed more of a chore to
> them, and did not provoke such heated discussion in the classroom.  That
> was my experience anyway.  Perhaps others have had different
> experiences.  In any case, I am glad this great novel is being reissued
> in English.  I also think Vasilii Grossman generally deserves more
> attention from scholars than he has received in the past.
> 
> Regards to the list,
> 
> Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
> 
> 
> Robert Chandler wrote:
> 
>> Yes, I agree - and I shall take the opportunity to mention that my
>> translation, which has not been very well distributed in the USA recently,
>> is to be republished in May 2006 by NYRB Classics.
>> 
>> R.
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>> Vasilii Grossman's Life and Fate is "good to think with," in
>>> answer to your question about the parallels betweeen Stalin's
>>> mass killings and Hitler's. For example, in the scene in which
>>> Viktor Shtrum fills out the questionnaire about his
>>> background, the narrator provides a commentary that links
>>> point 5, nationality, and point 6, social class.  Victor
>>> concludes that there is a parallel between Stalin's actions
>>> and Hitler's. There is also the conversation between
>>> Mostovskoy and Liss.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ---- Original message ----
>>>    
>>> 
>>>> Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2005 10:35:46 +1100
>>>> From: Subhash.Jaireth at GA.GOV.AU
>>>> Subject: [SEELANGS] Stalinist Terror and genocide
>>>> To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
>>>> 
>>>> Hi All,
>>>> 
>>>> Picking the thread of the interesting discussion of Stalinka,
>>>>      
>>>> 
>>> I was wondering
>>>    
>>> 
>>>> if Stalinist repression/terror has been theorised in terms of
>>>>      
>>>> 
>>> genocide? That
>>>    
>>> 
>>>> is has someone looked at drawing the parallels between the
>>>>      
>>>> 
>>> Jewish Holocaust,
>>>    
>>> 
>>>> Armenian massacre, Rwandan and Bosnian ethnic cleansing? I
>>>>      
>>>> 
>>> dislike the word
>>>    
>>> 
>>>> cleansing although those who performed such killings tried to
>>>>      
>>>> 
>>> justify it in
>>>    
>>> 
>>>> terms of cleansing the communal body of the nation. Can
>>>>      
>>>> 
>>> Stalin-time killings
>>>    
>>> 
>>>> be called genocide? Is the term genocide appropriate to
>>>>      
>>>> 
>>> describe, theorise
>>>    
>>> 
>>>> and understand those tragic events?
>>>> 
>>>> Would be grateful for any comments?
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks
>>>> 
>>>> Subhash
>>>> 
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>>> Professor and Head
>>> Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
>>> Professor, Comparative Literature
>>> phone (217) 333-9275
>>> fax 217 244 4019
>>> 3092 Foreign Languages Building
>>> 707 South Mathews, MC 170
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