Stalingrado

Stalingrad Trilogy #2

by Vasily Grossman, Andréi Kozinets (Translator)

Vasili Grossman quiso dejar constancia de todo lo que había vivido durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, la muerte de su madre y de su hijastro y su experiencia como corresponsal de guerra, en un ambicioso ciclo novelístico en dos partes. La primera, iniciada en 1943 y publicada en 1952 con el título Por una causa justa, se tenía que titular Stalingrado. La segunda, escrita a partir de 1949, con los mismos protagonistas, sería Vida y destino. De las dos, Vida y destino es un clásico leído por miles de lectores en todo el mundo. La primera, en cambio, ha sido considerada como una novela de menor rango. Es más, Efim Etkind y Simon Markish, dos de las personas que más hicieron por salvar el manuscrito de Vida y destino, publicándolo por primera vez en Occidente en 1980, en el prólogo a dicha edición, afirmaban que Por una causa justa 'pudo haber ganado un merecido Premio Stalin, porque rebosaba amor por el régimen socialista...'. ¿Pudo Grossman escribir dos novelas tan desiguales a pesar de concebirlas como un todo y redactarlas una tras otra? La presente edición responde a esta pregunta. Aparte de devolver a la novela el título que para ella quería Grossman, Stalingrado, por primera vez la reconstruye con los más de cien fragmentos, algunos de un par de frases, otros de párrafos y páginas enteras, que la censura soviética obligó a suprimir. Con ello, la novela se enriquece y se llena de matices, hasta convertirse en una obra distinta de la que se había podido leer. Ahora, como afirma The Economist, 'igual que Vida y destino, la nueva Stalingrado es una obra maestra'.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Russia, Classics, War, Russian Literature, World War II

1200 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Born Iosif Solomonovich Grossman into an emancipated Jewish family, he did not receive a traditional Jewish education. A Russian nanny turned his name Yossya into Russian Vasya (a diminutive of Vasily), which was accepted by the whole family. His father had social-democratic convictions and joined the Mensheviks. Young Vasily Grossman idealistically supported the Russian Revolution of 1917.

When the Great Patriotic War broke out in 1941, Grossman's mother was trapped in Berdychiv by the invading German army, and eventually murdered together with 20,000 to 30,000 other Jews who did not evacuate Berdychiv. Grossman was exempt from military service, but volunteered for the front, where he spent more than 1,000 days. He became a war reporter for the popular Red Army newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star). As the war raged on, he covered its major events, including the Battle of Moscow, the Battle of Stalingrad, the Battle of Kursk, and the Battle of Berlin. In addition to war journalism, his novels (such as The People are Immortal (Народ бессмертен) were being published in newspapers and he came to be regarded as a legendary war hero. The novel Stalingrad (1950), later renamed For a Just Cause (За правое дело), is based on his own experiences during the siege.

Grossman's descriptions of ethnic cleansing in Ukraine and Poland, and the liberation of the Treblinka and Majdanek extermination camps, were some of the first eyewitness accounts—as early as 1943—of what later became known as 'The Holocaust'. His article "The Hell of Treblinka" (1944) was disseminated at the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal as evidence for the prosecution.

Grossman died of stomach cancer in 1964, not knowing whether his novels would ever be read by the public.

Reviews

[Adam Dalva · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece, out this June (and I'll have more to say on it then). This is a fascinating contrast with perhaps my favorite novel, LIFE AND FATE, which is STALINGRAD's direct sequel - STALINGRAD is the Iliad to that Odyssey. Soviet censorship has made this a tamer, more conventional novel than it perhaps should have been, but Grossman's accomplishment glimmers throughout. This is a novel that is at once conventionally linear and surprisingly inventive (the bombing of Stalingrad rewinds over and over again; a crucial letter about the holocaust is never read). Its dozens of characters intersect masterfully over 960 pages, all of them having some connection to the Shaposhnikov family. A difficult read, often sad and agonizing, but also hugely rewarding, and a fascinating glimpse of an author working heroically under the most difficult constraints.

[William2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notes on first reading

1. Along the Volga, apparently, there is an abundance of watermelon cultivation. However, the watermelons are said to have diuretic effects if too many are eaten at one sitting.

2. Vasily Grossman wants to match or excel Tolstoy’s War and Peace. He certainly did so in Life and Fate. Let’s see if he achieves it here, in what is essentially volume one of L&F. Unfortunately the novels were published in reverse order in English translation, volume 2 (Life & Fate) then volume 1 (Stalingrad).

3. Halfway through now and it’s apparent that this novel doesn’t achieve Tolstoyan heights. If you’re going to read one Vasily Grossman book then I suggest it be Life & Fate. Written after Stalin’s death, under Kruschev, Life & Fate’s much more critical of the USSR and the characters are much more satisfyingly complex. A lot of the material in this earlier novel was edited by censors. There’s one well written hagiographic portrait after another about this or that worker or soldier. The result is a Stakhanovian sunniness. Between these passages, however, are some exquisite pages; that’s what I’m reading for now.

4. These less overtly political pages include, for example, a high level of detail about the waging of the war. Author Grossman himself spent the duraton of the conflict as a front line reporter for Red Star and he knows his particulars. Though it’s true, as one commentator remarks, that he does not portray the war with complete historical exactitude. That I think can be chalked up to the fact that he’s a novelist and not an academician.

5. I love how he populates Stalingrad just as the Germans are closing in. Say they’re 200 km away. We drop in on a Shaposhnikov family party and then we follow the surgeon, Vera, through her routine at the local hospital. We follow the family matriarch, Alexandra Vladimirovna, as she goes about her work of testing pollution at industrial sites. Everyone is waiting.

I am waiting to see if Grossman writes of the “Not One Step Back” campaign in which Stalin agreed to shoot his own front line soldiers with second line soldiers (NKVD) should the first line start to retreat.

At Chernigov—“There were mornings when men turned out to have gone missing. Only their rifles remained, lying on the bottom of trenches. (p. 271)

6. Suspiciously lacking in lust. Couples fight but they never seem to betray. Nina and Viktor are, in an editor’s note (p. 150), said to be having an affair. But you’d never know it from the text. Everyone is so ambitious and forthright; there are no slackers. It’s just not believable.

For instance: “More than anything, he remembered the sense of togetherness that came into being between his men. Everyone had spoken openly about their whole lives, from the earliest childhood, and everyone’s path through life it seemed clearly marked out; people’s characters, their strengths and weaknesses — everything about them became manifest, in word and deed." (p. 275)

The third person point of view here is Krylov. He’s an NKVD (later KGB) commissar. He is a snake. One of his jobs would’ve been to arrest or execute those not adhering to the Not One Step Back program. He is part of a layer of politicization above the Red Army officers which ensured the war was policed with correct revolutionary thought. And here he is sweetly recalling about his comrades? Moreover, let’s not forget that captured and subsequently repatriated Red Army soldiers were often shot as spies. Not One Step Back, and Krylov’s involvement in it—he was likely one of its executioners or a rubber stamper of executions—is only fleetingly touched upon. The Red Army and the political commissars were frequently at each other‘s throats; no mention of that here.

For something closer to the truth read Victor Serge’s novels The Case of Comrade Tulayev and Unforgiving Years.

7. The Soviet retreat from Kiev early in the war is heartbreaking to read about. With exhausted Ukrainians young and old marching east in an attempt to cross the Dnieper. The unmoving Red Army stand around hanging their heads as the populace flees…

“Old men stared at them glassily, as if hoping for some miracle. Nothing in the world, it seemed, could be more terrible than the wrinkled, yet childishly helpless faces of these old men, each alone in the crowd. ¶ The Red Army soldiers were all gripped by a tight silence. ¶ They knew, with an absolute, physical clarity, that every step they took to the east brought the still unseen Germans closer." (p. 273)

8. The women of the Shaposhnikov family—including two terrifying ululators named Vera and Zhenya—each manage to pursue tenuous love affairs as the Germans close in. As the tension builds family squabbles occur with a fervor reminiscent of characters in Elena Ferrante‘s dazzling Neapolitan novels.

9. I wrote of Yasunari Kawabata’s The Old Capital about how he can drone on about cherry blossoms and camphor trees and local Kyoto festivals and yet keep one reading. That same capacity is evident in Grossman. At one point we join a meeting of high-quality steel manufacturers while they rhapsodize about production quotas, machine tools, and raw materials. It seems on the surface the most boring subject matter conceivable, yet Grossman keeps us reading. How does he do it?

10. The scene set in Albert Speer’s new Reichs Chancellory, in which Hitler discusses his Stalingrad strategy with an officer straight from the front, will set your hair on fire. . . In its terseness and rigor some passages reminded me of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal.

11. The official mindset of the residents of Stalingrad is expected to be one of complete self-sacrifice. Yet Vera initially runs away when the bombing starts. In time she collects herself, returns to the hospital, and saves two sick men from a burning floor. Heroic figures can be fascinating. But those not capable of such valor — I'm thinking of Céline's wretches — have been written out of the novel. This makes for a too absurdly do-goody cast. There’s no one on the Russian side motivated solely by self interest. Verisimilitude is thereby compromised.

11. The mining scenes feel inspired by Emile Zola‘s Germinal. I guess that’s inevitable. The book’s sunniness dims somewhat here. There’s the usual veneer of rhetoric about the indominability of labor, but the physical well-being of the miners runs counter to that. The miners rations won’t permit an increase in productivity. Yet because of the war that’s what is demanded of them. For one miner it’s either the pit or the front.

12. Astonishing, elephantine powers of literary delay and withholding, i.e. suspense.

13. Ah, the sheer misery of war. Did Tolstoy do a better job with War and Peace? Well, you can argue, that writing 50 years after the fact, he did not; though he had much personal experience from the Crimean War and elsewhere. Vasily Grossman however reported from the Soviet front line. He was there.

14. The fighting. When Grossman settles down to the war, that to me constitutes the best of his writing. Just men in movement through a cityscape trying to kill each other. Moreover, his technique seems effortless. He zooms in for detail and dialogue, zooms out for the big picture, hops with alacrity from consciousness to consciousness, flits to Moscow, Leningrad, Siberia and back. All deftly, impressively.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was about 3 years ago that I read “Life and Fate”. At the time I looked for a translation of “Stalingrad” but the only non-Russian language version available seemed to be in Spanish. Although I greatly admired “Life and Fate”, I was conscious throughout that I was missing out on the background of the characters. Now that I’ve read “Stalingrad” I have the opposite problem. When encountering a character I kept trying to recall what happened to them in “Life and Fate”. Sometimes I remembered but plenty of times I didn’t. I think I’ll have to read “Life and Fate” again to find out.

That curiosity alone shows the book is a success, in that I care enough about the characters to want to re-read the second part. It’s noticeable though, that in both books Grossman doesn’t hesitate to kill off his creations. Apparently it was suggested he shouldn’t do this quite so often, but he argued that in the real life war, the bombs didn’t swerve to avoid likeable persons.

There’s a huge cast of characters, and it’s the style of the book to spend several chapters telling the story of one group, before then focusing on another. The novel therefore switches back and forth between them, with sometimes long gaps between each appearance of an individual. Sometimes I found it hard to recall a particular backstory and had to refer to a list of principal characters included as an appendix. One of Grossman’s favourite themes, that he continued in “Life and Fate”, was the idea that the war revealed people’s true natures. A previously shy and diffident person might come to the fore, or someone thought to be a misanthrope might show unexpected kindness.

There is one major weakness in the book, and that of course is the extent to which it was affected by Stalinist censorship. Under duress Grossman had to take out numerous passages and add in others. It’s often obvious where this has happened and the some of the affected sections make for laboured reading.

All translations are different from the original novel of course, but there are particular issues with this one, that are covered in an afterword that is worth reading. Essentially, there is no definitive version of this novel, and the translation presented here is an amalgam of two of the versions that exist.

I’m certainly glad that I’ve read the book, but the ravages of Soviet censorship mean that it doesn’t match the quality of “Life and Fate”.

[Come Musica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Che libro!

Questo è il primo dei due volumi di Grossman dedicati a Stalingrado (il secondo è Vita e destino). Scrive Robert Chandler nella postfazione: "Vita e destino riprende dal punto in cui Stalingrado si conclude, ovvero alla fine del settembre 1942. La disquisizione di Ikonnikov sulla bontà illogica, ora in Vita e destino e spesso considerata nodale per il romanzo, era inizialmente parte di Stalingrado. E la lettera in cui la madre di Štrum scrive dei suoi ultimi giorni nel ghetto di Berdičev – passaggio tra i più memorabili di Vita e destino – è in egual misura cruciale per entrambi i romanzi. Se è pur vero che il contenuto della lettera è stato pensato per Vita e destino, è in Stalingrado che ci vengono raccontati il suo viaggio per arrivare a destinazione e ciò che Štrum prova nel leggerla."

Notevole fu il lavoro di Grossman nel documentarsi nel reperire il maggior numero di informazioni utili per scrivere il romanzo: "I suoi taccuini di guerra contengono centinaia di biografie sintetizzate, frammenti di conversazioni e ogni genere di intuizioni fulminee e osservazioni inaspettate. Materiale che in buona parte troviamo poi in Stalingrado e che conferisce al romanzo una grande vivacità e un certo carattere democratico."

Un romanzo storico corale, diviso in tre parti, in cui viene descritta l'epica resistenza dei soldati russi che, a un passo dalla sconfitta, riuscirono a ribaltare le carte in tavola e ad aggiudicarsi la vittoria contro i tedeschi, certi sia della loro vittoria sia della loro supremazia sui russi.

La fine dell'ultima parte è struggente: si sente vivo il coraggio di questi uomini che hanno combattuto fino alla morte e che hanno fatto fronte comune per non soccombere sotto il dominio tedesco. Decisivo nel ribaltamento delle sorti della battaglia è un personaggio naturale: il Volga, un fiume vivo, pulsante, che determina le sorti della guerra.

"Se gli storici del futuro vorranno capire quale fu il punto di svolta della guerra, dovranno arrivare in quel tratto del Volga, immaginarsi un soldato seduto ai piedi della roccia e provare a figurarsi cosa stava pensando."

Se la prima parte è così meravigliosamente scientifica, la seconda è propedeutica a gettare le basi per la terza parte, tanto dura e straziante.

Mi ha molto colpita la descrizione della personalità di Hitler, un uomo che ha saputo cogliere ciò che animava la "pancia" della Germania postbellica: "Se Hitler prese il potere non fu, com’è ovvio, perché la Germania si confaceva al suo carattere, ma perché lui, Hitler, serviva a una Germania postbellica già indirizzata verso il nazismo. Sconfitta in una guerra imperialista, la Germania cercava un Hitler, e lo trovò. Conoscere il carattere del Führer, però, aiuta a comprendere il formarsi di quella che è la principale ragione della sua ascesa a capo della Germania nazista."


Un libro pieno di fierezza anche, nel quale si possono trovare tante similitudini nel conflitto tra Russia e Ucraina: "Per strano che fosse, il mondo quieto e sublime della notte russa sul Volga era tutt’uno con la guerra, e quanto non sembrava poter vivere a fianco a fianco e insieme invece lo faceva, riunendo in sé l’immensità della passione guerriera, dell’audacia e del dolore con una calma e una tristezza rassegnata."

Leggere libri come Stalingrado è imprescindibile: smuove le coscienze nel profondo perché la barbarie della guerra non si ripeta.

Quando imparerà l'uomo la lezione impartitagli dalla Storia?

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have long thought of reading, “Life and Fate,” but, somehow, knowing that there was a prequel, made me hold of. As such, once this – finally – appeared in translation, I had to read it. Before doing so, I read a biography, “Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century,” and I am pleased that I did, as it gave me more understanding of this, magnificent, sprawling, novel.

One thing it is essential to understand, was that Grossman was always aware of the censors (not that it seemed to help), so there is much about how inspiring Stalin’s speeches are and how the Russians are working together. Still, you do feel that Grossman believes this to be true and that there is something both noble about the Russians, defending their homeland, and – indeed – of how the average Russian has benefited after the revolution; particularly in terms of education.

In terms of characters, this is more a broad canvas, than a picture portrait. There are a huge number of characters, who appear and some are developed, others become more blurred, or suddenly reappear, to check you can recall who they are. It doesn’t really matter though, as the real star of the show is Russia herself, with Stalingrad centre stage. When Stalin announces that the city is not to fall, the inhabitants dig in and, effectively, all join in defending their home. Grossman was a journalist, who was, himself, in the thick of war, and so this has real authenticity.

There are scenes with Hitler, Mussolini and other leaders. However, the real feeling of this book comes from characters whose names were never known – peasants, miners, scientists, doctors, who did their work without fanfare. Grossman also never loses sight of the personal amongst the time of crisis. Although under threat, characters fall in love, lose touch with family, have to deal with problems and upheaval, and have to live in a time of great uncertainty. Some of the storylines are, indeed, more personal than others. One character, Viktor, mirrors the situation that Grossman endured, where his Jewish mother was separated from him, as the Germans came ever closer. The letter, Viktor receives from his mother, burns in his pocket and in our thoughts – unread and imagined by the author.

I am so pleased that I finally had the chance to read this. I thought it was magnificent and, as I am informed that, “Life and Fate,” is even greater, I look forward to reading on.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I can tell you as a surgeon that there is one truth, not two. When I cut someone’s leg off, I don’t know two truths. If we start pretending there are two truths, we’re in trouble. And in war too—above all, when things are as bad as they are today—there is only one truth. It’s a bitter truth, but it’s a truth that can save us. If the Germans enter Stalingrad, you’ll learn that if you chase after two truths, you won’t catch either. It’ll be the end of you.”

This is effectively the first part of Life and Fate, Grossman’s magnum opus. Unlike Life and Fate, this was published in Grossman’s lifetime. This translation has restored many parts that were censored in the Soviet edition. Stalingrad in summation presents the moral cause and reasoning for opposing Nazism. In Life and Fate Grossman draws comparisons between Nazism and Stalinism. There is progression though. Stalingrad hints at what is revealed in Life and Fate. The two books complement each other. There is a sharp criticism of the political regime, especially in Life and Fate, but also praise for the social and economic system. Krymov reflects on the soldiers he fights alongside:

“Before the war they had worked in Soviet factories and kholkozes [collective farms]; they had read Soviet books and spent their holidays in Soviet houses of recreation. They had never seen a private landowner or factory-owner; they could not even conceive of buying bread in a private bakery, being treated in a private hospital, or working on some landowner’s estate or in factories that belonged to some businessman. Krymov could see that the pre-revolutionary order was simply incomprehensible to these young men. And now they found themselves on land occupied by German invaders, and these invaders were preparing to bring back those strange ways, to reintroduce the old order on Soviet soil.”

Comparisons will be drawn to Tolstoy inevitably. One major difference of course is that Tolstoy was looking back, but Grossman was there. Tolstoy was also more directly preachy, Grossman is more subtle, but is still able to make his point:

“Among a million Russian huts you will never find even two that are exactly the same. Everything that lives is unique. It is unimaginable that two people, or two briar roses, should be identical… If you attempt to erase the peculiarities and individuality of life by violence, then life itself must suffocate.”

Many of the characters in Life and Fate are here and the reader sees the beginning of their journey. At the very start of the novel the Shaposhnikov’s and their friends gather for a party. At the close of Life and Fate look back with sadness. The circles of the novel is complete. At its best there is a vividness to this, especially when it focuses on particular individuals and circumstances: for example Vavilov, who is a farm worker and his preparations for going to war. The whole is panoramic and manages to focus on the collective and the individual. It is not only the soldiers who are heroic, so are those further down the line: factory workers, childcare workers and the like.
This is one of the great novels of the twentieth century. I did wonder whether it would bear any comparison to Life and Fate, but it does.

“The strength and good sense of the people, their morality, their true wealth—all this will live forever, no matter how hard fascism tries to destroy it.”

I only hope that is true, but I have my doubts.

[Agnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Per me : bellissimo!
Avevo già letto Stalingrado: La Battaglia che segnò la svolta della Seconda guerra mondiale , altri saggi storici riguardanti l’ attacco alla Russia Operazione cittadella e “ Mosca 1941 “ : ma Grossman è Grossman!
Certamente va letto avendo ben chiaro il periodo nel quale è stato scritto : la censura staliniana- ma è tutto ben spiegato nella postfazione - e non bisogna farsi spaventare né dalla mole né dalla lista dei personaggi alla fine del libro : ho lasciato perdere e ho continuato a leggere , ho proseguito lentamente ma senza riuscire a staccarmi .
Piccola pausa ( forse) e rileggerò Vita e destino , che sono sicura apprezzerò ancora di più dopo aver letto Stalingrado.

[Hugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grossman's best known book Life and Fate was the sequel to this extraordinary novel. Its history is complicated, and in this new version, the translator Robert Chandler has attempted to create a definitive edition from the various versions that survive, three of which were published in Russia in the 1950s. Both books were clearly influenced by War and Peace, and Grossman's concept was to create something similar centreing on the battle of Stalingrad.

Inevitably, the compromises required to make a recent history acceptable to the Soviet authorities are still visible - there are plenty of sections that read as Soviet propaganda, and the balance between war reporting and civilian stories is much more skewed towards war than either War and Peace or Life and Fate. For all that, much of this book is just as good as Life and Fate, and the two are complementary.

Grossman deploys his characters expertly, allowing all aspects of the war to be explored in detail, including various German perspectives. Some of the major characters in Life and Fate, notably Viktor Shtrum, are little more than bit part players here, but as Chandler explains this was largely dictated by the Soviet authorities too.

Chandler's translation is always lively and readable, despite the occasional anachronistic modern word choice, and he has done a very impressive job of recreating Grossman's original artistic vision. A must-read book.

[Rafa Sánchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disculpadme pero yo no puedo hacer una reseña equilibrada sobre Stalingrado o "Vida y Destino", sobre todo esta segunda parte es para mí la lectura que más me ha conmovido desde que tengo uso de razón. Vaya por delante que la primera parte, Stalingrado, tiene bastantes defectos de estructura narrativa pero, para mí, ante la fascinación que me produce volver a encontrarme con los Shaposnikov, Beriozkin, Levinton... etc., no puedo permanecer ecuánime.

Stalingrado es en sí misma una obra sufriente, hecha a trozos por la tijera de la censura soviética y la autocensura de Vasili Grossman. Se puede uno encontrar con muchos fragmentos de propaganda comunista cuyo fin, especulamos, no es otro que facilitar el trámite burocrático de su publicación. Afortundamente, en "Vida y destino" esto no ocurre y en ello casi le fue la vida (la novela pudo llegar a Occidente gracias a una peripecia digna de novela de LeCarré). La función de Stalingrado como obra de reafirmación política tras la victoria de la URSS en la guerra mundial es evidente, es una obra moralizante y de adoctrinamiento para las nuevas generaciones. A pesar de este peso, que podría hundir en una sima a cualquier texto, la genialidad e inspiración humanística de Grossman lo reflota una y otra vez. La pluma incomparable del autor nos eleva en sus descripciones de personajes, nada de lo humano le es ajeno, las escenas familiares, el episodio en el orfanato, la camaradería entre los soldados, la amistad entre las mujeres mayores, que son el alma de las familias... todo acto de amor y de bondad humana cae bajo el ojo perspicaz de Grossman y nos lo entrega con su novela.

Por destacar dos personajes, Piotr Vavilov o Ivan Beriozkin son arquetipos humanos, muy rusos y a la vez muy universales, cualquiera de sus actos te reconcilia con el ser humano, son ejemplos de civismo y humanidad. ¿Qué más se puede decir de ellos ? Solamente dar las gracias a Grossman y a sus traductores.

Por último, hay que mencionar la abnegada labor de Robert Chandler por recomponer el texto de Stalingrado, ha llegado a manejar hasta 15 versiones distintas, archivadas en Rusia, para armar un verdadero rompecabezas y volver a dar aliento a una obra amputada por la censura. Stalingrado y "Vida y destino" son obras heróicas per se, la historia de su génesis es una novela de terror y sufrimiento. Gracias a Dios que han llegado hasta nosotros.

[Dax · Rating 4 out of 5]

As noted by the translator in the afterword, Grossman envisioned 'Stalingrad' and 'Life and Fate' as one work, so a proper evaluation cannot be given until both books have been read. That being said, there's no denying that 'Stalingrad' in and of itself is a major accomplishment. It starts off with Vavilov's beautiful but sad departure from his family as he trudges off to war, and then Grossman proceeds to give us scene after scene of vivid imagery: Krymov's river crossing with Semyonov stands out, as does the fighting at the Railway Station.

This is far from a perfect work, however. Many reviewers have noted the distracting propaganda for the Soviet regime, and I couldn't help but notice it as well. 'Stalingrad' was initially published while Stalin was still around and was thus heavily edited, so it is difficult to determine how much of this propaganda Grossman actually wanted in his novel. The translator does a wonderful job of discussing the different versions of 'Stalingrad' and the role those editors played in constructing the novel as it is today. It blew my mind that Tolya's chapter was added almost as a throw-in during the editing process; it's an amazing chapter.

As a standalone work, I would argue that the cast of characters in 'Stalingrad' is far too large. Without the list of characters at the back of the book, I would have been hard pressed to keep track of who is who. Grossman devotes over 600 pages to their introduction and backstories before we even really dive in to the battle of Stalingrad. Despite the page count dedicated to building these characters, the book would have been better served with a smaller cast that would allow the reader to be more emotionally invested in their story. When soldier XYZ was killed in a beautifully rendered scene, I had to pause and flip to the character list to remind myself why I should be so distraught at his death.

Many of Grossman's characters simply disappear without resolution, almost as if the many pages we spent with them were nothing more than a long-winded tangent to the main story. I am sure many of these characters will resurface in 'Life and Fate', but it is a little frustrating to have so many memorable characters disappear like an afterthought.

Having said all of that, I am sure 'Life and Fate' will bring all these characters back into the fold, throw my complaints back in my face and make this review look stupid. I look forward to looking stupid.

A high four stars. Excellent, but not the masterpiece it is claimed to be. At least not until I read 'Life and Fate' anyway.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the huge variation in depth, this is of the most fascinating portrayals of character that I've ever read. The novel represents the collective over the individual, though in a reflection of the Communist Russia it evokes, some individuals are more important than others. It's a tumble of thoughts and feelings and actions, sometimes just a flash of a life, sometimes more. It's confusing and messy and real, but also alienating. Even before the hardships of the siege, it felt like too much. I wanted to escape the reel of voices, their unceasing breadth somehow claustrophobic. It's powerful precisely because of this, too real to be anything but difficult.

It's like nothing I've read before. I'm not sure I want to read anything like it again, but its value, as a novel and as a portrait of the human condition, is clear.


ARC via Netgalley

[SCARABOOKS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chi ha letto Vita e destino non credo perderà l’occasione di leggere questo romanzo, che ne é la prima parte. Il consiglio è poi rileggerlo, Vita e destino; perché la storia acquista una prospettiva più compiuta e un’altra profondità. E soprattutto i personaggi principali assumono un altro spessore. Insieme fanno uno dei grandi capolavori della letteratura del Novecento.

Su temi e senso dell’opera intera di Grossman scrissi tutto quel che avevo nel commento a Vita e destino.
https://scarabooks.blogspot.com/2022/...

A chi non ha ancora letto i due romanzi mi permetto di consigliare di andare in libreria, prendere Stalingrado e leggere il Capitolo 32 della Parte Seconda. Sono le pagine più belle del libro. Sei, indimenticabili. Una cosa di potenza sbalorditiva. Sembra Guernica di Picasso messa in righe. Sbalordiscono in particolare i dettagli. L’orrore nasce da una fotografia fatta con le parole. Colpiscono, lancinanti, le descrizioni di animali e bambini. La città vista come unico corpo vivo che, sotto le bombe, sprizza sangue, fumo nero, acqua, polvere, lampi di fuoco, lacrime, frantumi di vetri, ferro, scintille, cenere, sguardi dell’ultimo istante. Un crescendo musicale fatto di lamenti, scoppi, urla. E il silenzio della normalità che diviene improvvisamente terribile, con cui tutto inizia, il pomeriggio di domenica 23 agosto 1942.

Per chi volesse qualche considerazione aggiuntiva può guardare qui
https://scarabooks.blogspot.com/2022/...

Chi invece volesse una mappa per orientarsi tra personaggi e scenari di guerra può andare sul link sotto. E' fatta veramente molto, molto bene.
https://www.italianacontemporanea.org...

[withdrawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

So once I had time to focus on ‘Stalingrad’, I found it to be something of a page turner. I was able to crash through the last few hundred pages with my heartbeat leading the way.

At first, was a little put off by the apparent communist propagandizing(toadying?) throughout the book book but I came to see it as necessary background. Just as books from western societies tend to give precedence to individualism, 1940s Soviet Union writers could equally see their world through idealized ‘collectivist’ eyes. This would be especially so when that world was under threat of destruction by nazism.

At times, I did find certain parts a bit jarring, wondering how they really fit in with the book as a whole or with what was going on around them. Overall, however, the writing was powerful and often gripping. I’m not usually one to get excited about battle scenes but Grossman did a wonderful job of making things move.

I did also have an issue with the whole “hero” thing but then I’m not from a society that dwells on the concept. (Probably works better for Russians and Americans.)

Maybe later I’ll organize myself to write more details about my thoughts. The writing is such that I have had a myriad of war images going through my mind and a great many interesting dreams. A good book. Well worth the read. I now have ‘Life and Fate’ on order.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Save me a fragment of violent foam
Save me a rifle, save a plow for me
And let them place it at my grave
With a red ear of grain from your soil,
That it be known, if there be any doubt,
That I died loving you and you loved me,
And if I did not fight in your waist
I leave in your honour this dark grenade,
This song of love for Stalingrad.
-Pablo Neruda, Nuevo Canto de Amor a Stalingrado

Remembrance and tribute to those who lived and died among the skeletal remains of a city turned into the seat of hell—Pandaemonium. A panoply, albeit under the heavy hand of Soviet-censorship. Grossman shines more often than not, but his sheen is much slathered in the Stalin-love required for the novel’s publication. Perhaps a passing glance for those interested in Life and Fate; perhaps not. In time, we may be treated to an uncensored version. And I will read it, with or without pandemic.

[Sergio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Questo romanzo di Vasilij Grossman [1905-1964] è la prima parte di una dilogia che viene a completarsi con “Vita e Destino”: è un’opera letteraria grande e ariosa che narra l’epopea della II Guerra Mondiale e in particolare l’aggressione tedesca alla Russia di Stalin, la cosiddetta “Operazione Barbarossa” che di fatto concluse la prima parte della guerra che fino ad allora aveva visto le armate tedesche primeggiare su tutti i fronti, ma davanti a Stalingrado le truppe tedesche conobbero la resistenza eroica e irresistibile dei Russi che li avrebbe portati a una desolante ritirata. Quest’opera è stata avvicinata al capolavoro di Lev Tolstoj “Guerra e Pace” e non a caso giacché mostra molte somiglianze nei temi e nello svolgimento e anche se sono passati una trentina d’anni da quando ho letto il romanzo di Tolstoj, durante la lettura di “Stalingrado” ho percepito sensazioni simili perché, è inutile girarci intorno, questo romanzo è davvero molto bello: il romanzo di una battaglia epocale descritta fin nei particolari ma senza annoiare o appesantire la lettura, il romanzo di un popolo che accettò di combatterla pronto ad annientarsi per difendere la sua terra e le sue città, il romanzo che ha saputo coniugare la parte storica e quella romanzata in un amalgama perfetto, in un meccanismo senza sbavature né ampollosità, un romanzo che si legge agevolmente nonostante la sua mole, ricco di dialoghi e di storie familiari e personali che avvincono dalla prima all’ultima pagina.

[Esther Brum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma nação, o invasor , o inimigo, o indivíduo .
Para além da saga familiar, da história da URSS, da II guerra mundial, as referências são, para além de Stalingrado, o Donbass, Kiev e todas as cidades que eu desconhecia e que agora fazem parte do nosso quotidiano .
De certa forma para o povo ucraniano a história repete-se :
“Via milhares de pessoas que caminhavam. Pelo campo, ao longo das bermas, centenas de pessoas iam a pé, algumas extenuadas, sentavam-se no chão, depois levantavam se e as continuavam a andar(…)”

[Doubledf99.99 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable but grim read, course anything dealing with the Eastern Front and Stalingrad makes for some heavy reading but in the grimness Grossman does comes up with some light hearted moments fo the soldiers and the civilians. Vasily Grossman writes some powerful prose from the land, nights, the factories, tracers lighting up the night sky, politics, romance, and of the battle itself, he weaves a great story with historical characters and his fictional charters. Powerful stuff, and at times it left me shaking my head going "my god". Highly recommended.

[Jonfaith · Rating 5 out of 5]

He just carried on walking towards the dawn. It was reddening over land that he had ploughed himself. A cold wind was blowing straight into his face, blowing the last vestige of warmth, the last breath of hearth and home, out of his clothes.

If all Russian literature emerged from (under) Gogol’s Overcoat then any literary treatment of Russian history must face War and Peace on the fogged fields of combat, or at least in comparative terms for those less minatory. Vasily Aksyonov wrote a curious novel Generations of Winter about The Great Patriotic War where half the men were being denounced under Article 58, and all the women would eventually enter a room nude and everyone quoted War and Peace. I read it before I read W&P but around the same time I loved Anna Karenina. When eventually I read Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman and then later Europe Central by William T Vollmann I had already read War and Peace and was savvy to the allusions, though to be fair Vollmann was more interested in the structure and calculus of Grossman rather than Tolstoy. Each project since War and Peace has emulated this process where great events are brought to bear by circumspect characters as witness, and authors acts as philosophers parsing origins and effects.

For A Just Cause or as it has now been titled Stalingrad is certainly a more sanitized view than its more celebrated (and superior) sequel Life and Fate and much has to do with climate of the time. Throughout this novel everyone in the USSR while facing hardship appears removed from fear and hunger. The opening sections are hundreds of pages which shift from character to character in a sense akin to Vertov's Man with Movie Camera. Each scene establishes further emotional texture, each relation illustrates a trope or a fault line permeating the milieu.

There is an abrupt halt to this panorama as the focus shifts a pair of German counterparts. There's an oily unease about this sequence. Shifting back to Mother Rus and the reader is thrown into the onslaught of Stalingrad, the devastating bombing campaign which killed 40,000 people in the first two days, most of which were civilians. The imagery employed is both wrenching and beautiful.

For the men below, it was as if they were standing beneath a vast dark blue bridge painted with stars, as if thousands of iron wheels were rumbling past over their heads.

Matters proceed apace in the novel's final quarter; the pieces are established which will viciously collide in the subsequent novel.

[Ensaio Sobre o Desassossego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Como começar a escrever sobre a minha experiência de leitura com "Stalinegrado"? Não sei, não sei mesmo.
Se calhar, começo por afirmar que estava com algum receio em pegar neste livro. Tinha medo que fosse demasiado denso, demasiado histórico, demasiado técnico sobre a guerra. E agora que o li, sei que não podia estar mais enganada. A escrita de Grossman é tão tão bonita e o texto é super fluído.

A batalha de Stalinegrado foi o período mais decisivo da Segunda Guerra Mundial (ou Grande Guerra Pátria, como é chamada na Rússia) e o próprio escritor foi para a frente de combate e até Agosto de 1945 serviu como correspondente militar do jornal Estrela Vermelha.
Em certos momentos do texto, dá perfeitamente para perceber que Grossman escreveu a pensar na censura, escreveu moldando as palavras para "agradar" ao KGB.

Para mim, foi muito interessante a forma como Grossman mescla a ficção com reflexões sobre personagens e acontecimentos reais. O romance é pontuado com ensaios/reflexões extremamente pertinentes.
A certa altura, Grossman faz uma análise ao carácter de Hitler e o que levou a sua ascensão ao poder. Foi tão interessante para mim estar a ler um romance, algo ficcionado, e a meio do texto aparecer um ensaio, uma reflexão do próprio Grossman que me deixou a mim a reflectir.

Foi estranho estar a ler "Stalinegrado" enquanto a guerra acontece na Ucrânia. Porque aqui no livro fala-se do Donbass e de outros locais ucranianos, invadidos pela Alemanha nazi na Segunda Guerra. E todos se juntaram para defender a terra, todo o povo soviético.
São relatadas situações em abrigos em que as nacionalidades se mesclavam, russos, ucranianos, polacos, bielorrussos. Todos juntos no terror, no medo de perder a casa, a terra, a própria vida.

É estranho saber que nos dias de hoje está a acontecer exactamente a mesma coisa que está descrita em neste livro. É estranho saber que mais de meio século depois a a história se repete, mas que desta vez é a Rússia que ataca, e não a União Soviética que defende.

"Stalinegrado" foi escrito por alguém que foi participante dos acontecimentos que relata e, só por isto, este livro ganha um peso extra, vale a pena ser lido.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Life and Fate lingering on my tbr for far too long, this was an automatic 'must read' when published in English for the first time. It's a text with a complicated history and gestation so it's well worth reading the introduction and afterword to understand what it is, exactly, that we're reading here.

In some ways this is a magnificent failure as a novel: self-consciously locating itself against War and Peace, it offers a panorama of Soviet life leading up to and during the battle for Stalingrad. Central is the extended Shaposhnikov family, their friends and lovers. But we flit between multiple character PoVs, and pan in and out as Grossman sees fit: sometimes we're deep inside someone's personal life, then we retreat and don't return to that character again.

The canvas and character list is vast and, as is the case in Tolstoy, many are mere walk-on characters so I wouldn't agonise too much about who is who. Their brief page life is important, their name isn't always.

Grossman's own viewpoint varies: at some points he's a journalist chronicling the meetings between Hitler and his ministers, for example; at others he's pure novelist, embedded with his fictional creations, and writing in extended flashbacks to give them a personal history to which we are privy. Then again, an important character may die and we're barely given any reaction.

Most disconcerting is the lack of a defined story arc: the battle for Stalingrad is clearly central but the pace of the novel is leisurely and there's no ending - the battle is still raging, the novel just finishes. Of course, we know the story continues with many of the same characters and an enlarged canvas in Life and Fate but this almost feels like a parallel text rather than a prequel.

We know that this was a novel that had a problematic relationship with the Soviet authorities and the censors but, really, it's hard to see why. Grossman was a positive supporter of the Revolution and an rabid opponent of Hitler and fascism (not least because he was Jewish) and both emotions come through strongly. Stalingrad was, of course, a turning point of the war, and a significant achievement that marked the Russian psyche. It's fascinating to witness an almost-contemporary view of Stalin's war broadcasts, Hitler's cabinet and their plans. Above all, what I loved about this book, is the way it pays homage to human ideals - this war is terrible, the numbers of dead are exhausting, yet, somehow, there's a kind of nobility that permeates the souls of these Russians as they resist the German onslaught, fighting with courage and a clear-sightedness for something bigger than the lone individual.

[Kansas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dehttps://kansasbooks.blogspot.com/2023...

“A veces, o quizás a menudo, un hombre comienza el día sintiéndose liviano, seguro y esperanzado mientras piensa en qué hará cuando la guerra termine; sin embargo, antes de que llegue la tarde el día se ahoga en sangre. “


Stalingrado es de esas novelas que he ido aplazando durante tiempo, entre otras cosas porque tenía la idea de que podía ser un texto espeso y densísimo sobre una batalla entre rusos y alemanes en plena segunda guerra mundial, pero nada más lejos de mis prejuicios preconcebidos. Es cierto que es una novela compleja pero más en el sentido de todo lo que llega a exponer Vasily Grossman sobre la naturaleza humana, por la gran cantidad de personajes y por esa amalgama de historias, algunas entrelazadas y otras totalmente independientes unas de otras. Me ha impresionado muchísimo porque ahora que estoy intentando descubrir autores rusos post 1917, me encuentro con un libro que de alguna forma y en 1200 páginas, expone mucho de lo que estaba buscando en mi discurrir sobre aquella época. Sin haber leido todavía su secuela, Vida y Destino, que dicen por ahí que es mucho más crítica con el régimen totalitario de Stalin, admito que estoy muy impresionada por el talento de Grossman a la hora de mostrarnos tan vivídamente lo que supone para los habitantes de un país una invasión que lo va arrasando todo a su paso. Grossman toma la estructura de Guerra y Paz, y de paso le hace un homenaje a Tolstoy no solo en el concepto de novela, sino que además sus personajes están homenajeando la obra de Tolstoy en forma de comentarios y alusiones, y a su vez, es el mismo Grossman el que a través de alguna escena, crea una atmósfera totalmente tolstoyana en muchos momentos:


"Cuando Sofía Andreyevna, nieta de Tolstóy, salió de la casa con el abrigo sobre los hombros y el cuerpo encogido de frio, serena y afligida, Krimov no pudo distinguir si era en realidad la princesa María que recorría por última vez el jardín de Lidiye Gori antes de la llegada de los franceses..."


Stalingrado comienza con una escena que enseguida engancha: el tren de Mussolini entrando en la estación de Salzburgo en abril de 1942 para encontrarse con Hitler: se van a reunir porque ambos se creen los dueños de Europa y quieren repartirse Rusia. Es un capitulo fascinante por el contexto histórico y por lo bien que Grossman nos sitúa en el momento esbozando un perfil psicológico e histórico de estos jerarquas, ambos desconfiando uno del otro, cada uno creyéndose superior al otro. A continuación y a partir de esta especie de prólogo histórico, Grossman pasa directamente a situarnos al momento en que un aldeano, Piotr Vavilov acaba de recibir la notificación para incorporarse a filas “si la oficina de reclutamiento hubiese tardado un mes y medio o dos más en notificárselo, habría podido dejar a su familia abastecida con y leña para todo el año.” Es la forma que tiene Vasily Grossman de pasar de lo épico a lo íntimo, una escena colosal en la que Grossman nos sitúa en el momento en que Vavilov llega a casa y se lo comunica a su mujer, que a partir de entonces se quedará sola con sus hijos sin saber lo que les deparará la invasión alemana. Nos encontraremos con Vavilov cientos de páginas después e incluso para entonces nos costará recordar quien es este personaje ya en el frente…,es lo que tiene esta novela, la gran cantidad de personajes que aparecerán mucho después o no, en mucha mayor medida que ocurría por ejemplo en Guerra y Paz, porque aquí Grossman se detendrá en muchos personajes anónimos que no volverán a salir en la novela pero sus pequeñas historias dejarán huella.


"- Me pasé el año disparando, y ya ves dónde estamos. Lo más importante es que no volvamos a perdernos el uno al otro."


Aunque ya mencioné antes que Grossman usa el concepto de novela de Guerra y Paz como modelo para su Stalingrado en el sentido de que a través de una serie de personajes unidos por lazos familiares nos narra un acontecimiento histórico, en el caso de Stalingrado, Grossmann solo toma una familia, los Shaposhnikov, para narrarnos los acontecimientos de la invasión alemana y de cómo transformó la vida soviética para siempre. La matriarca de la familia Shaposhnikov, Alexandra Vladimirovna ("Está noche he soñado con Sáshenka Sháposnikova") es una anciana bolchevique cuyo marido asistió al Congreso de los socialistas rusos en Londres en 1903 y se puede considerar el hilo conductor porque a través de ella conoceremos a sus hijas, yernos, amantes, nietos, amigos, colegas… toda una red entrelazada de personajes que irán al frente o se quedarán en las fábricas, minas, trabajando para el país. A medida que la invasión avanza, estas fábricas, y hornos se iran desmantelando y trasladados más hacia el este, del mismo modo, comenzará una migración de las mujeres y niños por alejarse de los alemanes. Es quizás la forma en la que Grossman se detiene en las pequeñas historias lo que resulta más conmovedor y aunque aparentemente no parezca que Grossman cuestione el régimen, entre líneas se detecta en muchos momentos cómo tuvo que contenerse para que el texto no fuera totalmente baneado pero así y todo se las arregla para que podamos captar las similitudes que expone entre Stalin e Hitler. Un extracto censurado en su momento, como el que cito a continuación es el vivo ejemplo de que para Grossman era esencial el individuo frente a la colectividad que predicaba el régimen:


“Como las aves o los animales migratorios, los individuos que formaban parte de aquella masa en movimiento habían perdido aquello que los conformaba como individuos. Su mundo se había tornado simple de repente y en él solo habia espacio para pensar en el alimento, el agua, el polvo, el calor y el río que cruzaban. Hasta el anhelo de preservar la vida y el miedo a caer pasto de las bombas había quedado en suspenso.“


Un detalle que me ha llamado la atención sobre todo es la forma en que para Grossman tanto los personajes femeninos como los masculinos están al mismo nivel, tanto los hombres en el frente como las mujeres que se quedaron trabajando o en casa, ejercen el mismo protagonismo y es fascinante la cantidad de tipos de mujeres que Grossman retrata sin estereotipos banales, todas y cada una de las mujeres de esta novela, madres o no, ancianas o niñas, todas tienen su importancia, sus matices y de alguna forma marcan la esencia de la naturaleza humana. En este aspecto es una novela total.


“Luego Tamara volvió a contarlo todo desde el principio. Liuba se aburrió porque ya sabía que no tenían abrigos para el invierno, que las habían bombardeado cuatro veces, que la cesta del pan había desaparecido, que en invierno habían viajado durante doce días en un vagón de carga y que no tenían pan, que mamá había tenido que coser, lavar ropa, y trabajar en un huerto, que un kilo de pan había llegado a costar cien rublos, que mamá había cambiado el azúcar y la mantequilla que el intendente les había dado por pan, que, teniendo pan, se vivía mejor en el campo que en la ciudad… Pan, pan, pan. A sus cuatro años, Liuba conocía muy bien el significado de aquella gran palabra.”

[…]

“-Sientese, Antonina Vaisilevna -invitó el mayor. - ¿Le apetecería tomar una copita conmigo?

- Encantada -aceptó la anciana. - En otros tiempos hubiera estado mal visto, pero hoy todas las mujeres beben, lo mismo las jóvenes que las viejas. Aquí mismo, nosotras destilamos nuestro propio vodka y nos lo bebemos. ¿Quién nos lo va a reprochar después de todo lo que hemos sufrido?”


En una novela como ésta se me quedan muchos detalles en el tintero, sin embargo, con esta reseña he querido hacer una primera aproximación sobre esta obra, que me ha sosprendido, y conmovido en muchos momentos. Tan épica como introspectiva, cosa que ya es difcil en un texto de 1200 páginas y sin embargo, hay momentos inolvidables. Volveré a acercarme a estos personajes y a Grossman en cuanto coja fuerzas y me lanze a por Vida y Destino.

"Krimov preguntó a la anciana:
- Entonces, ¿vive usted aquí sola, en medio de la oscuridad y el frio?
- Pues sí. Me paso las noches cantando y contándome cuentos en voz alta."

[Simone Invernizzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completato nel 1952, dopo ben 10 anni di lavoro, “Stalingrado” non è che il primo romanzo di una dilogia scritta dal russo Vasilij Semënovič Grossman; dilogia che prosegue con il più conosciuto “Vita e Destino”, del 1959. Entrambi i volumi, ferocemente attaccati dalla censura sovietica, vennero pubblicati in tutto il mondo solo diversi anni dopo la morte dello scrittore, avvenuta nel 1964, e sono oggi disponibili in due volumi splendidamente curati da Adelphi e pubblicati in versione integrale dalla primavera del 2022.

Il romanzo narra la storia dell’invasione nazista dell’Unione Sovietica durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, ed in particolare dell’assedio della città di Stalingrado, oggi Volgograd, tra la fine del 1942 e gli inizi del 1943. Questa lunga e gigantesca battaglia, definita da alcuni storici come la più importante di tutta la guerra, segnò la prima grande sconfitta politico-militare della Germania nazista e dei suoi alleati sul fronte orientale, nonché l'inizio dell'avanzata sovietica verso ovest, che sarebbe terminata due anni dopo con la conquista del palazzo del Reichstag e il suicidio di Hitler nel bunker della Cancelleria durante la battaglia di Berlino.

Vasilij Grossman non si limita però a raccontare gli eventi storici e bellici in maniera fredda e distaccata, ma ci fa immergere completamente nel dramma di questa spaventosa guerra, raccontandocela attraverso gli occhi di un centinaio di personaggi. Sì, avete letto bene, un centinaio; tanto che, alla fine del libro, l’edizione Adelphi mette a disposizione del lettore un utilissimo elenco dettagliato dei personaggi lungo dieci pagine, proprio per non perdersi.

Al centro della narrazione troviamo la vasta famiglia degli Šapošnikov, guidata dalla matriarca Aleksandra Vladimirovna, e tutto intorno un insieme di personaggi travolti da questa immensa tragedia, dal commissario dell’Armata Rossa Krymov al colonnello Novikov, dal fisico Štrum al soldato Vavilov, passando per sergenti, fonditori, operai, minatori, accademici, medici, autisti, marescialli, mortaisti, generali, impiegati e contadini. Grossman ci racconta magistralmente come questa tempesta di fuoco e morte si abbatte sulle vite dei russi dell’epoca con una crudeltà ed una devastazione inimmaginabile.

Tra le pagine del romanzo troviamo un’infinità di dettagli che solo chi ha vissuto la guerra avrebbe potuto raccontare; e forse sta proprio qui la grandezza di questo scrittore, la capacità di narrare gli eventi che lui stesso aveva vissuto in prima persona, da giornalista di guerra, durante le battaglie di Stalingrado, di Mosca e di Berlino. Gli oltre mille giorni passati al fronte a raccogliere testimonianze e vedere con i propri occhi gli orrori della guerra sono tutti concentrati qui, in un gigantesco romanzo davvero epico ed estremamente coinvolgente.

Grossman ci narra anche della vita quotidiana sotto l’Unione Sovietica di quegli anni, ci racconta dello sforzo bellico straordinario compiuto da un intero popolo, donne incluse, creando un capolavoro della letteratura mondiale che è un vero e proprio tributo agli oltre venti milioni di caduti russi di questa guerra. Una “guerra popolare”, in cui “grandi imprese possono essere compiute da persone semplici e comuni”. In questo romanzo troviamo infatti le reazioni spontanee della popolazione russa davanti all’aggressione tedesca, che mostra l’attaccamento ideologico al proprio ruolo all’interno della comunità in cui vive, nonché la necessità di difendere la propria terra, il proprio popolo e il progetto sovietico.

Impossibile non citare i capitoli in cui Grossman ci fa presenta un dettagliato ritratto di Adolf Hitler e ci parla del suo incontro con Mussolini mentre decide le sorti di milioni di persone, o quelli in cui ci racconta le vicende di ciò che accadeva ad ovest della città di Stalingrado, tra le truppe tedesche guidate dal generale Friedrich Paulus, comandante della 6ª armata nazista. Anche qui lo scrittore utilizza la lente della compassione per descrivere quel poco di umanità che resta tra questi uomini, con le loro virtù e i loro difetti, malgrado la profonda malvagità che alberga nella loro anima.

Nonostante la mole imponente del libro, quasi 900 pagine, i brevi capitoli scorrono velocissimi, uno dietro l’altro, portando con sé descrizioni uniche dei paesaggi intorno al Volga, dell’angosciante attesa in chi vede il nemico avanzare tra le steppe ucraine, delle orribili davastazioni dei bombardamenti, fino alle pagine più crude e strazianti, con passaggi come questo, che ti colpiscono come un pugno allo stomaco: “Lo spettacolo era tremendo, ma ancor più tremenda era la morte negli occhi di un esserino di sei anni schiacciato da una trave di ferro. Perché se esiste una forza capace di risollevare dalla polvere città enormi, non c’è forza al mondo in grado di risollevare le palpebre dagli occhi di un bambino morto.”

Per concludere, mi sento di dover necessariamente spendere due parole per l’unica e bellissima edizione di questo libro pubblicata da Adelphi ad aprile 2022, ma soprattutto per la curatissima traduzione di Claudia Zonghetti, che ha reso questo romanzo uno dei più scorrevoli che abbia mai letto.

[David Carrasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

¿Te has parado a pensar alguna vez en lo que significa realmente el coraje? ¿Qué significa tener coraje cuando la muerte no es una posibilidad remota, sino una presencia constante que te toca de cerca?

Es fácil hablar de valentía en la distancia, desde el confort de una vida sin tragedia. Pero el coraje verdadero no es una palabra en una pancarta; es la decisión de seguir adelante cuando todo te grita que te detengas. Y eso es lo que se siente en las páginas de Por una causa justa, la novela de Vasily Grossman, donde la guerra no es solo un fondo para la historia, sino la gran prueba existencial a la que se enfrenta cada uno de sus personajes. No son héroes sin más, son humanos a quienes se les pide que encuentren algo en sus entrañas que se niega a morir, incluso cuando todo a su alrededor está derrumbándose.

Pero, atención, no te llames a engaño: Por una causa justa no es una novela de guerra. O, por lo menos, no es ‘solo’ una novela sobre la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Porque, como todo lo que escribió Grossman, es mucho más de lo que aparenta. A diferencia de Vida y destino, su novela más celebrada, que retrata la brutalidad del conflicto en su punto álgido, Por una causa justa nos sitúa en la antesala del infierno. Estamos en 1942. La URSS está al borde del colapso. La Blitzkrieg alemana avanza como un tsunami y Stalin, atrapado entre la paranoia y la realidad, exige resistencia absoluta. En pleno asedio de las tropas nazis, los destinos de varios personajes se cruzan en un mosaico de lucha, dudas y supervivencia. En este primer año de la invasión, no solo se libran batallas físicas, sino también ideológicas.

Sí, ya sé, muchos personajes. Demasiados, dirás. Como en Guerra y Paz, claro. Y no, no lo vas a leer como un thriller de ritmo frenético, con nombres fáciles de recordar y una sucesión de acontecimientos que te permite respirar. No. Aquí te vas a encontrar con un desfile de nombres rusos, apellidos que parecen infinitos, patronímicos que se te van a quedar dando vueltas en la cabeza y diminutivos cariñosos que te van a hacer pensar que estás leyendo una telenovela de otra época o que todavía hay más personajes de los que realmente pululan por la novela. Vamos, que en cualquier momento vas a encontrarte con personajes llamados de mil maneras: ‘Iván Ivánovich’, ‘Iván Ivánovich Beriozkin’, ‘Beriozkin’, ‘Ivánek’, ‘Vania’, ‘Vánechka’, o hasta ‘Iván el del bigote’, y siempre es el mismo tipo. Es fácil perder la cuenta de cuántos Iván hay, y puede ser un pequeño dolor de cabeza para quienes no están acostumbrados Pero, mira, no te asustes. Es un pequeño obstáculo que, si lo superas, te va a dar mucho más de lo que imaginas. Mi consejo: tómalo con calma. No intentes recordar cada patronímico a la perfección (porque, sinceramente, no te va a hacer falta). Aprende a dejarte llevar por el flujo de las relaciones, por cómo esos diminutivos crean una atmósfera íntima y profunda. Es como si, a pesar de la aparente confusión, Grossman te estuviera invitando a conocer cada personaje de una forma más personal, más humana. Si lo logras, vas a ver que, al final, no es tan difícil. Y, como todo en la vida, después de un par de Iván, te vas a quedar con los que realmente importan.

La familia Sháposhnikov es el centro de la novela. Pero tenemos también una nutrida galería de personajes secundarios como Abarchuk, el fanático que nunca se cuestiona nada; Nóvikov, el coronel marcado por la guerra; Mostovskói, el viejo marxista que aún cree en la utopía; Krimov, el comisario político de alma fría, o Shtrum, el científico atrapado entre la lógica y el caos. Y, por supuesto, Aleksandra Sháposhnikova, cuyo coraje y vitalidad no solo desafían la muerte, sino que la encaran en cada paso. En este contexto, Grossman nos introduce en la vida de soldados, comandantes, científicos y ciudadanos comunes, cada uno enfrentándose a la guerra a su manera. No hay héroes de cartón aquí. Hay dudas, miedo, pequeñas victorias y derrotas que pesan más que las bombas.

¿Y qué hay de las mujeres en Por una causa justa? Porque si algo está claro, es que el papel de las mujeres en esta historia no está para ser mero decorado, ni mucho menos para pasar desapercibido entre las sombras de los protagonistas masculinos. Aquí las mujeres no son estereotipos, y su labor en la retaguardia es tanto o más significativa que la de los personajes masculinos. Aleksandra Sháposhnikova es la gran estrella femenina de la novela, y no, no estamos ante una heroína de fantasía. Aleksandra se enfrenta a la guerra con la misma intensidad y coraje con el que los hombres se lanzan al frente, pero lo hace desde un lugar muy diferente. No está armada hasta los dientes ni dando discursos grandilocuentes; su resistencia está en los pequeños actos, en el coraje de vivir cuando todo parece condenarte a la muerte. Grossman no necesita hacerla una "superheroína" para que su lucha sea igualmente épica.

Y es que, en este sentido, la guerra no discrimina, y las mujeres tienen que encontrar su espacio en medio de la violencia, la pérdida y el miedo, muchas veces de una forma más silenciosa, pero no menos desgarradora. Grossman nos da un personaje que no clama justicia ni lleva una bandera, pero que, con cada paso, desafía el destino de los suyos y el suyo propio. Y en la forma en la que sobrevive, en cómo se enfrenta a la devastación, encontramos una de las lecciones más conmovedoras del libro: que la verdadera resistencia no siempre está en las armas, sino en la voluntad inquebrantable de seguir adelante.

Grossman no escribe una novela; pinta un mural, un fresco literario monumental. Su estilo es el de un reportero con alma de poeta: precisión endiablada para los detalles, pero con una capacidad para captar la esencia humana que corta el aliento. En su prosa hay espacio para la épica y para la introspección, para la tragedia y para la ironía. Alterna entre lo íntimo y lo colosal con una facilidad asombrosa. Un instante estamos dentro de la mente de un comandante soviético tratando de descifrar las órdenes de un alto mando obsesionado con la ideología; al siguiente, seguimos el destino de una familia que intenta sobrevivir en la retaguardia o nos parte el corazón con esa conmovedora escena de los primeros capítulos en la que el campesino Vavilov recibe la orden de reclutamiento y abandona a su familia para incorporarse a filas.

Es imposible leer este libro sin recordar a Tolstói. La estructura polifónica, la mezcla entre lo individual y lo colectivo, el interés por los pequeños gestos que definen el destino de un hombre. Pero Grossman tiene algo que Tolstói nunca tuvo: la experiencia directa de la guerra moderna. Lo que Tolstói imaginó en Guerra y paz, Grossman lo vio, lo olió, lo tocó… y lo plasmó en la novela.

Una de las cosas más fascinantes de Por una causa justa es que, a pesar de su título propagandístico y del contexto en el que fue escrita (recordemos: la URSS en plena guerra, con el control absoluto del aparato ideológico por parte del régimen de Stalin), hay grietas por las que se filtra la verdad. Grossman de algún modo se mueve entre el realismo y la herejía. Sí, la novela en la superficie exalta la resistencia soviética, pero al mismo tiempo deja ver el costo humano del estalinismo, la burocracia absurda, el miedo constante a decir la palabra equivocada. No es tan abiertamente subversiva como Vida y destino, que fue confiscada por la KGB, pero uno siente que Grossman ya está preparando el terreno.

Porque imagina que te piden escribir una novela sobre la guerra, pero te quitan de las manos todos los colores que no encajan en la paleta oficial. Eso es lo que hizo la censura soviética con Por una causa justa en sus primeras ediciones. Y aquí está lo fascinante: aunque Grossman escribe en medio de esa represión, su mensaje sigue siendo tan claro como un grito de libertad.

Y resulta muy curioso cómo una obra puede ser transformada no solo por la pluma del autor, sino también por las manos invisibles de la censura. Tomemos a Viktor Shtrum, el físico judío cuya historia nos arrastra con una intensidad única en Vida y destino, la segunda parte de esta serie. Aquí, casi con calzador, le colocan un mentor no judío, como si el hecho de ser judío fuera una amenaza o un estorbo para la narrativa oficial. Y luego está la carta de la madre de Shtrum, esa que cuenta la tragedia del gueto de Berdichev. Esa es una de las escenas más desgarradoras de Vida y destino, y en Por una causa justa se menciona, sí, pero nunca sabemos lo que dice. Es como ver el contorno de algo profundo, pero nunca tocar su esencia. ¿Cuántas veces en la historia han sido las palabras simplemente despojadas de su poder por el miedo de que puedan liberar algo que no se puede controlar?

Pero si algo me cautiva de Grossman es cómo, a pesar de la dureza de la historia, siempre logra dejar una rendija para la humanidad, como si la novela tuviera que pelear por cada centímetro de alma que le roba al lector. En cada página hay algo que hace tambalear la idea de que la guerra solo produce monstruos. Grossman, con una mano férrea, nos lanza al corazón del caos, pero con la otra, sostiene con ternura a esos personajes que, a pesar de estar sumidos en la desesperación, se resisten a sucumbir por completo. Cada gesto, cada palabra, resuena con una humanidad que nunca deja de asombrar. Porque, al final, lo que más te atrapa de Por una causa justa no es la crudeza de la guerra, sino lo que permanece dentro de esos personajes, como una chispa de resistencia que desafía todo lo que les está destruyendo.

Ya, todo esto está muy bien, dirás; pero, ¿merece la pena leer las más de 1.000 páginas de Por una causa justa si Vida y destino, según el consenso general, es su obra maestra y son otras 1.000? Pues mira, sí. Absolutamente. Para entender la magnitud de lo que hizo Grossman, hay que leerlas ambas. Es más, deberías empezar con esta antes de leer Vida y destino. Porque aquí es donde conocerás a los personajes cuyo desarrollo vivirás en la segunda novela y muchos matices, características e incluso sucesos que les ocurren se dan ya por sabidos en Vida y destino, por lo que si solo lees esa te vas a perder un mundo y no tendrás la imagen completa. Esta primera parte te permite ver la transformación de sus ideas, la evolución de su estilo, y sobre todo, la forma en que un escritor atrapado en una maquinaria totalitaria encuentra la manera de decir la verdad sin decirla del todo.

Grossman dedicó su vida a capturar la realidad con toda su complejidad. Vivió de primera mano en Stalingrado el horror y la grandeza humana coexistiendo en la misma trinchera, y en Por una causa justa nos invita a entrar en ese mundo. Y una vez dentro, créeme, es imposible salir indemne.


Reseña de Por una causa justa (Stalingrado I)
Reseña de Vida y destino (Stalingrado II)

[Matthew Ted]

A real shame to drop this at the halfway mark, but I'm being more forgiving on myself these days. For one, I'm slowly admitting I don't have the time I used to have. Life takes up a lot of time. For another, I can't bear Grossman's ridiculously wide range of cast characters, which sacrifices both depth and pace. I'm putting this 'on hold', but really that means it's unlikely I'd pick it up anytime soon. A shame, I thought The People Immortal was pretty good.

[Emmeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the day that Germany invades the Soviet Union, Pyotr Novikov undergoes an experience:

As he hurried after the pilots dashing towards the airstrip, he stopped in the middle of the garden where only a few hours earlier he had gone for a stroll. There was a silence, during which it seemed that everything was unchanged: the earth, the grass, the benches, the wicker table under the trees….In that silence, with a wall of foliage shielding him from the flames and smoke, Novikov felt a lacerating sense of historical change that was almost more than he could bear… This change was irrevocable, and although only a millimeter lay between Novikov’s present life and the shore of his previous life, there was no force that could cancel out this gap. [It] was growing, widening; it could already be measured in metres, in kilometres…a nebulous future was swiftly becoming his present.

The epic, thousand-page, commuter-unfriendly Stalingrad, something of a Soviet War and Peace (or rather half of W&P, as it is the first of a two-book whole with Life and Fate) is full of bombings, firestorms, death, heroism, sacrifice, yet it only rarely allows the grand and the historical to overwhelm the intimate. Time and again, the impersonal slaughter of the Second World War is contrasted with tiny moments of humanity: a soldier touches all the tomatoes on the plate to find one that is perfectly ripe, another soldier tears his letters from home to pieces in expectation of his own imminent death, one protagonist looks at a quiet forest as the war begins, a man puts down his fork when his bunker is bombed, he does not want his comrades laughing at him if he is dug out dead holding a fork.

Stalingrad is something of an imperfect masterpiece, creating dozens of personal stories from a statistical tragedy and triumph of numbing proportion. It’s the story of agricultural workers, factory workers, miners, nuclear physicists, educational inspectors, medical officers, nurses, old and young men and women, children, and even the very animals of the Russian steppe.

It aspires to Tolstoy in form and content, although, as translator Robert Chandler points out in his introduction, it is more direct and complex in its treatment of war: Tolstoy wrote of a war from decades earlier, while Grossman was a journalist who experienced the suffering of the Red Army, the Battle of Stalingrad and the discovery of Hitler’s concentration camps directly.

Though there are some propaganda elements in the text, Grossman is in general a fair a nuanced creator of character. The German characters, as well as the Russians, have their good and bad points, and though Hitler is fully villain, he is described uncannily in a way that pulls him out of history and makes him seem human (humanly inhuman) and immediate.

There are flaws with the text, even leaving aside the difficulty of reassembling a base text from various published and unpublished documents: Grossman introduces us to a huge company of characters, then abandons each for hundreds of pages in order to introduce us to more. This is a problem when he goes on to kill a number of these characters in a battle late in the book – it can be difficult to remember who is who.

Meanwhile, while some characters are returned to, others disappear from the text for good, presumably to reappear in Life and Fate. It seemed a poor prize for finishing a thousand pages to immediately have to make plans to read another thousand. Still, it’s a testament to the characters that Grossman has created that I probably will do just that.

[Jeremy Silverman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vasily Grossman's Stalingrad is a masterpiece — sprawling, humane, and unforgettable. I loved it. Grossman introduces us to three generations of the Shaposhnikov Family, their friends, associates, and others too living in and around Stalingrad in the early summer of 1942, with frequent accounts of their prior lives. Following the June 22, 1941 German surprise attack on the Soviet Union (despite their non-aggression pact), the Russian forces have been pushed further and further back, so that a battle for the city of Stalingrad is the obvious next target. Both sides appear to regard a German victory there as tantamount to an overall victory against the Soviet Union.

Yet Stalingrad is far more than just a historical novel; its heart lies in its intimate portrayal of individuals caught within vast historical forces. As many have noted, it seems clear that War and Peace was an important model for Grossman (and apparently for its sequel Life and Fate which still lies ahead for me). Many characters are introduced and, after initially feeling overwhelmed, one by one we come to know them in all their fullness—strengths, weaknesses, quirky habits and related idiosyncrasies. With that care for each character (and even attention to local animals and plant life, along with working factories, mines, rivers), Grossman creates for the reader the whole society and physical environment.

As the battle for the city is engaged, Grossman takes us to many different scenes and introduces other characters connected to the battle or to the environs around it. In the final third (Part Three), Grossman's structure takes on an even stronger 'montage' quality. But rather than any very short glimpses (along the lines of, say, Eisenstein’s Potemkin), each scene and the people in it are again fully developed with lyrical precision. These last chapters brought to mind Dos Passos’s Manhattan Transfer or the USA Trilogy; just as Dos Passos aimed to do for New York City and the whole country in those respective works, ultimately it is Stalingrad, the city and the battle, that becomes the main character of this book.

Grossman reported on the war firsthand for the Soviet press, and by the end of Stalingrad, we feel he has shown us this part of the world at war with a realism and humanity that only the greatest literature can achieve.

[Laura Gotti]

Sono profondamente convinta che i libri giusti appartengano alle giuste stagioni della vita. Questo libro immenso, enorme, prolisso, incantevole e durissimo mi è stato regalato mesi fa e ho molto apprezzato il regalo. Ho aspettato luglio per iniziarlo, quando sono al culmine della sopportazione dell'estate, quando vivo reclusa in casa e i pomeriggi sono lenti e infiniti e caldi. Ho tempo, magari non ho tantissima testa, ma di solito è il periodo ideale per i russi. Me lo sono caricata in vacanza. Ne ho letto tutta la prima parte abbastanza velocemente ma man mano che scorrevano le pagine, pur leggendone la grandezza e riconoscendola, cominciava a subentrare il tedio, il far casino con i nomi dei centinaia di personaggi, l'insofferenza a riprenderlo in mano e, infine, il blocco della lettura. Sono stata senza leggere nulla e quasi tre settimane. Ho ricominciato con altro, avrò mollato almeno tre libri, ecco forse non è il periodo giusto per leggere autori di questa portata. Ho messo un segnalibro bellino alla fine della prima parte, ho preso due appunti e sono certa ci sarà un tempo migliore.

[Davide · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una scrittura grandiosa, che avvolge e emoziona proprio con la grandezza: con l'ampiezza di sentimenti, di personaggi, di vicende, di movimenti; con i passaggi sapienti dal piccolo al grande, dall'alto al basso, dal tragico all'epico al lirico, dall'umano in tutte le sue sfaccettature all'animale al naturale (il Volga come personaggio quasi protagonista).
Intorno, accanto e dentro alla guerra, si dispiega l'epica dell'acciaio, dell'elettricità, del carbone, del lavoro nei campi e nelle case; in generale del lavoro ben fatto.

Molto interessante la postfazione ma chiaramente non si tratta di un'edizione critica per cui si capisce solo a grandi linee che cosa stiamo leggendo. È un'edizione 'inventata' a partire da quella stampata nel 1956 (quindi dopo la morte di Stalin), la più credibile tra le versioni pubblicate, a cui sono stati però aggiunti dal curatore interi brani, frasi o singole parole recuperati dai dattiloscritti, che presumibilmente caddero per censura o autocensura. Ma non si può sapere ovviamente che cosa avrebbe scritto Grossman in una condizione di totale libertà espressiva.

Dopo la lettura della postfazione viene voglia di rileggere subito per cogliere meglio i riferimenti, le allusioni e i ragionamenti potenzialmente pericolosi in epoca staliniana. Ma già preme Vita e destino.

Effetti collaterali: possibile insorgenza di un certo desiderio di combattere in difesa dell'Unione Sovietica.

[Marta SSX · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,4🌟
Nos tempos difíceis, surreais, penosos e angustiantes que assistimos foi, de facto, particularmente estranho e penoso concluir esta leitura porque, inevitavelmente, pensava na guerra que se está a travar, neste momento, aqui tão perto e em pleno século XXI. Apetecia-me agora divagar sobre o que se está a passar na Ucrânia, mas não é este o meu propósito, não aqui no goodreads. Posto isto, e indo ao encontro desta aventura literária de quase 800 páginas, apraz-me dizer que o senhor Grossman, que curiosamente era ucraniano, tinha jeito para a escrita. A sua expressão literária é algo de muito forte, vinca a alma, e ora aquece ou resfria o coração, ora o acelera ou serena, tal é o realismo literário que impera nestas páginas, nas quais encontramos e "convivemos' com homens e mulheres que viveram uma guerra que não pediram, mas que tiveram que lutar com todas as suas forças para enfrentar a maldade, e o incompreensibilidade (pelo menos para mim...)
Nota-se que o senhor Grossman viveu, muitos destes acontecimentos narrados no livro, na primeira pessoa, in loco.
Neste livro entrelaçam-se, primorosamente, a verosimilhança com a verdade, a realidade histórica com a realidade ficcionada.
A arquitetura do livro está muito bem conseguida, a sua construção está perfeita, todos estes factores mencionados fazem de Grossman um excelente escritor.
O livro está dividido em três partes, a última foi, na minha opinião, menos interessante e em certas partes um bocadinho entediante, mas não invalida a magnanimidade desta obra.
Valeu muito a sua leitura e a reflexão que me permitiu fazer...

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one view of the eastern front in WWII. Beginning in June 1941, the Germans pushed the Russians eastward. The Russians retreated across rivers until they had their backs to the Volga. On the east side of the Volga is Asia and the army decided enough was enough. Retreat no more! Thus became the battle of Stalingrad.

For me, there are two negatives. At nearly 1000 pages of text with footnotes, maps and a publishing history more, it is at least 200 pages too long. My thinking that might be influenced by the biggest negative: there are too many characters and the story is told from too many points of view.

By the time I got to the last page, both of those negatives had been overcome. So much so, in fact, that I briefly considered jumping immediately into Life and Fate, which I understand picks up where Stalingrad ends.

And why? All those points of view are *exactly* the right way to tell this story. War isn't one battle and it isn't waged by just one general. This story is about the largest land war in human history. How else to tell how vast it was and that it affected so many - both soldier and civilian - in so many different ways. Grossman was a journalist. That is not to say this reads like a series of newspaper articles - far from it. But journalists often have a broader view and Grossman was actually there. And Grossman *can* write. Yes, a lot of this is as much matter of fact as one might expect only to have such as this slipped in when least expected:

The many-hued birch and aspen leaves shone, greeting the morning. The air felt quite still, yet leaves here and there began to tremble; it was as if thousands of butterflies—small tortoiseshells, red admirals, swallowtails—were about to take wing and fill the transparent air with their weightless beauty.

For me, 5-stars might be a slight exaggeration, but I can't help myself.