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Несколько печальных дней
В книгу одного из крупнейших мастеров русской советской прозы Василия Гроссмана (1905 — 1964) вошли почти все лучшие произведения, созданные писателем за тридцать лет творческой деятельности, ставшие уже библиографической редкостью («Четыре дня», «В городе Бердичеве», «Повесть о любви», «Тиргартен» и др.). Уважением к человеку, осмыслением глубинных точек человеческой жизни пронизаны впервые издаваемые рассказы. Их отличает ощущение праздничности бытия при всех его теневых сторонах. Достоинство прозы писателя — богатство и пластичность языка, стремление к афористически насыщенному слову, тонкий психологизм, подлинно высокий драматизм повествования. В. Гроссман — автор и посмертно изданного романа «Жизнь и судьба», который по глубине и масштабности является одной из серьезнейших работ последнего времени.
- GenresRussia
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1934
19 people want to read
About the author
Vasily Grossman
68 books991 followersBorn 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 1, 2024
И вот, именно теперь, в эти минуты, во время дождя, и в царствие другой тишине, все это было и романтично и немножко грустно. Серая плотная мгла лежит над огромным пространством и бесконечно горько уверенно ожидая перемены и новой судьбы.
Повесть о любви ⭐️
Авель (Шестого августа) ⭐️
Лось ⭐️
Тиргартен ⭐️
Повесть о любви ⭐️
Авель (Шестого августа) ⭐️
Лось ⭐️
Тиргартен ⭐️
October 27, 2012
A foreigner who misses a lot of the nuance when reading in Russian is not the right person to review this book ("A Few Sad Days"), a collection of mostly short stories. I'm going to give it a shot anyway.
The first story, Четыре дня (Four Days), which is set behind the lines during the Polish-Soviet war of 1920-21, impressed me with its multi-layered and almost affectionate portrayal of variously flawed human beings, non-judgmental even towards those who beliefs don't agree with Grossman's. This hallmark love of life, as the introduction points out, runs through the entire book.
The other stories written in the 1930's and 1940's suffer from a dose of "socialist realism", though I don't doubt Grossman's sincerity and for me, at least, some of them provided an interesting perspective on the era. They also set a trend, in that even when the author gets his own voice fully back the later narratives labour rather too hard to make a point. What saves the book is that Grossman's "points" are almost always good ones.
The epitome of this is the barely one-page Жилица (She Lived Here), about an elderly woman freed from the gulag during the 'thaw' who lives less than a week in a Moscow communal apartment before passing away, essentially unnoticed by her neighbors, who show equally little interest in the notice that arrives some time later, 'pardoning' her deceased husband as well. As a story Жилица is trivial; as a heartfelt reflection on the irreparable tragedy of Stalinism it is spot on.
Two non-fiction compositions at the end of the book are also worthy of mention. In "The Sistine Madonna" Grossman is overwhelmed by the Raphael painting, which he associates with the mothers and children heading to extinction at Treblinka - and human tragedy in general. Like На вечном покое ("In Eternal Peace"), a nitty-gritty reflection on the life that lies behind a cemetery, it underscores his fundamental love of humanity and indeed of life itself, as demonstrated in part by his frequent use of animal characters - "Tiergarten" about the Berlin Zoo in May 1945 is particularly memorable.
Grossman's faith in our indestructible humanity is no small thing for a man who lived through 20th century Russia. It makes him worth reading.
The first story, Четыре дня (Four Days), which is set behind the lines during the Polish-Soviet war of 1920-21, impressed me with its multi-layered and almost affectionate portrayal of variously flawed human beings, non-judgmental even towards those who beliefs don't agree with Grossman's. This hallmark love of life, as the introduction points out, runs through the entire book.
The other stories written in the 1930's and 1940's suffer from a dose of "socialist realism", though I don't doubt Grossman's sincerity and for me, at least, some of them provided an interesting perspective on the era. They also set a trend, in that even when the author gets his own voice fully back the later narratives labour rather too hard to make a point. What saves the book is that Grossman's "points" are almost always good ones.
The epitome of this is the barely one-page Жилица (She Lived Here), about an elderly woman freed from the gulag during the 'thaw' who lives less than a week in a Moscow communal apartment before passing away, essentially unnoticed by her neighbors, who show equally little interest in the notice that arrives some time later, 'pardoning' her deceased husband as well. As a story Жилица is trivial; as a heartfelt reflection on the irreparable tragedy of Stalinism it is spot on.
Two non-fiction compositions at the end of the book are also worthy of mention. In "The Sistine Madonna" Grossman is overwhelmed by the Raphael painting, which he associates with the mothers and children heading to extinction at Treblinka - and human tragedy in general. Like На вечном покое ("In Eternal Peace"), a nitty-gritty reflection on the life that lies behind a cemetery, it underscores his fundamental love of humanity and indeed of life itself, as demonstrated in part by his frequent use of animal characters - "Tiergarten" about the Berlin Zoo in May 1945 is particularly memorable.
Grossman's faith in our indestructible humanity is no small thing for a man who lived through 20th century Russia. It makes him worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews