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Vasili Grossman y el siglo soviético (Memoria Crítica)
The definitive biography of Soviet Jewish dissident writer Vasily Grossman
If Vasily Grossman’s 1961 masterpiece, Life and Fate, had been published during his lifetime, it would have reached the world together with Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago and before Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag. But Life and Fate was seized by the KGB. When it emerged posthumously, decades later, it was recognized as the War and Peace of the twentieth century. Always at the epicenter of events, Grossman (1905–1964) was among the first to describe the Holocaust and the Ukrainian famine. His 1944 article “The Hell of Treblinka” became evidence at Nuremberg. Grossman’s powerful anti‑totalitarian works liken the Nazis’ crimes against humanity with those of Stalin. His compassionate prose has the everlasting quality of great art. Because Grossman’s major works appeared after much delay we are only now able to examine them properly. Alexandra Popoff’s authoritative biography illuminates Grossman’s life and legacy.
If Vasily Grossman’s 1961 masterpiece, Life and Fate, had been published during his lifetime, it would have reached the world together with Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago and before Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag. But Life and Fate was seized by the KGB. When it emerged posthumously, decades later, it was recognized as the War and Peace of the twentieth century. Always at the epicenter of events, Grossman (1905–1964) was among the first to describe the Holocaust and the Ukrainian famine. His 1944 article “The Hell of Treblinka” became evidence at Nuremberg. Grossman’s powerful anti‑totalitarian works liken the Nazis’ crimes against humanity with those of Stalin. His compassionate prose has the everlasting quality of great art. Because Grossman’s major works appeared after much delay we are only now able to examine them properly. Alexandra Popoff’s authoritative biography illuminates Grossman’s life and legacy.
1651 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 26, 2019
55 people are currently reading
698 people want to read
About the author
Alexandra Popoff
6 books45 followersALEXANDRA POPOFF is a former Moscow journalist and Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow. She is an expert on Russian cultural history and the author of five literary biographies, including the award-winning VASILY GROSSMAN (2019) and SOPHIA TOLSTOY (2010). Her book THE WIVES became a Wall Street Journal best non-fiction title for 2012. Popoff's latest book is a concise interpretive biography of AYN RAND ( Yale UP, Jewish Lives, 2024).
VASILY GROSSMAN AND THE SOVIET CENTURY won the 2019 Canadian Jewish Literary award for Biography, became a Finalist in the 2019 National Jewish Book Awards, Biography category, and was long-listed for the 2019 Cundill History Prize.
Popoff has written for The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, National Post, The Globe and Mail, Literary Hub, Tablet Magazine, and Times Literary Supplement. She lives in Canada.
VASILY GROSSMAN AND THE SOVIET CENTURY won the 2019 Canadian Jewish Literary award for Biography, became a Finalist in the 2019 National Jewish Book Awards, Biography category, and was long-listed for the 2019 Cundill History Prize.
Popoff has written for The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, National Post, The Globe and Mail, Literary Hub, Tablet Magazine, and Times Literary Supplement. She lives in Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
May 31, 2019
I have rewritten this. I was too tired when I wrote it last night!
This book is a biography of the Ukrainian author and war correspondent Vasily Grossman (1905 – 1964). It provides also a recap of the historical events that played out in his homeland, the Soviet Union, during the six decades of his life. The Bolshevik Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Patriotic War and the totalitarian reigns of Hitler and Stalin must all be covered because they intimately shape his life. Grossman was Jewish, born in Berdychiv, Ukraine. He forever mourned the death of his mother-- in September 1941, the Nazis captured his birthplace where his mother was then residing.
The book focuses to a large extent on his writing—what he wanted to say through his books. It shows in great detail the difficulties he and other authors encountered in getting their books published. Stalin’s purges meant that falling out of favor often resulted in death.
The book is more about what he did rather than who he was. Family relationships are discussed but not to the extent that I really truly got to understand his personality. His relationships with his two wives, daughter, two stepsonss and diverse lovers are covered in a cursory manner.
Grossman’s essays and books, such as Life and Fate, Forever Flowing and An Armenian Sketchbook, are discussed. They are explained, analyzed and dissected in minute detail. Characters in his books are based on people he knew in real life. I realize now that I would have gotten much more from Popoff’s book had I first read Grossman’s own books. I would have been able to judge to what extent I agree with the conclusions drawn.
I found the text sometimes repetitive and other times unclear. The telling gets sidetracked which led to my being confused. I found Wikipedia’s information clearer and more concise. Wiki’s articles helped me understand what was more confusingly stated in Popoff’s book! Reading this book has been like learning how to swim by jumping into a pool at the deep end.
The book seems to be well researched, but I wish it more often stated the exact source material for the conclusions drawn. Perhaps the paper version has footnotes?
Stefan Rudnicki narrates the audiobook. He reads at a good tempo and is easy to follow. His narration I have given four stars.
Maybe it sounds like I am just complaining, but I am glad to have read the book although the general historical facts presented are not new and I wish I had picked it up after reading Life and Fate, his magnus opus. Grossman wants readers to see the close similarity between Hitler and Stalin. He focuses on the individual, on the humanity of man and that freedom should be a universal right.
*****************
Related reading
*The Wives: The Women Behind Russia's Literary Giants 4 star
*Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century 3 stars
*Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva 5 stars
*Stalin's Children: Three Generations of Love and War 4 stars
*The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia 4 stars
*Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, 1921-1933 3 stars
*Just Send Me Word: A True Story of Love and Survival in the Gulag TBR soon
*Life and Fate TBR soon
Stalingrad TBR
*The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin TBR
*The Bones of Berdichev: The Life and Fate of Vasily Grossman TBR
This book is a biography of the Ukrainian author and war correspondent Vasily Grossman (1905 – 1964). It provides also a recap of the historical events that played out in his homeland, the Soviet Union, during the six decades of his life. The Bolshevik Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Patriotic War and the totalitarian reigns of Hitler and Stalin must all be covered because they intimately shape his life. Grossman was Jewish, born in Berdychiv, Ukraine. He forever mourned the death of his mother-- in September 1941, the Nazis captured his birthplace where his mother was then residing.
The book focuses to a large extent on his writing—what he wanted to say through his books. It shows in great detail the difficulties he and other authors encountered in getting their books published. Stalin’s purges meant that falling out of favor often resulted in death.
The book is more about what he did rather than who he was. Family relationships are discussed but not to the extent that I really truly got to understand his personality. His relationships with his two wives, daughter, two stepsonss and diverse lovers are covered in a cursory manner.
Grossman’s essays and books, such as Life and Fate, Forever Flowing and An Armenian Sketchbook, are discussed. They are explained, analyzed and dissected in minute detail. Characters in his books are based on people he knew in real life. I realize now that I would have gotten much more from Popoff’s book had I first read Grossman’s own books. I would have been able to judge to what extent I agree with the conclusions drawn.
I found the text sometimes repetitive and other times unclear. The telling gets sidetracked which led to my being confused. I found Wikipedia’s information clearer and more concise. Wiki’s articles helped me understand what was more confusingly stated in Popoff’s book! Reading this book has been like learning how to swim by jumping into a pool at the deep end.
The book seems to be well researched, but I wish it more often stated the exact source material for the conclusions drawn. Perhaps the paper version has footnotes?
Stefan Rudnicki narrates the audiobook. He reads at a good tempo and is easy to follow. His narration I have given four stars.
Maybe it sounds like I am just complaining, but I am glad to have read the book although the general historical facts presented are not new and I wish I had picked it up after reading Life and Fate, his magnus opus. Grossman wants readers to see the close similarity between Hitler and Stalin. He focuses on the individual, on the humanity of man and that freedom should be a universal right.
*****************
Related reading
*The Wives: The Women Behind Russia's Literary Giants 4 star
*Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century 3 stars
*Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva 5 stars
*Stalin's Children: Three Generations of Love and War 4 stars
*The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia 4 stars
*Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, 1921-1933 3 stars
*Just Send Me Word: A True Story of Love and Survival in the Gulag TBR soon
*Life and Fate TBR soon
Stalingrad TBR
*The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin TBR
*The Bones of Berdichev: The Life and Fate of Vasily Grossman TBR
June 16, 2019
This is a new biography of Vasily Grossman, a Soviet dissident writer and journalist, who reported from the key battles of the Nazi-Soviet War, especially the battle of Stalingrad. As a writer, he also wrote large scale novels and other works on the war, including “Life and Fate”, which highlighted the similarities between the brutalities of Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union. While he prospered during the war, his books were suppressed after the war when he ran afoul of changing political winds with anti-semitism and the rise of the Cold War - “Life and Fate” was even “arrested” by the KGB and not published until long after Grossman’s death — during the Gorbachev period before the end of the USSR. Grossman’s writings have informed many English researchers and journalists analyzing the Soviet era, including Robert Conquest and Anne Applebaum. Some of his work has even motivated movies about the war, for example “Enemy at the Gates” about dueling snipers in Stalingrad.
I read this biography to jump start another attempt at reading “Life and Fate”, which I had stalled on. Grossman’s novel is quite long and I wanted to get some background to motivate a more concerted push to read the book.
This biography is well done and engaging. Ms. Popoff writes well and has clearly done her homework. Given that Grossman died over fifty years ago, the author does an excellent job of telling the story and explaining why that story remains important. In particular, while the publication of dissident Soviet writings is no longer that newsworthy cultural event it once was, the recent efforts of Putin and others to renew an appreciation of Russia’s history of strong leadership has been associated with efforts to downplay the violence and brutality of Soviet regime, a brutality that began with Lenin and the Civil War well before Stalin came to power. Grossman’s life provides a countervailing message that an acknowledgment of the Soviet past with its dark features and a reconciliation process for past crimes is essential if Russian autocracy is not to unthinkingly return in a new guise. This is a strong message and if anything Ms. Popoff could have emphasized it even more than she did. But this is a minor question of emphasis in a complex and very readable work.
This is a fine and moving biography.
I read this biography to jump start another attempt at reading “Life and Fate”, which I had stalled on. Grossman’s novel is quite long and I wanted to get some background to motivate a more concerted push to read the book.
This biography is well done and engaging. Ms. Popoff writes well and has clearly done her homework. Given that Grossman died over fifty years ago, the author does an excellent job of telling the story and explaining why that story remains important. In particular, while the publication of dissident Soviet writings is no longer that newsworthy cultural event it once was, the recent efforts of Putin and others to renew an appreciation of Russia’s history of strong leadership has been associated with efforts to downplay the violence and brutality of Soviet regime, a brutality that began with Lenin and the Civil War well before Stalin came to power. Grossman’s life provides a countervailing message that an acknowledgment of the Soviet past with its dark features and a reconciliation process for past crimes is essential if Russian autocracy is not to unthinkingly return in a new guise. This is a strong message and if anything Ms. Popoff could have emphasized it even more than she did. But this is a minor question of emphasis in a complex and very readable work.
This is a fine and moving biography.
May 22, 2019
The title of this biography, “Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century,” shows that this is not simply the life of a man, but of the time he lived in. Vasily Grossman is best known for his work, “Life and Fate,” but this book was seized by the KGB in 1961 and the author died before his work was ever published. Grossman lived in a time where a novel could be arrested and he wrote constantly of the inhumanity of a totalitarian system; drawing parallels between Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Germany and hoping that Russia could deal with its past, as Germany did. While Stalin saw the state as of paramount importance, and people, disposable, Grossman never lost sight of the individual.
Vasily Grossman was a man who had witnessed suffering, who had experienced fear, and who knew grief. His mother, who was Jewish, was killed by the Germans in the war and Vasily Grossman never ceased to miss her – writing poignant letters to her, long after she was dead. Although, like others, he feared the power of the State, he was personally brave. When his lover, Olga, was arrested, he moved quickly to adopt her sons, so they would not be taken into State orphanages, and wrote a letter in her defence.
Working as a war correspondent, Grossman reported on major, world events; most notably the Battle of Stalingrad and of the discovery of Treblinka. He was one of the first journalists, and writers, to tackle the difficult subjects of collaboration and of the holocaust. Always an outsider, due to his Jewish heritage, he sympathised with the powerless and those who suffered, wherever they were. He wrote of the famine in Ukraine, of mass executions, of those who found themselves trapped by war. Not only of great events, but of how those events affected individual experiences.
The arrest of, “Life and Fate,” sent shockwaves through the community of writers in Russia. Grossman pleaded for the freedom of his novel. It is sad that he never saw his words reach readers, beyond a small literary elite in Russia, but good to know that his work has survived. He was an important witness of an era that, to most of us, is unimaginable. With the publication of, “Stalingrad,” (prequel to “Life and Fate,”) soon to be published in English for the first time, I found this biography a fascinating look at the writer, and the times he lived in.
Vasily Grossman was a man who had witnessed suffering, who had experienced fear, and who knew grief. His mother, who was Jewish, was killed by the Germans in the war and Vasily Grossman never ceased to miss her – writing poignant letters to her, long after she was dead. Although, like others, he feared the power of the State, he was personally brave. When his lover, Olga, was arrested, he moved quickly to adopt her sons, so they would not be taken into State orphanages, and wrote a letter in her defence.
Working as a war correspondent, Grossman reported on major, world events; most notably the Battle of Stalingrad and of the discovery of Treblinka. He was one of the first journalists, and writers, to tackle the difficult subjects of collaboration and of the holocaust. Always an outsider, due to his Jewish heritage, he sympathised with the powerless and those who suffered, wherever they were. He wrote of the famine in Ukraine, of mass executions, of those who found themselves trapped by war. Not only of great events, but of how those events affected individual experiences.
The arrest of, “Life and Fate,” sent shockwaves through the community of writers in Russia. Grossman pleaded for the freedom of his novel. It is sad that he never saw his words reach readers, beyond a small literary elite in Russia, but good to know that his work has survived. He was an important witness of an era that, to most of us, is unimaginable. With the publication of, “Stalingrad,” (prequel to “Life and Fate,”) soon to be published in English for the first time, I found this biography a fascinating look at the writer, and the times he lived in.
Want to read
May 12, 2019Review in the Financial Times: Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century — poignant witness
February 16, 2021
Una apasionante biografía de mi escritor favorito del siglo XX, cuya vida es muy novelesca a su pesar. Vasili Grossman era, probablemente, un literato que no quería vivir "tiempos interesantes" como te desean los chinos pero el terrible siglo se le vino encima, primero con la mentira bolchevique que se creyó, la colectivización de los años 30, las horribles purgas de 1937, la invasión nazi de 1941, el antisemitismo de Stalin después de la victoria, etc... A todos estos acontecimientos supo contestar con una heroica actitud decente, no exenta de algunas flaquezas que le atormentaron siempre. De todo ello deja rastro milagrosamente en sus novelas, cabe decir, porque otros autores se quedaron por el camino del GULAG y la muerte. Algo que nunca perdonará Grossman a su estado, la URSS, es el inmenso capital humano de millones de víctimas sacrificadas por la atrocidad del régimen comunista, al que considera idéntico en sus características esenciales al régimen nazi. Tantas personas con capacidades científicas, técnicas y artísticas arrancadas en sus primeros brotes, por la brutalidad del totalitarismo.
Alexandra Popoff ha escrito una biografía completa de Grossman, vital y artística, para todos aquellos que hayan leído "Vida y destino" o "Todo fluye", la lectura de este libro es muy recomendable. Como dijo Ilia Ehrenburg en su funeral, "Vasili no nos dijo cómo debíamos escribir sino qué debíamos escribir", con valentía y dignidad.
Alexandra Popoff ha escrito una biografía completa de Grossman, vital y artística, para todos aquellos que hayan leído "Vida y destino" o "Todo fluye", la lectura de este libro es muy recomendable. Como dijo Ilia Ehrenburg en su funeral, "Vasili no nos dijo cómo debíamos escribir sino qué debíamos escribir", con valentía y dignidad.
March 7, 2022
Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century was published in 2019, so presents a slightly different perspective to The Bones of Berdichev: The Life and Fate of Vasily Grossman (2006). The latter biography includes more detailed consideration of the Holocaust in Ukraine, while Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century is a more straightforward narrative of Grossman's life. Popoff writes lucidly and thoughtfully, inevitably covering a lot of the same ground as the Garrards. She adds some interesting material on Grossman's interactions with other writers - I learned that he was friends with Andrei Platanov but dismissive of Boris Pasternak. I also appreciated the tracing of sources Grossman used to inform Everything Flows. The main addition is, however, an account of how Grossman's work has been treated over the past 25 years.
It is particularly striking to read a biography of Vasily Grossman in March 2022, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine dominates the news. Grossman and his family were from Ukraine and woven through his life story are the brutalities that the country suffered during the first half of the 20th century: violent conflict during the Russian Civil War (as depicted in Bulgakov's The White Guard), organised famine during Stalin's collectivisation, genocidal Nazi occupation, and brutal reoccupation by Stalin. Now the country is once again at war. Popoff's epilogue comments upon Putin's rehabilitation of Stalin over the past twenty years and how it has reduced the popularity of Grossman's writing, which seems relevant to the current conflict:
In 2013, 52 years after Grossman's manuscripts of Life and Fate were arrested, the FSB released them and marked the occasion a public ceremony. 10,043 pages in total were set free for public access. No apology from the FSB is mentioned. Elena Yakovich, the maker of a 2014 documentary about Grossman, reflects upon the imprisoned novel:
While he is 'marginally known' and 'highly respected among intellectuals and human rights activists', Grossman's work is more celebrated in Western Europe. Popoff also quotes this striking comment made by Hannah Arendt in 1974, which of course applies well beyond Russia:
This recalls Peter Pomerantsev's Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia and This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality. Such books about contemporary Russia read well with Vasily Grossman's novels, which offer peerlessly lucid insight into the past brutalities of Stalinist Russia during war- and peacetime. He is both a timeless and sadly timely writer at present.
It is particularly striking to read a biography of Vasily Grossman in March 2022, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine dominates the news. Grossman and his family were from Ukraine and woven through his life story are the brutalities that the country suffered during the first half of the 20th century: violent conflict during the Russian Civil War (as depicted in Bulgakov's The White Guard), organised famine during Stalin's collectivisation, genocidal Nazi occupation, and brutal reoccupation by Stalin. Now the country is once again at war. Popoff's epilogue comments upon Putin's rehabilitation of Stalin over the past twenty years and how it has reduced the popularity of Grossman's writing, which seems relevant to the current conflict:
In 2015, during the seventieth anniversary of V-Day, central bookstores in Moscow displayed numerous war novels in their windows, but none of Grossman's. His main argument that both the Nazi and the Soviet totalitarian regimes had committed genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity is officially denied in Russia. Under Putin the memory of Communist terror has been overlaid with the myth of the country's great history.
In 2013, 52 years after Grossman's manuscripts of Life and Fate were arrested, the FSB released them and marked the occasion a public ceremony. 10,043 pages in total were set free for public access. No apology from the FSB is mentioned. Elena Yakovich, the maker of a 2014 documentary about Grossman, reflects upon the imprisoned novel:
As Yakovich told this writer, she could not imagine Life and Fate being published in the USSR in the 1960s or how Soviet society would have been affected by it. But the impact of concurrent publication in the West can be known, she says. If Life and Fate had appeared abroad in the 1960s, it would have become 'an international cultural sensation' and impacted the discourse on Stalinis in the world. The postponement of its publication 'stole' such momentum from Grossman and his novel.
While he is 'marginally known' and 'highly respected among intellectuals and human rights activists', Grossman's work is more celebrated in Western Europe. Popoff also quotes this striking comment made by Hannah Arendt in 1974, which of course applies well beyond Russia:
"What makes it possible for a totalitarian or other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer... And a people that no longer believes anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can do what you please."
This recalls Peter Pomerantsev's Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia and This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality. Such books about contemporary Russia read well with Vasily Grossman's novels, which offer peerlessly lucid insight into the past brutalities of Stalinist Russia during war- and peacetime. He is both a timeless and sadly timely writer at present.
October 5, 2021
An excellent book.
As the title suggests this book is more than a biography of the author of 'Stalingrad' and 'Life and Fate,' and it could be no other way. For nearly all of his 58 years Grossman's life was a struggle, a response to the social and political forces of his turbulent time – he was twelve when the October Revolution changed Russian life – Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, the Purges, WWII, the concentration camps and the Gulag. He was a writer on the wrong side of his time, his work, his very existence, subject to the whims of the Stalinist State. His is an engrossing, riveting story, told magnificently by author Popoff. If you are an admirer of Grossman's work, this biography is a must read.
As the title suggests this book is more than a biography of the author of 'Stalingrad' and 'Life and Fate,' and it could be no other way. For nearly all of his 58 years Grossman's life was a struggle, a response to the social and political forces of his turbulent time – he was twelve when the October Revolution changed Russian life – Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, the Purges, WWII, the concentration camps and the Gulag. He was a writer on the wrong side of his time, his work, his very existence, subject to the whims of the Stalinist State. His is an engrossing, riveting story, told magnificently by author Popoff. If you are an admirer of Grossman's work, this biography is a must read.
October 21, 2025
Well researched and written
This is a well researched and sensitively written biography. Engaging and entertaining, it discusses Vasily Grossman’s writing on the front line at the battle of Stalingrad, along with the Red Army through the gates of the Nazi death camps, and fighting for the publication of his fiction under the Stalin regime. This is an impressive historical account of the crimes committed by Stalin and the behemoth USSR bureaucracy. But this is also a fine literary biography.
This is a well researched and sensitively written biography. Engaging and entertaining, it discusses Vasily Grossman’s writing on the front line at the battle of Stalingrad, along with the Red Army through the gates of the Nazi death camps, and fighting for the publication of his fiction under the Stalin regime. This is an impressive historical account of the crimes committed by Stalin and the behemoth USSR bureaucracy. But this is also a fine literary biography.
November 5, 2019
Popoff not only documents Grossman's life and works, but also provides a historical overview of other Soviet dissident literature in relation to Grossman, as well as oppression in the Soviet Union. I found this account fascinating, and definitely recommend.
June 23, 2019
This is an outstandingly good book, Scary and prescient in the descriptions of its time. If there is both a time of outrage, and, when history appears to have both rhyme and rhythm this is it.
The book consists of 15 chapters, an Epilogue, notes, bibliography, etc. It is 326 reading pages, not including the preface. It is engaging on every page and packed with detail.
Vasily Grossman is little know in the west, except by a few. His work first appeared in 1980, but really never caught on in the west until about 2014 - 50 years after his death in 1964. His work titled "Life and Fate" has been compared to Tolstoy's "War and Peace."
Life and Fate put Stalin and Socialism on trial. He compared the crimes of the Communists with those of the Nazi's . His work would appear two years before Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag Archipelago." His decision to attempt to publish Life and fate in the USSR has been described as both an act of desperation and defiance.
In 1961, his apartment was raided by the KGB and his manuscript was "arrested." He was told his work was more dangerous than 'Doctor Zhivago', and it could be at least 250 years, if then, that it would ever publish. A Soviet writer would declare his work was as explosive as a nuclear bomb - that its historical facts endangered a regime founded on fabrications.
Grossman's work would also appear in Antony Beevor's ground breaking book "Stalingrad."
What is striking about Alexandra's expose of Vasily is the use of previous unpublished archives and translation's.
I wont give away any spoilers. You have to read this book. I am astounded at its clarity and descriptions -his observations - beginning with his life as a young man. The First World War and the Russian Civil War would shape him immensely. So would his time in schools abroad.
The Death Rattle of the Romanov Dynasty, the 8 months of short lived democracy, and then the Red Terror are the best best prose and descriptions I have ever read on the development of an insurgency and tyrannical ideology. People branded as enemy of the state; "former people," meaning they had no name, country or meaning; educational and political decrees meant to debase and erase - to revise and rewrite - to create a political indoctrination where "more than bullets, people would fear the indignities and humiliations at the hands of a tyrannical political minority are brilliant prose.
"In February, 1917, the path of freedom lay open to Russia. Russia chose Lenin." Because Lenin "promised her mountains of gold and rivers flowing with wine."
The Bolsheviks would institutionalize the concept of 'enemy of the people' and use the media and government entities to carry out its terror. (Sounds remarkably similar to comments made by some current US Politicians and the current state of sentiment in the social media for anyone that disagrees with ones views. )
All in All, I highly suggest this book. I am waiting for the delivery of "Life and Fate"
The book consists of 15 chapters, an Epilogue, notes, bibliography, etc. It is 326 reading pages, not including the preface. It is engaging on every page and packed with detail.
Vasily Grossman is little know in the west, except by a few. His work first appeared in 1980, but really never caught on in the west until about 2014 - 50 years after his death in 1964. His work titled "Life and Fate" has been compared to Tolstoy's "War and Peace."
Life and Fate put Stalin and Socialism on trial. He compared the crimes of the Communists with those of the Nazi's . His work would appear two years before Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag Archipelago." His decision to attempt to publish Life and fate in the USSR has been described as both an act of desperation and defiance.
In 1961, his apartment was raided by the KGB and his manuscript was "arrested." He was told his work was more dangerous than 'Doctor Zhivago', and it could be at least 250 years, if then, that it would ever publish. A Soviet writer would declare his work was as explosive as a nuclear bomb - that its historical facts endangered a regime founded on fabrications.
Grossman's work would also appear in Antony Beevor's ground breaking book "Stalingrad."
What is striking about Alexandra's expose of Vasily is the use of previous unpublished archives and translation's.
I wont give away any spoilers. You have to read this book. I am astounded at its clarity and descriptions -his observations - beginning with his life as a young man. The First World War and the Russian Civil War would shape him immensely. So would his time in schools abroad.
The Death Rattle of the Romanov Dynasty, the 8 months of short lived democracy, and then the Red Terror are the best best prose and descriptions I have ever read on the development of an insurgency and tyrannical ideology. People branded as enemy of the state; "former people," meaning they had no name, country or meaning; educational and political decrees meant to debase and erase - to revise and rewrite - to create a political indoctrination where "more than bullets, people would fear the indignities and humiliations at the hands of a tyrannical political minority are brilliant prose.
"In February, 1917, the path of freedom lay open to Russia. Russia chose Lenin." Because Lenin "promised her mountains of gold and rivers flowing with wine."
The Bolsheviks would institutionalize the concept of 'enemy of the people' and use the media and government entities to carry out its terror. (Sounds remarkably similar to comments made by some current US Politicians and the current state of sentiment in the social media for anyone that disagrees with ones views. )
All in All, I highly suggest this book. I am waiting for the delivery of "Life and Fate"
July 18, 2023
I can't help thinking that anyone arriving here has first read Vasily Grossman's epic Life And Fate. If not, stop and do so. It's a marvel, and the only thing that has so far prevented me from following up my five-star rating with a review is that the novel is such a monumental work that I hardly know where to begin or how to do it justice, even after having read it a second time.
Aside from the power of Vasily Grossman's fiction, what impresses me about his writing, and that of his Soviet-era peers like Andrei Platonov, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Varlam Shalamov, is that in a country that did not guarantee freedom of the press, and under a brutal regime that suppressed and punished expressions deviating from the Communist Party line, Grossman felt compelled to write works critical of that regime, works that could have resulted not only in his imprisonment and death, but of similar punishment of his family members and anyone who may have known about or assisted in his efforts to complete and hide his work. Having begun his writing career as a war correspondent, Grossman's bravery was first tested under front-line fire from attacking Nazis. It took similar courage to write under the threat of Stalin's Great Terror. There was no upside to finishing the novel. Grossman knew the unlikelihood that it would be published during Stalin's rule, and in fact the KGB sought to arrest his manuscript--you read that correctly--searching his residence and even removing the ribbon from his typewriter in attempts to decipher what he had written.
(For young readers of this review, a typewriter is an archaic mechanical word processor--an intermediate successor to the quill pen--digital only in the sense that fingers are required for its operation.)
Given Vasily Grossman's efforts to hide his work from Soviet authorities, and the KGB's secrecy regarding its own records, the author of this biography, Alexandra Popoff, labored under very trying conditions to track down primary sources and interview surviving members of Grossman's family and circle of trusted friends. She succeeds admirably and paints a compelling and vivid portrait of a writer who faced down death because he couldn't face living without telling the truth as he experienced and witnessed it. That truth survived him. Life and Fate wasn't published until after Grossman died.
In addition to his devotion to the truth, Vasily Grossman understood what Alexandra Popoff references as the "great unifying power of art," as evidenced in an episode in which Soviet soldiers listened to Beethoven's music in the twisted, smoldering wreckage wrought by the Nazis' siege of Stalingrad, when Grossman quotes the Russian version of a refrain from a Beethoven song: "My Lady Death, we beg you/to wait outside."
Grossman comments that "[t]hese words, this simple and ingenious music by Beethoven sounded indescribably powerful here. Perhaps it gave me one of my biggest impressions of the war, for in war an individual knows many extreme and bitter emotions; he knows hatred and heartache, he knows grief and fear, love, pity, and revenge. But people in war are rarely visited with sadness. . . . And here, as never before, I rejoiced at the great power of genuine art, that soldiers, who faced death in this ruined building they have defended from the fascists for three months, listened to Beethoven's song with a solemnity of people attending a church service."
Vasily Grossman not only rejoiced in the great power of genuine art, he exercised that power, and Alexandra Popoff does readers a great favor in illuminating the life that brought to life such luminous prose.
Aside from the power of Vasily Grossman's fiction, what impresses me about his writing, and that of his Soviet-era peers like Andrei Platonov, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Varlam Shalamov, is that in a country that did not guarantee freedom of the press, and under a brutal regime that suppressed and punished expressions deviating from the Communist Party line, Grossman felt compelled to write works critical of that regime, works that could have resulted not only in his imprisonment and death, but of similar punishment of his family members and anyone who may have known about or assisted in his efforts to complete and hide his work. Having begun his writing career as a war correspondent, Grossman's bravery was first tested under front-line fire from attacking Nazis. It took similar courage to write under the threat of Stalin's Great Terror. There was no upside to finishing the novel. Grossman knew the unlikelihood that it would be published during Stalin's rule, and in fact the KGB sought to arrest his manuscript--you read that correctly--searching his residence and even removing the ribbon from his typewriter in attempts to decipher what he had written.
(For young readers of this review, a typewriter is an archaic mechanical word processor--an intermediate successor to the quill pen--digital only in the sense that fingers are required for its operation.)
Given Vasily Grossman's efforts to hide his work from Soviet authorities, and the KGB's secrecy regarding its own records, the author of this biography, Alexandra Popoff, labored under very trying conditions to track down primary sources and interview surviving members of Grossman's family and circle of trusted friends. She succeeds admirably and paints a compelling and vivid portrait of a writer who faced down death because he couldn't face living without telling the truth as he experienced and witnessed it. That truth survived him. Life and Fate wasn't published until after Grossman died.
In addition to his devotion to the truth, Vasily Grossman understood what Alexandra Popoff references as the "great unifying power of art," as evidenced in an episode in which Soviet soldiers listened to Beethoven's music in the twisted, smoldering wreckage wrought by the Nazis' siege of Stalingrad, when Grossman quotes the Russian version of a refrain from a Beethoven song: "My Lady Death, we beg you/to wait outside."
Grossman comments that "[t]hese words, this simple and ingenious music by Beethoven sounded indescribably powerful here. Perhaps it gave me one of my biggest impressions of the war, for in war an individual knows many extreme and bitter emotions; he knows hatred and heartache, he knows grief and fear, love, pity, and revenge. But people in war are rarely visited with sadness. . . . And here, as never before, I rejoiced at the great power of genuine art, that soldiers, who faced death in this ruined building they have defended from the fascists for three months, listened to Beethoven's song with a solemnity of people attending a church service."
Vasily Grossman not only rejoiced in the great power of genuine art, he exercised that power, and Alexandra Popoff does readers a great favor in illuminating the life that brought to life such luminous prose.
March 23, 2022
Grossman’s last works, Life and Destiny as well as Everything Flows, are widely recognized as outstanding and well-documented criticism of Stalinism, revealing in shocking detail the horrors of the deliberate famine in Ukraine, as well as unmasking the similarities between Stalinism and Nazism. However, earlier in his career, Grossman had been a successful author - under Stalin’s rule. He survived the Great Terror, differently from many colleagues. One would have expected this book to shed light at the tensions, dilemmas and changes experienced by Grossman, including what arguably might have been a transformative event, the anti-Semitic turn of Stalin’s rhetoric and actions shortly before his death. Such expectations are disappointed to such an extent that I am led to conclude that the author did not really come to know her subject well. Actually, she seems inclined to see Grossman as a humanist throughout, thus papering over even the sharp differences between Life and Destiny, which could not be published in the USSR during his lifetime, and this same Grand Ouevre’s first part, For a Just Cause, which was ( in 1952 ) to remarkable success.
June 11, 2025
This is a biography of Vasily Grossman and the times in which he lived. Ms Popoff has taken on a daunting task and succeeded beyond expectation. Mr Grossman was born in 1905 in what is now Ukraine. He became a writer and journalist whose works were some of the best reportage of the times. The use of documented characters and events in his fiction gives them a veracity and realism that is missing in much of the Soviet Realism demanded of the time. Ms Popoff takes us through his development, his work, his struggles to get his work published, the arrest of Love and Fate, which may seem silly but struck Grossman to the core. His carry of friends and acquaintances that were important to him (and to keeping his work alive) are also told. His enemies and aparatchiks are also detailed. His is a glorious tale that deserves to be read and discussed, but it is dark, sinister tale of autocracy at work on a people.
May 5, 2020
This is an excellent and detailed biography of Vasily Grossman as well as an analysis of his works. It is amazing to think that he has only recently been "discovered." It is indeed interesting to learn how much he valued and fought for freedom during some of most repressive times in Soviet history. I am shocked that he never was arrested, although they did arrest one of his novels. It reminds us of why authoritarian governments burn books or use intimidation and censorship to control what the people read. Perhaps "the pen is mightier than the sword!"
July 6, 2025
Really Eye Opening Tale
This is a good well written book. Most books that I have tried to read about Russia include so much philosophy and detail explanation and comparison that I can’t get through the book. This one was different. The information is brief and concise, it doesn’t drag on through long winded explanations. This gives just enough information and description to keep you interested in the whole book.
This is a good well written book. Most books that I have tried to read about Russia include so much philosophy and detail explanation and comparison that I can’t get through the book. This one was different. The information is brief and concise, it doesn’t drag on through long winded explanations. This gives just enough information and description to keep you interested in the whole book.
December 28, 2025
I listened to the audible version of this book. It is not only a biography of a great Soviet writer but the story of the conflict, both external and internal, that he had. How WWII changed the Soviet Union, but his battle with the Communist party.
July 30, 2019
An excellent biography - written in a factual tone but Grossman’s life itself is so incredible that it doesn’t need any embellishment.
Read
August 7, 2019I don’t read many biographies but this was beautifully written and looked at Grossman’s writings in the context of the strictures the Soviets put on writers and artists.
February 12, 2020
This is an excellent overview of the career of the career of Vasily Grossman and his role in the Soviet Union
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May 18, 2021
Nice biography, but particularly interesting on soviet history at the time. I think I might even have preferred it to the novels.
February 16, 2023
3.5 stars. If this was edited down to 12 hours (vs 16) it would have been 5 stars.
March 10, 2024
Now I’m going to have to reread all his books
October 13, 2024
3.5. I enjoyed learning more about Grossman’s life and how his experiences shaped his books, but the storytelling and commentary could have been better.
February 2, 2025
A good and insightful biography of the writer, covering his works and relationships.
October 15, 2019
Excellent. A. Popoff is an accomplished writer and clearly explains the context of Vasily's work and how it fits into Russia's difficult history.
August 4, 2023
The Jewish Tolstoy, he was called by NYT. Author’s life is fascinating and the times he lived in and had to maneuver. Author notes “the connection between totalitarian regimes and political ignorance.” And cites Hannah Arendt (a warning for our times too): “if everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. … And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people, you can do what you please.”
October 13, 2024
This is a powerful literary biography of one of the leading novelists of the Soviet century. Grossman is a complicated writer who wrote with passion about the Soviet people and the human view of the inhumanity of his times. This biography uses examples from Grossman’s work to chronicle his experiences. He began his career as a mine engineer in the Donbas, a region where Russian, Yiddish and Ukrainian workers were in the coal mines. He wrote about these people and the problems they faces. Hisfirst works were promoted by Maxim Gorky. His novels about these workers was well received and he had many friends in the literary establishment, but he was very aware of official anti-semitism. He became a war correspondent during the Nazi invasion and reported on the life of the soldiers. These became his WWII novels: The People Immortal, Stalingrad and his masterpiece, Life and Fate, which was not published in the Soviet Union until 1989! Mikhail Suslov thought it would locked up for 250 years! He later wrote Everything Flows, which he researched with the returnees from the Gulag. He died of cancer in his 50’s, in relative disfavor. His books have since been recognized for their clear insights into his times. Stalingrad and Life and Fate have been adapted and performed by a all star cast for the BBC. This is a valuable contribution to bring Grossman to a wider audience.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 23, 2021
Grossman may be the most important author from the twentieth century. It's easy to see why. He witnessed social and political catastrophes of unprecedented magnitudes, yet he remained calm and objective.
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