This review of a book first published in English in 1985 was prompted by Radio A's recent abridged adaptation of the work, aired over a week in September (Box 1). It has been one of the greatest reading experiences of my life: the novel should be as celebrated as its great predecessor, War and Peace, to which Grossman himself pays homage. The story of the book's publication is fascinating, illustrating the arbitrariness and absurdity of the Soviet system which the author so relentlessly exposes. Grossman, a trained physicist, became a renowned journalist during (the USSR's) Great Patriotic War, and covered many of its major conflicts including the Battle of Stalingrad and the Fall of Berlin; he also witnessed the Soviet 'liberation' of the Treblinka concentration camp.
展开▼
