Books: Event - Vasily Grossman Novel Life and Fate will be discussed by his daughter at The British Museum June 20, 2pm
Published: 10 June, 2010
by DAN CARRIER
AS Allied forces rolled through western Europe in 1944 following D-Day, Ernest Hemingway commandeered a jeep, a bottle of scotch and an army press pass and tried his best to “liberate” villages en route. John Steinbeck followed an American unit from the east coast of America to Britain, and also took part in the invasion of Italy. These writers at war gave first-hand reports of what was happening – but on the Eastern Front, Russian reporters were not so well known or feted.
Vasily Grossman, declared unfit for active service as Nazi Germany invaded in 1941, swapped firearms for fountain pens and wrote for the Red Army newspapers, becoming known for his honest reporting in the face of wartime censorship, and for his ability to capture the experience of the foot soldier.
The writer’s daughter, Yekaterina Korotkova-Grossman, will be discussing her father’s work next week at the British Museum as part of the London Review Bookshop’s World Literature Weekend (June
18-20). Grossman used his experience to pen what has been described by Le Monde as the finest novel produced in the Soviet Union, Life And Fate, which his daughter will discuss with translator Robert Chandler, as well as her own memoirs about life in the Ukraine.
• On Vasily Grossman: Yekaterina Korotkova-Grossman with Robert Chandler, Sunday June 20, 2pm, British Museum’s Stevenson Room, £8
• World Literature Weekend details at www.lrbshop.co.uk or 020 7269 9030