The Progress of a Manuscript
Historian Catherine Merridale chronicles the tortuous publication of Vasily Grossman鈥檚 novel STALINGRAD. By 1949 the novel was finished but Grossman's nightmare was just beginning.
Historian Catherine Merridale chronicles the tortuous journey of Vasily Grossman鈥檚 novel STALINGRAD to print. In 1945 there was a need & eager anticipation for a literary treatment of the Soviet people鈥檚 experience of a terrible war. A book that was the Red equal to Tolstoy鈥檚 War & Peace. By 1949 Grossman was ready, poised to deliver his epic version which he then called STALINGRAD.
He had produced a text of which he was justly proud. A book that was necessary and just. Despite signs of increasing censorship and repression he still believed his novel would find acceptance and a receptive audience. Yet he was canny enough to keep a personal diary of the process of submitting his manuscript-translated into English for the first time it reveals the beginnings of a maddening journey that became an epic battle of wills.
Reader: Anton Lesser
Producer: Mark Burman
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- Wed 4 Dec 2019 09:45麻豆社 Radio 4 FM
- Thu 5 Dec 2019 00:30麻豆社 Radio 4
Life and Fate
Vasily Grossman's sweeping historical tale set against the ferocious Battle of Stalingrad.