Life and Fate: Background and Sources

Thread for all sorts of background information and historical background to the novel.

On the 'Who's In?' thread, kjellika posted:

There's a rather long Wikipedia article (characters etc.) on

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_and_Fate

I cannot find any SparkNotes on this novel

On the 'Who's In?' thread, rosemeria posted:

It looks like there has been only one English translation by Robert Chandler.
The story of the book is a good read in itself ... The original manuscript was confiscated by KGB officers in 1961. Resurfacing in the West some twenty years later, smuggled out on microfilm, Grossman died in 1964 without having seen it published.

From a March 2008 New Yorker article re: the publication of the Chandler translation:

"Under Siege: A beloved Soviet writer’s path to dissent"
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/03/06/060306crbo_books

>5 theaelizabet:, theaelizabet

Thanks for the address to the New Yorker article. I read some of it on screen, but when I found it is a rather long article, I printed it out and will read the rest of it soon.
Interesting!!

Two more web addresses:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_stalingrad.htm

Warning: The Wikipedia article is quite long, containing pictures, maps and lots of external links + + +

>5 theaelizabet: theaelizabet
Great article, well written - thanks for the link. I am still anxiously awaiting my book from the postman.