An Armenian Sketchbook

Synopsis

An NYRB Classics OriginalFew writers had to confront as many of the last century's mass tragedies as Vasily Grossman, who wrote with terrifying clarity about the Shoah, the Battle of Stalingrad, and the Terror Famine in the Ukraine. An Armenian Sketchbook, however, shows us a very different Grossman, notable for his tenderness, warmth, and sense of fun. After the Soviet government confiscated--or, as Grossman always put it, "arrested"--Life and Fate, he took on the task of revising a literal Russian translation of a long Armenian novel. The novel was of little interest to him, but he needed money and was evidently glad of an excuse to travel to Armenia. An Armenian Sketchbook is his account of the two months he spent there. This is by far the most personal and intimate of Grossman's works, endowed with an air of absolute spontaneity, as though he is simply chatting to the reader about his impressions of Armenia--its mountains, its ancient churches, its people--while also examining his own thoughts and moods. A wonderfully human account of travel to a faraway place, An Armenian Sketchbook also has the vivid appeal of a self-portrait. the censors' demand. As a result, An Armenian Sketchbook was published only posthumously. A bowdlerized Russian text was published in 1967 and a complete text in 1988. This is the first English translation.

Copyright:

2013

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

ISBN-13:

9781590176351

Related ISBNs:

9781590176184

Publisher:

New York Review Books

Date of Addition:

04/20/20

Copyrighted By:

Robert Chandler, Vasily Grossman, Yury Bit-Yunan, Elizabeth Chandler

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Biographies and Memoirs

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.

Introduction by:

Robert Chandler

Introduction by:

Yury Bit-Yunan

Translator:

Robert Chandler

Translator:

Elizabeth Chandler