Written prior to Life and Fate but only now available in English translation, Grossman's novel begins the story of the epic battle which concludes in Life and Fate and introduces us to the Shtrum/Shaposhnikov family and their circle.
I haven't read much of the novel's supporting material yet, but I presume that at the time of writing Stalingrad in the early 1950s, prior to Stalin's death, Grossman was too fearful of persecution and censorship to lay out the horrors of the Stalinist regime which are in full evidence in Life and Fate. Grossman's many lyrical paeans to the Soviet people and the glories of the industrial and agricultural might produced by their labor would read like tinny patriotism were it not for the beauty of his writing, his acute sensitivity to human character, and his obviously sincere love of country. If anyone has ever written more rapturously (and eloquently!) about electrical power stations, I have never read them.
A difficult read with an enormous cast of characters, most of whose stories are only developed in fragments, Stalingrad is nevertheless entirely absorbing, moving, and worthwhile.
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