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An Armenian Sketchbook (1965)

by Vasily Grossman(Favorite Author)

4.06 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1590176189 (ISBN13: 9781590176184)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

NYRB Classics

review 1: Written two years before his death, and after Soviet Russia had confiscated his nove "Life & Fate', these are the reflections of a man near the end of his life. Grossman was working in Armenia translateing an Armenian novel into Russian. These are basically his notes and observations from his time there but go beyond a travel book into reflections on various aspects of life and his beliefs. It is a little look into his soul.
review 2: I am looking forward to reading Grossman's LIFE AND FATE which I've seen described as WWII's WAR AND PEACE. Grossman had been a combat reporter with the Russian army and, so, had a good deal of experience. The SKETCHBOOK is of a later date, the early '60s, when he went to Armenia to translate a novel about a copper-smelting fact... moreory into Russian. There is a lot about the stony, unforgiving nature of the land and the titanic struggles of the Armenians to make a life. There are passing references to the Turkish massacre in 1915 (c. ?), some acerbic asides regarding Party officials and the talentless members of literary committees, but he reflects real feeling for the peasants and workers. The final section describes a wedding with much feeling, possibly because Grossman himself was addressed as one who cared about the Jewish destruction at the hands of the Germans, the Armenians seeing themselves as having suffered the same genocidal fate at the hands of the Turks. I bought and read the book because of an Armenian (Lebanese) friend who I thought might like it. I'll see. less

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