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I am finishing Unforgiving Years by Victor Serge, a pseudonym.
Inevitably I compare it to Grossman’s Life and Fate. Both authors are Russian. These books are about Russians deeply affected and involved in WW II.
However, Serge’s writing is lyrical about subject matter as abjectly horrific as the other’s. It reads more easily and evokes more emotional connection between the characters in the stories. But the scenery in each is quite different. Grossman writes about Russians at war in Mother Russia, while Serge writes about Russian agents working outside of the motherland but living in great fear of the lethal Stalinist mind running their lives and missions.
Both writers evoke images of state generated fear delivered by two versions of totalitarianism. Not happy scenery or settings for life stories.
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