Vasily Grossman from the Front Line

By: Vasily Grossman

Narrated by: Elliot Levey

Vasily Grossman, author of Life and Fate, was transformed by his experiences as a war correspondent. Following the shock invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Grossman volunteered for front line duty. Declared unfit for active service he was assigned to Red Star newspaper as a special correspondent. In these BBC Radio programmes, Elliot Levey reads three of Vasily Grossman's front line despatches. The first is a heroic and intimate portrait of a sniper, the second deals with the battle for Stalingrad and the final one details the murder of millions of Jews on Soviet soil: an account that was rejected by the military censor and only rediscovered in the late 1990s.

Translators: Jim Riordan & Polly Zavadivker. Producer: Mark Burman.

©2012 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2012 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Marvelous

I loved every moment of Grossman's writings. I hope that audible will soon release his novels in audio form, that would be excellent.

Vasily Grossman for a Larger Audience

I thought the selections were well chosen and listened to them over and over again. I looked in vain all over the internet for transcriptions of the letters. Though I own Writer at War, only small parts of these news articles are in Grossman's notes.

Extremely moving

A very moving human document of the Second World War and the Holocaust. Grossman was the chronicler of the bravest who opposed the Nazis and the barbarisms who exterminated an entire people. This a recording that every should hear.

Brilliant journalism within constraints

Grossman did as much as could be done within the constraints of wartime propaganda. But the narrator sometimes speaks too quickly to be understood and the music is jarringly too loud, requiring frequent volume adjustments.

From the Front Line to the Soul

I'm left in a chilled, silent awe at Grossman's descriptions. This is a phenomenal achievement. Please, do yourself a favor, listen to this audiobook and investigate the whole of Vasily Grossman's output. It will transform you.

Awesome!

Excellent story telling! He makes you feel like you are right there. I would recommend this to anyone who likes to read about the Eastern Front.

Important Text, Well Read, and Impossible to Comfortably Listen to with Headphones/Earbuds

This is a review of the Recording Engineering and/or Direction. This is not a review of the text or performance. The musical interludes are too loud, compared to the reader’s voice. (And there are too many of them.) Grossman is a favorite of mine, and Levey's reading is masterful. Unfortunately, however, the volume of the musical interludes is painful, when listened to on headphones and/or earbuds.