Life and Fate Read Along, Part 1 Chapter 23

This post, covering Part 1, Chapter 23, is part of The Slavic Literature Pod’s chapter a day read along of Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate. Learn more about our project here.

Today we are formally introduced to Yevgenia (Zhenya) Shaposhnikova, Alexandra’s youngest daughter, who is living in evacuation in Kuibyshev (modern day Samara). As we learn from Stalingrad, she is both very beautiful and not so talented at painting. She was previously married to Krymov, a commissar fighting on the Stalingrad Front. She is currently in love with Novikov, the commanding officer of the tank corps on the Front where Getmanov has just been assigned.

Got all that? 

If not, don’t worry. These characters will become more familiar to us as we continue our march through Life and Fate. While it might not be immediately clear based on how the novel has started so far, almost all of the characters are connected to the Shaposhnikov family in some way or another.