Life and Fate Read Along, Part 2 Chapter 22

This post, covering Part 2, Chapter 22 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.

Though Grekov grants Klimov and Polyakov a short leave to go visit Seryozha (and maybe even Katya) at the Regimental HQ, the timing of the trip could not have occurred at a worse time.

The initial silence on the battlefield almost draws the two into a false sense of security, making them wonder if the war had somehow ended. Polyakov “could picture his own home with an extraordinary vividness: there was a plate of borshch on the table and his wife was gutting a fish he had caught. He even began to feel quite warm…” (p. 435).