Life and Fate Read Along, Part 2 Chapter 55
This post, covering Part 2, Chapter 55 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.
In this chapter, we see a reflective Lyudmila who spends most of the time reflecting on the various people in her life after reading a letter from her mother.
Most of her frustrations, as we are well aware by now, center around Viktor. Although he thinks his flirtation with Sokolov’s wife has gone unnoticed, it turns out Lyudmila is well aware of it but doesn’t think it could possible lead anywhere serious. When thinking about the situation, Lyudmila criticizes how Sokolov’s wife “had created for herself an exalted image, a Viktor who had never existed. But if she were to watch Viktor day in and day out, she’d be disenchanted soon enough,” (p. 589).
