Life and Fate Read Along, Part 3 Chapter 2

This post, covering Part 3, Chapter 2 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 continue with the interrogation of Krymov by the Special Section at Front HQ. Or, in the words of the narrator from yesterday’s chapter, we return to the no-longer-free man. 

The narrator describes how “Only during the night did he begin to feel hatred for his interrogator. At first he had felt neither hatred nor physical pain. The blow on the face was the outward sign of a moral catastrophe. He could respond only with dumbfounded amazement,” (p. 617). At this point, Krymov’s entire worldview is on the verge of a complete breakdown. Despite being beaten during the interrogation, Krymov simply can’t comprehend the thought that he could be accused of being disloyal.