Life and Fate Read Along, Part 3 Chapter 58

This post, covering Part 3, Chapter 58 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, Grossman poses the question of “what next?” for a handful of our characters.

Most notably, Spiridonov’s abandonment of the power station is brought to a conclusion. The bureau of the obkom ruled that “He was to leave Stalingrad and become the director of a small, peat-burning power station in the Urals. It wasn’t such a very terrible punishment; he could have been put on trial,” (p. 848). Because of his association with the Shaposhnikova family and Krymov, Spiridonov has effectively no chance at a successful appeal of his mandatory appointment.