For much of his life Vasily Grossman was engaged in protracted battles, struggling to publish, sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing. His debut as a professional writer, however, was surprisingly swift and successful. In 1934 he published not only
Glyukauf(Glück Auf), a novel about a coal-mining community in the Donbass, but also a short story,
V gorode Berdicheve(“In the Town of Berdichev”), set during the Polish-Soviet War (February 1919 – March 1921). This story about a woman commissar serving with a Red Army cavalry unit was printed in the prestigious
Literaturnaya gazeta(The Literary Gazette) and attracted considerable attention.
The plot is relatively simple. Commissar Vavilova is single-minded in her devotion to the Bolshevik cause. To her dismay, she becomes
1987 words
Citation: Chandler, Robert. "V gorode Berdicheve". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 April 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38909, accessed 04 December 2024.]