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Book: An Armenian Sketchbook

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  • Book: An Armenian Sketchbook

    Kirkus Reviews
    December 1, 2012, Saturday


    AN ARMENIAN SKETCHBOOK

    NONFICTION


    A new translation of Russian novelist Grossman's delightful journal of
    his stay among the Armenians. Composed two years before his death in
    1964, this journal records the author's reflections on the Armenian
    people among whom he lived for two months in 1961 as a "translator"
    for a famous Armenian novelist, Rachiya Kochar, although Grossman
    didn't speak Armenian. Rather, rewriting his novel in collaboration
    with the vain, large-living author, Grossman, who was occasionally
    gripped by bowel trouble from the early stages of kidney cancer he was
    unaware of, moved among the humble, mountain-dwelling Armenians and
    found them enormously sympathetic, salt-of-the-earth people whose
    diversity, national pride and piety contrasted sharply with the
    Russian temperament. In this sprightly translation by the Chandler
    husband-and-wife team, who previously tackled Grossman's Everything
    Flows and The Road, Grossman's character sketches, executed with
    swift, loving strokes, provide simply charming reading.

    The author digresses as nimbly about the master craftsmen of Russian
    stoves found in the homes of the high-mountain villagers ("what
    quantities of bread, what a great deal of cabbage, how much living
    warmth his stoves have given birth to!") as he does the touching
    customs of a rustic wedding he attended. Living among the Armenians,
    he witnessed a kind of timeless biblical nobility he conveys with
    artless simplicity in his own work. Deft, poignant characterizations
    by an author who deserves a wider readership

    Publication Date: 2013-02-19
    Publisher: New York Review Books
    Stage: Adult
    ISBN: 978-1-59017-618-4
    Price: $14.95
    Author: Grossman, Vasily


    From: Baghdasarian
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