Life and Fate

In this week's podcast episode, Liv and I talked about the books that we've been reading this week, including a vast Russian war saga that I absolutely devoured, and a literary essay on The Color Blue.

We talked about a crazy story of book heists across Europe, focused on the work of Alexander Pushkin.

And finally, we talked about how you order your library.

So what have you been reading this week, Charles? Well, Liv, I have just finished reading the best book that I have ever read in my life.

Okay, well, that's a huge call.

That's a huge call because I think I've read about

more than a thousand books in my life.

And this one is literally my new favorite book of all time.

Yeah, and I think the comedy treatment works so well to just sort of bring out the absurdities of, like you say, of the court politics of that period.

And yeah, for people who are interested in a more serious treatment of the same kind of period, there's a book by Vasily Grossman called Life and Fate, which it all centres around the Battle of Stalingrad, but... it's in classic thousand page Russian novel style.

It's kind of fucking, it's all over the place.

It's like what the wives are up to at home.

Again, not a sponsor, but we'll see.

Number 93 is Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman.

No.

I...

Absolutely, yeah.

I mean, specifically if there, there's a few of these that we've named already that are like-

Like, if anyone rides hard for Life and Fate, you know, like, let us know in the comments.

Please, please.

And this is what he offers as the antidote.

The point of this essay is redemption is a dangerous idea, and he instead offers this, and it's a quote from a novel that I want to read.

He instead offers the, the antidote to this paralysis is everyday kindness.

And I want to read you two texts that offer us a picture of everyday kindness.

So this says, "In his monumental novel, Life and Fate, the Russian author Vasily Grossman alerts us to the horrific price humanity has paid for entertaining messianic fantasies of redeeming the world." And then this is his image of kindness.

"Human history is not the battle of good struggling to overcome evil.

It is a battle fought by evil, by great evil struggling to crush a small kernel of human kindness, everyday human kindness." So this is his point.

One is start with small kindness.

Yeah.

Well, Paul, one you didn't bring up that I'm curious about, "Life and Fate"?

Yes.

Yes.

That's true.

I should have-

Vasily Grossman's "Life and Fate." Uh-

Yeah