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1

Exploring Hidden Narrative Elements through a Close Reading of Vasily Grossman’s Short Story ‘The Life of Il’ya Stepanovich’ (1935)

100%

Ferrandi P.

Academic Journal of Modern Philology

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2023

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issue 19

37-47

EN

The subject matter of this paper concerns the early phase of Vasily Grossman’s literary career in the mid-1930s. Prior to this period, the author proved his ability to evaluate the mechanisms of censorship and developed his understanding of what was publishable and what could be sanctioned through the publication process of his first novel (Bit-Yunan, Fel’dman 2019). The research material selected for this paper is the lesser-known short story Zhizn’ Il’i Stepanovicha [The life of Il’ya Stepanovich], published in 1935, and the aim is to provide a close reading and an interpretation key to this text. In order to expose the hidden ambiguity of the short story, the chosen research perspective includes a focus on the function of the protagonist as an entity that does not legitimise the socialist myth; a narratological approach on the use of proper names, on “perspective” and the role of the narrator with regard to the axiological structure of the text.

2

Hans Jonas and Vasily Grossman: Reflections on the Human Condition after Auschwitz

84%

Tibaldeo R. F.

Ethics in Progress

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2014

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vol. 5

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issue 2

215-245

EN

The article endeavours to compare the reflections on the Shoah of two of the most celebrated intellectuals of Jewish origin of the 20th century, namely the German philosopher Hans Jonas (1903-1993) and the Soviet writer Vasily Grossman (1905-1964). Both Jonas’ essay on The Concept of God after Auschwitz (1987) and Grossman’s novels and reports, such as The Hell of Treblinka (1944), Life and Fate (1980), and The Sistine Madonna (1989), are characterised by a thorough enquiry into the ambivalence of the human condition, that tries to shed some light on the disturbing abyss of Auschwitz and the Shoah. Although neither Jonas nor Grossman considered themselves as religious believers, thanks to the Shoah they recollected their Jewish roots and developed peculiar and innovative thoughts on the meaning and vulnerability of life, human freedom, immortality, and God. The article endeavours to highlight the main similarities and differences between these two authors, who tackled the issue of thinking after Auschwitz.

3

Еврейские темы Василия Гроссмана (В городе Бердичеве, 1934 г.)

67%

Czerwiński P.

Iudaica Russica

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2022

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issue 1(8)

1-24

EN

The prewar short story by Vasily Grossman is the starting point for emerging and determining the parameters as well as hierarchically well-ordered elements which due to their specificity should be interpreted as the typical ones for the Jewish community. This community existed in the time of the Polish-Bolshevik War and during the civil war and afterwards. The time (the era) is very essential in the story as the everyday life of the Jewish community in the Ukraine. The scheme of the literary work is very specific as it shows the nuances of the Jewish-Russian spoken language, the attitude of the community members towards the large offspring, family as well as the heart of home. The aforesaid story also describes the typical situations and places such as the street, the market-square, and a noisy street crowd. In the course of the story the examples of the Jewish behaviour are described as they are being emerged. These examples are not of accidental character and at the same time they present identificational/iconic features. These features are classified into the topical parameters and they also create the modelling system which is the key point. This system is presented in the semantic units which are similar to the conceptual “utterances”, which are the projections of the knowledge of their nature.

PL

Na materiale jednego (przedwojennego) opowiadania Wasilija Grossmana stopniowo wyłaniane i określane są parametry oraz hierarchicznie uporządkowane elementy składowe tego, co ze względu na swoją specyfikę należałoby interpretować jako typowe dla przedstawionego w utworze środowiska żydowskiego. Środowiska czasów wojny polsko-bolszewickiej, wojny domowej, w okresie jej eskalacji i trwania. Czas jest tu istotny, ponieważ schemat życia codziennego Żydów, typowy dla ówczesnej Ukrainy, istniał w opisywanym przez autora kształcie. Posiada on cechy szczególne, jak choćby specyfika rosyjsko-żydowskiej mowy, zachowanie i stosunek do licznego potomstwa, rodziny, ogniska domowego i inne. Przejawiają się owe cechy w typowych sytuacjach i miejscach - na ulicy, targu, w hałaśliwym, krzykliwym tłumie. Wraz z tokiem narracji opowiadania i wskazywaniem przykładów „żydowskiego” zachowania, wyłaniane i klasyfikowane są cechy, które należy uznać za nieprzypadkowe i rozpoznawczo-ikoniczne. Łączone są one w tematycznie zorientowane parametry i omawiane wspólnie z wyobrażeniem o stojącym za tym wszystkim modelującym systemie. Ów system przejawia się w jednostkach semantycznych podobnych do konceptualnych „wypowiedzi”, jako projekcji wiedzy na temat własnej istoty.

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1 Academic Journal of Modern Philology

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1 Iudaica Russica

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1 Ferrandi P.

1 Tibaldeo R. F.

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1 2014

Exploring Hidden Narrative Elements through a Close Reading of Vasily Grossman’s Short Story ‘The Life of Il’ya Stepanovich’ (1935)

Hans Jonas and Vasily Grossman: Reflections on the Human Condition after Auschwitz

Еврейские темы Василия Гроссмана (В городе Бердичеве, 1934 г.)