{"product_id":"9781590176184","title":"An Armenian Sketchbook","description":"An NYRB Classics Original\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFew writers had to confront as many of the last century’s mass tragedies as Vasily Grossman, who wrote with terrifying clarity about the Shoah, the Battle of Stalingrad, and the Terror Famine in the Ukraine. \u003ci\u003eAn Armenian Sketchbook\u003c\/i\u003e, however, shows us a very different Grossman, notable for his tenderness, warmth, and sense of fun.\u003cbr\u003e       \u003cbr\u003eAfter the  Soviet government confiscated—or, as Grossman always put it, “arrested”—\u003ci\u003eLife and Fate\u003c\/i\u003e, he took on the task of revising a literal Russian translation of a long Armenian novel. The novel was of little interest to him, but he needed money and was evidently glad of an excuse to travel to Armenia. \u003ci\u003eAn Armenian Sketchbook\u003c\/i\u003e is his account of the two months he spent there.\u003cbr\u003e       \u003cbr\u003eThis is by far the most personal and intimate of Grossman’s works, endowed with an air of absolute spontaneity, as though he is simply chatting to the reader about his impressions of Armenia—its mountains, its ancient churches, its people—while also examining his own thoughts and moods. A wonderfully human account of travel to a faraway place, \u003ci\u003eAn Armenian Sketchbook\u003c\/i\u003e also has the vivid appeal of a self-portrait.","brand":"Vasily Grossman","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback Trade paperback (US)","offer_id":48035407626452,"sku":"9781590176184","price":23.95,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1000\/9208\/files\/BNCImageAPI_d16003ac-b825-45b8-bee7-747d3a4d7114.jpg?v=1780361198","url":"https:\/\/penguinshop.ca\/products\/9781590176184","provider":"Penguin Shop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}