"This painting has been seen by twelve generations of people, a fifth of the human species that has passed through the earth, from the beginning of historical times to our days. It has been seen by old beggars, European emperors and students, transatlantic millionaires, popes and Russian princes, it has been seen by pure virgins and prostitutes, high-ranking officers, thieves, geniuses and weavers, bomber pilots, school teachers, it has been seen by good and bad people. [...] It seems to me that this Madonna is the most atheist expression of life, of man, without the participation of the divine."

(from Madonna Sixtina)

Russian writer Vasily Grossman was one of the first to discover and describe the Nazi concentration camps. Grossman was undoubtedly influenced by this experience and his view of the world changed: Indeed, after the war, he wrote his most important, profound and clear works. It was also during that time that his eyes were opened to the authoritarian nature of the communist regime.

In these two perspectives on beauty and fate, on what is human in man and what remains of him after his death, the reader will rediscover the breath and the mark of the author of "Life and Fate". It is his inclination for specific details with abrupt lyrical flights, his deep understanding and at the same time an intense naivety connected to a wisdom full of realism.