Lydia Ginzburg (Books)

Lydia Ginzburg Books

Lidiya Ginzburg was a major Soviet literary critic and historian, renowned for her profound analyses of psychological prose and lyric poetry. She explored the development of the literary hero and the intricate ways authors craft their unique voices and motivations. Ginzburg's work offers readers a deep understanding of the layered complexities within literary artistry. Her memoir of the Leningrad siege provides a stark and powerful testament to human resilience amidst unimaginable hardship.

Notes From the Blockade

240 pages
9 hours of reading

3.7(68)Add rating

The 900-day siege of Leningrad (1941-44) was one of the turning points of the Second World War. It slowed down the German advance into Russia and became a national symbol of survival and resistance. An estimated one million civilians died, most of them from cold and starvation. Lydia Ginzburg, a respected literary scholar (who meanwhile wrote prose 'for the desk drawer' through seven decades of Soviet rule), survived. Using her own using notes and sketches she wrote during the siege, along with conversations and impressions collected over the years, she distilled the collective experience of life under siege. Through painful depiction of the harrowing conditions of that period, Ginzburg created a paean to the dignity, vitality and resilience of the human spirit.