"The book shocked me," Vasil Bykov said about the novel "Cursed and Killed" by Viktor Astafyev. This novel, written in the 1990s and surprising even a veteran writer, has become one of the most famous and controversial works about the Great Patriotic War.
Viktor Astafyev (1924-2001) volunteered at the age of eighteen in 1942. He served on the front line, was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the medal "For Bravery". He was demobilized in 1945 with the rank of private.
Astafyev's creative career began with a military theme. After hearing an embellished story about the war at a meeting of the literary circle, Astafyev, offended by the falsehood, wrote a short story "A Civilian" (1950) in just one night, which he dedicated to the memory of a friend who died in battle. The writer remained faithful to this principle — not to lie when talking about the war - in the future.
The novel about the recruits who joined the reserve regiment in Siberia in the fall of 1942 and crossed the Dnieper a year later is based partly on the memories of his youth, partly on the writer's long—term reflections on the history of Russia in the 20th century.
Inspired by the desire to tell the "solid truth" about the war, this book has received a wide variety of responses. The author was called both honest and fair, biased and biased, and his arguments were agreed and argued with. The novel is still being discussed thirty years after its publication: it still does not leave readers indifferent.