Forever Nineteen

Grigory Baklanov — a Soviet writer, front-line soldier, one of the bright representatives of «lieutenant prose», among whom are Viktor Astafyev, Yuri Bondarev, Vasily Bykov, Boris Vasilyev, Viktor Nekrasov… In 1941, when Baklanov was 17 years old, he volunteered to go to the front, participated in battles in Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and Hungary; the end of the war found him in Austria, with the rank of lieutenant. The reliable episodes of the war reflected in Baklanov's works often contradicted the official history but carried the truth that the author wanted to tell — about what he saw and experienced. «New generations cannot imagine what the so-called „lieutenant prose“ was like in its time, in the late 50s — early 60s, — Baklanov recalled. — It was primarily a unique perspective on the war, writing about what they themselves brought back from the fields of battle, making the truth the property of all».
This edition includes Baklanov's famous war stories «South of the Main Blow» and «A Handful of Earth», as well as the stories «It Was May», «And the War Is Over», «Nadia».