Life and Fate (Stalingrad, #2)

by Vasily Grossman

very clever – but very timid. He prostrates himself before the State and believes that there is no power except that of God. Markov? Markov hasn’t the slightest inkling of questions of good and evil, of love and morality. His is a strictly practical talent. His attitude to scientific problems is that of a chess-player. Savostyanov – the man I was just talking about? He’s charming and witty and a splendid physicist. But at the same time he’s just a gay young fellow without a thought in his head. When we were evacuated, he took with him a whole pile of photos of young women in bathing costumes. He likes playing the dandy, he likes dancing and getting drunk. He sees science as another kind of sport – understanding some particular phenomenon, solving a particular problem is the same as setting a new athletic record. All he cares about is getting there first. And I’m no better. I’ve never thought seriously about these matters myself. Science today should be entrusted to men of spiritual understanding, to prophets and saints. But instead it’s been left to chess-players and scientists.