The Case of Sergeant Grischa by Arnold Zweig

[Diane]

Rating: 4 stars


Based on a true story of mistaken identity, this book centers on the escape of a POW Russian soldier from his German captors during the latter part of WWI. Despite being a prisoner, his situation wasn't all that bad, but he longed to get back home to his family. While his escape was initially a success, he soon found himself far away in a dense wilderness. He soon meets up with other refugees and takes on an assumed identity, which proves even more problematic than his real identity.

Overall, a great book which I may re-read again some day.

[George P.]

I'll tell you what, Arnold Zweig was a very good writer. This story has wonderful portrayals of characters, human strengths and flaws, it has tension and lovely evocative descriptions. The translation by Eric Sutton is really good. While set in WW1, there are no battle scenes just passing references to the trenches. I agree that it's an excellent book and a pity that it is hardly known, at least in the US and probably in Europe as well, nearly 100 years after publication.

It was the best-known of Zweig's series about WW1 known as "Der große Krieg der weißen Männer"- The Great War of the White Men, which also consists of Education Before Verdun (Erziehung von Verdun) and The Crowning of a King (Einseitzung Eines Konigs). These were both published in English translation in the 1930s and I see the university library here has copies. As these are out of copyright, Open Library has ebook in English of Case of Sergeant Grischa consisting of photos of each book page at https://archive.org/details/caseofser... and also of Crowning of a King but doesn't have Education Before Verdun.

[Gail]

Zweig managed to write a book about bureaucracy which is compelling. The storyline plays with many themes including the place of the individual versus the state, the concept of national justice when one is living during wartime where millions are dying, the belief in a greater system of justice built on a foundation of religious beliefs, the rights of the downtrodden to set up their own state where they are the decision makers, the belief in the landed about their rightful place on the land. All of these themes are portrayed through the voices and beliefs of the characters. All the characters have a well rounded aspect to them rather than just stand ins for these themes. Many of them are quite complex and we are even given two women Red Cross nurses who are living as best they can in a world gone crazy. Further we are introduced to a number of Jewish characters who are also not two dimensional.
The book was rather slow, and rather long. However, to write a book about bureaucracy and have it be as engaging as this book was is quite a feat.

[Pamela]

This is a compelling and unusual book about WWI, as it focuses on the bureaucracy of the war and the petty squabbles between the bureaucrats and the army itself, epitomised in the case of Grischa and his assumed identity as a deserter. It isn’t a quick or easy read - I started it for BOTM and didn’t manage to finish it in the time allowed - but I never felt like abandoning it as it was always worth the effort.

There were a lot of characters involved but they all were distinguishable with their human emotions and failings, and Grischa developed really well as the wrangling over his fate got more complex and absurd. The final chapters were surprisingly intense and I also loved the descriptions of the pure snow covered landscapes.

[Patrick]

*** 1/2

This was a different take on the events that occurred during WWI. At first, it felt a little bit satirical and funny; there were hints of The Good Soldier Sveik. Then, after the recapture of Grischa who was trying to cross back to Russia under the disguise of a certain soldier Bjuscheff, things got a little bit more on the critique side. While the tone remained light-hearted throughout the novel, the main theme was a thinly-veiled critique of the (very) hierarchical German Imperial army and a philosophical discussion on the value of one single life as opposed to the sacrifice of several thousands in the context of war and how men can be right or wrong in determing the fate of individuals. As expected, the story does not really end well. This novel is not often republished; its most recent publication in English (2023) is littered with typos and has the worst layout I have seen for a very long time, which makes it harder to read.