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8/20/2019 Svetlana Alexievich Wins 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature
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Svetlana Alexievich wins 2015 Nobelprize in literatureSwedish Academy praises Belarusian writer’s wor as a !monument to
su"erin# in our time’
• $he news and reaction % as it happened• Everything you need to know about Svetlana Alexievich : an introduction
• &er li'e and career( in pictures
Object1
Sara )anius( the permanent secretary o' the Swedish Academy( calls Alexeivich an *extraordinary+ writer,
Alison Flood, Luke Hardingand agencies- $hursday -
.ctober 2015
$he Swedish Academy( announcin# her win( praised Alexievich’s
*polyphonic writin#s+( describin# them as a *monument to su"erin#
and coura#e in our time+,•
Svetlana Alexievich( the Belarusian writer whose oral histories have
recorded thousands o' individual voices to map the implosion o' theSoviet /nion( has won the Nobel prize 'or literature,
•
She becomes the 1th woman to win the prize since it was rst
awarded in 101, $he last woman to win( 3anada’s Alice 4unro(
was handed the award in 201,
Speain# by phone to the Swedish broadcaster S6$( Svetlana
8/20/2019 Svetlana Alexievich Wins 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature
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Alexievich said that the award le't her with a *complicated+ 'eelin#,•
“7t immediately evoes such #reat names as 87van9 Bunin( 8Boris9
:asterna(+ she said( re'errin# to ;ussian writers who have won the
prize, *.n the one hand( it’s such a 'antastic 'eelin#( but it’s also a bit
disturbin#,+•
$he academy called while she was at home( *doin# the ironin#(+ she
said( addin# that the -m Swedish rona <=>>5(000? prize would *buy
her 'reedom+,
“7t taes me a lon# time to write my boos( 'rom ve to 10 years, 7
have two ideas 'or new boos so 7’m pleased that 7 will now have the
'reedom to wor on them,+
Alexievich was born on the 1 4ay 1- in the /rainian town o'7vano@ranovs into a 'amily o' a serviceman, &er 'ather is Belarusian
and her mother is /rainian, A'ter her 'ather’s demobilisation 'rom the
army the 'amily returned to his native Belorussia and settled in a
villa#e where both parents wored as schoolteachers, She le't school
to wor as a reporter on the local paper in the town o' Narovl,•
She has written short stories( essays and reporta#e but says she
'ound her voice under the inuence o' the Belorusian writer Ales
Adamovich( who developed a #enre which he variously called the*collective novel+( *novel@oratorio+( *novel@evidence+( *people talin#
about themselves+ and the *epic chorus+,
Accordin# to Sara )anius( the permanent secretary o' the Swedish
Academy( Alexeivich is an *extraordinary+ writer,•
“or the past 0 or 0 years she’s been busy mappin# the Soviet and
post soviet individual(+ )anius said( *but it’s not really about a history
o' events, 7t’s a history o' emotions % what she’s o"erin# us is reallyan emotional world( so these historical events she’s coverin# in her
various boos( 'or example the 3hernobyl disaster( the Soviet war in
A'#hanistan( these are in a way Cust pretexts 'or explorin# the Soviet
individual and the post@Soviet individual,+
“She’s conducted thousands and thousands o' interviews with
children( with women and with men( and in this way she’s o"erin# us
8/20/2019 Svetlana Alexievich Wins 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature
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a history o' human bein#s about whom we didn’t now that much ,,,
and at the same time she’s o"erin# us a history o' emotions( a history
o' the soul,+•
7n 6oices rom 3hernobyl( Alexievich interviews hundreds o' those
a"ected by the nuclear disaster( 'rom a woman holdin# her dyin#husband despite bein# told by nurses that *that’s not a person
anymore( that’s a nuclear reactor+ to the soldiers sent in to help(
an#ry at bein# *un# ,,, there( lie sand on the reactor+, 7n Diny
Boys( she #athers voices 'rom the A'#han warE soldiers( doctors(
widows and mothers,
*7 don’t as people about socialism( 7 as about love( Cealousy(
childhood( old a#e(+ Alexievich writes in the introduction to Second@hand $ime( which is due 'rom independent publisher itzcarraldo
Fditions in 201G, *4usic( dances( hairstyles, $he myriad sundry details
o' a vanished way o' li'e, $his is the only way to chase the catastrophe
into the 'ramewor o' the mundane and attempt to tell a story,•
“7t never ceases to amaze me how interestin# ordinary( everyday li'e
is, $here are an endless number o' human truths H &istory is only
interested in 'actsI emotions are excluded 'rom its realm o' interest,
7t’s considered improper to admit them into history, 7 loo at the worldas a writer( not strictly an historian, 7 am 'ascinated by people,+
•
)anius pointed new readers towards her rst boo / voCny ne Jensoe
lico <Kar’s /nwomanly ace?( based on interviews with hundreds o'
women who participated in the second world war,•
“7t’s an exploration o' the second world war 'rom a perspective that
was( be'ore that boo( almost completely unnown(+ she said, *7t tellsthe story o' the hundreds and hundreds o' women who were at the
'ront in the second world war, Almost one million Soviet women
participated in the war( and it’s a lar#ely unnown history, 7t was a
hu#e success in the Soviet /nion union when published( and sold
more than 2m copies, 7t’s a touchin# document and at the same time
brin#s you very close to every individual( and in a 'ew years they all
8/20/2019 Svetlana Alexievich Wins 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature
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will be #one,+•
Accordin# to her close 'riend( the Belarusian opposition leader Andrei
Sanniov( Alexeivich writes about *the history o' the ;ed 4an+,•
“She claims he is not #one(+ Sanniov said, *She ar#ues that this manis inside us( inside every Soviet person, &er last boo( Second@hand
$ime( is dedicated to this problem,+ Alexeivich is *wonder'ul at
interviewin#+ he continued, *She doesn’t avoid diLcult issues or
Muestions, 4ostly she writes about human tra#edy, She lets it #o
throu#h her and writes with sur#ical precision about what’s #oin# on
within human nature,+•
Bela Shayevich( who is currently translatin# Alexievich into Fn#lish 'oritzcarraldo( also paid tribute to her sills as an interviewer which
leave her wor *resoundin# with nothin# but the truth+,•
*$he truth o' li'e in the Soviet /nion and post@Soviet ;ussia is not an
easy thin# to swallow(+ Shayevich said, *7’m thrilled that this win will
mean that more readers will be exposed to the metaphysical
dimensions o' her subCects’ survival and despair throu#h the tra#edies
o' Soviet history, 7 hope that in readin# her( more people see the ways
that su"erin# % even su"erin# brou#ht on by #eopoliticalcircumstances 'orei#n to many readers % is also somethin# that can
brin# people closer to one another i' they are willin# to tae a ris and
listen,+
Althou#h Alexievich is widely translated into erman( rench and
Swedish( winnin# a ran#e o' maCor prizes 'or her wor( Fn#lish editions
o' her wor are sparse, itzcarraldo editor OacMues $estard came
across her wor in rench a 'ew years a#o,•
“7t’s an oral history( as are all her boos( about nostal#ia 'or the Soviet
/nion(+ said $estard, *She went around ;ussia interviewin# people
a'ter the 'all o' the Soviet /nion( in an attempt to surmise what the
collective post Soviet psyche is, As with all her boos( it’s really
harrowin# % a story about loss o' identity( about ndin# yoursel' in a
country which you don’t reco#nise any more, 7t’s a micro@historical
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