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

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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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