Svetlana Alexievich

Written by the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear reactor accident in history occurred in Chernobyl and contaminated as much as three quarters of Europe. Voices from Chernobyl is the first book to present personal accounts of the tragedy. Journalist Svetlana Alexievich interviewed hundreds of people affected by the meltdown—from innocent citizens to firefighters to those called in to clean up the disaster—and their stories reveal the fear, anger, and uncertainty with which they still live. Composed of interviews in monologue form, Voices from Chernobyl is a crucially important work of immense force, unforgettable in its emotional power and honesty.

A long-awaited English translation of the classic oral history of women in World War II across Europe and Russia from Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich Bringing together dozens of voices in her distinctive style, Svetlana Alexievich shares stories of women's experiences during World War II on the front lines, on the home front, and in occupied territories. The Unwomanly Face of War is a powerful history of the central conflict of the twentieth century, a kaleidoscopic portrait of the human side of war."

From the 2015 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Svetlana Alexievich, comes the first English translation of her latest work, an oral history of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the emergence of a new Russia. Bringing together dozens of voices in her distinctive documentary style, Secondhand Time is a monument to the collapse of the USSR, charting the decline of Soviet culture and speculating on what will rise from the ashes of Communism. As in all her books, Alexievich gives voice to women and men whose stories are lost in the official narratives of nation-states, creating a powerful alternative history from the personal and private stories of individuals.

Несколько десятилетий Светлана Алексиевич пишет свою хронику "Голоса Утопии". Изданы пять книг, в которых "маленький человек" сам рассказывает о времени и о себе. Названия книг уже стали метафорами: "У войны не женское лицо", "Цинковые мальчики", "Чернобыльская молитва"... По сути, она создала свой жанр - полифонический роман-исповедь, в котором из маленьких историй складывается большая история, наш ХХ век. Главной техногенной катастрофе XX века - двадцать лет. "Чернобыльская молитва" публикуется в новой авторской редакции, с добавлением нового текста, с восстановлением фрагментов, исключенных из прежних изданий по цензурным соображениям.

Chernóbil, 26 de abril de 1986. «Cierra las ventanillas y acuéstate. Hay un incendio en la central. Vendré pronto.» Esto fue lo último que un joven bombero dijo a su esposa Liudmila antes de acudir al lugar de la explosión. Nunca regresó. Y en cierto modo, ella ya no volvió a verle, pues en el hospital su marido dejó de ser su marido. Todavía hoy ella se pregunta si su historia trata sobre el amor o la muerte. En Voces de Chernóbil, Alexievich recoge muchas historias con esa doble naturaleza, ya que el libro está planteado como si fuera una tragedia griega, con coros y unos héroes marcados por un destino fatal, cuyas voces fueron silenciadas durante muchos años por una polis representada aquí por la antigua URSS. Pero,a diferencia de una tragedia griega, no hubo posibilidad de catarsis.

‘Communism had an insane plan: to refashion the “old” breed of man, ancient Adam. And it accomplished this...’ writes Svetlana Alexievich. ‘This was perhaps communism’s only achievement. Seventy plus years in the Marxist-Leninist laboratory gave rise to a new kind of man, the Homo sovieticus.’ This ‘red man’: that’s whom Alexievich has been studying since her first book, published in 1985 – a people and a culture condemned to extinction by the implosion of the Soviet Union. In this magnificent requiem to a civilization in ruins, the author of Voices from Chernobyl reinvents a singular, polyphonic literary form, bringing together the voices of dozens of witnesses to the collapse of the USSR in a formidable attempt to chart the disappearance of a culture and to surmise what new kind of man may emerge from the rubble. Alexievich’s method is simple: ‘I don’t ask people about socialism, I ask about love, jealousy, childhood, old age. Music, dances, hairstyles. The myriad sundry details of a vanished way of life. This is the only way to chase the catastrophe into the framework of the mundane and attempt to tell a story. Try to figure things out. It never ceases to amaze me how interesting ordinary, everyday life is. There are an endless number of human truths... History’s sole concern is the facts; emotions are out of its realm of interest. It’s considered improper to admit feelings into history. I look at the world as a writer, not strictly an historian. I am fascinated by people...’ From this fascination emerges a brilliant, poignant and unique portrait of post-Soviet society, built on the traumatisms of its predecessors’ collapse.