Svetlana Alexievich: biography, personal life and creativity. Nobel Prize for Svetlana Alexievich
Aleksievich Svetlana (Aleksievich Svyatlana) - Belarusian writer, journalist.
Born on May 31, 1948 in Ukraine in the city of Stanislav (after 1962 - Ivano-Frankivsk). Father is Belarusian, mother is Ukrainian.
They say that now the power is of the oligarchs, of capital, but Russia is an irrational country, just like Belarus: money, by and large, does not always decide everything.
Alexievich Svetlana Alexandrovna
After his father’s demobilization, the family moved to his homeland, Belarus. Graduated from the Department of Journalism of the Lenin State University (1972). She worked as a teacher in a boarding school, as a teacher (1965), in the editorial offices of the regional newspapers “Prypyatskaya Prauda” (Narovlya, 1966), “Beacon of Communism” (Bereza, 1972-1973), and the republican “Rural Newspaper” "(1973-1976), magazine "Neman" (1976-1984).
She began her literary activity in 1975. The “godfather” can be called the famous Belarusian writer Ales Adamovich with his idea of a new genre, the exact definition of which he was constantly looking for: “conciliar novel”, “oratorio novel”, “testimony novel”, “people telling about themselves”, “ epic-choral prose”, etc.
Alexievich’s first book, “War Has Not a Woman’s Face,” was ready in 1983 and remained in the publishing house for two years. The author was accused of pacifism, naturalism and debunking the heroic image of the Soviet woman. At that time this was more than serious. “Perestroika” gave a beneficial impetus. The book was published almost simultaneously in the magazine “October”, “Roman-Gazeta”, in the publishing houses “Mastatskaya Literatura”, “Soviet Writer”. The total circulation reached 2 million copies.
The fate of the following books was also difficult. "The Last Witnesses" (1985) - children's view of the war. “The Zinc Boys” (1989) - about the criminal war in Afghanistan (the publication of this book caused not only a wave of negative publications in communist and military newspapers, but also a protracted trial, which was stopped only by the active defense of the democratic public and intellectuals for abroad). “Enchanted by Death” (1993) - about suicides. “Chernobyl Prayer” (1997) - about the world after Chernobyl, after nuclear war... Now Alexievich is working on a book about love - “The Wonderful Deer of the Eternal Hunt.”
Member of the Union of Journalists of the USSR (1976), the Union of Writers of the USSR (1983), and the Belarusian PEN Center (1989). Books were published in 19 countries of the world - America, England, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Germany, India, France, Sweden, Japan, etc. Laureate of the literary prizes of the USSR SP named after N. Ostrovsky (1984), named after K. Fedin (1985), Leninsky Prize Komsomol (1986), awarded the international prizes of Kurt Tucholsky (Swedish PEN) for “courage and dignity in literature”, Andrei Sinyavsky “for nobility in literature”, the Russian independent prize “Triumph”, the Leipzig Prize “For European Understanding-98”, the German “For the best political book” and the Austrian named after Herder.
Based on Alexievich’s books, films have been made and theatrical performances staged. A series of documentaries based on the book “War Has Not a Woman’s Face” was awarded the USSR State Prize (1985) and the “Silver Dove” at the international documentary film festival in Leipzig.
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Alexievich (1948) - Soviet and Belarusian writer, journalist, documentary film screenwriter. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2015.
Svetlana Alexievich was born on May 31, 1948 in the city of Stanislav, Western Ukraine (now Ivano-Frankivsk). Her mother was Ukrainian, and her father was Belarusian. Svetlana spent her entire childhood in a village in the Vinnytsia region. Later they moved to Belarus. Her paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather died at the front, and two of Svetlana’s father’s brothers went missing during the war. Her father was the only one who returned from the front. Svetlana Alexievich's parents were teachers in a rural school.
Svetlana graduated from school in the village of Kopatkevichi, Petrikovsky district, Gomel region in 1965.
Journalistic activity
The journalistic biography of Svetlana Alexievich begins in 1972, after graduating from university (BSU, Faculty of Journalism), when she became an employee of the regional newspaper "Mayak Communism" in the Brest region. From 1973 to 1976, he worked as a journalist in the Belarusian Selskaya Gazeta, and from 1976 to 1984, as the head of the essay and journalism department of the Neman magazine.
Creation
Svetlana Alexievich writes in the genre of artistic and documentary prose. She calls Ales Adamovich and Vasil Bykov her teachers. All of Alexievich's books are based on in-depth interviews with people who experienced some difficult event or with their surviving relatives.
Svetlana Alexievich's first book, “I Left the Village,” was prepared for publication in 1976. The book was a collection of monologues by residents of a Belarusian village who moved to the city. However, this book was never published; on the instructions of the propaganda department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the BSSR, the book was scattered. The writer was accused of criticizing the strict passport regime and “misunderstanding the agrarian policy” of the party. Later, Alexievich herself considered her work too “journalistic” and refused publication.
Since 1983 - member of the Union of Writers of the USSR.
In 1983, a documentary story was written based on interviews with Soviet women who participated in the Great Patriotic War, “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face,” which brought Alexievich fame. In 1985, the story was published, it was the first published book by Svetlana Alexievich.
Alexievich’s books form a cycle, which she herself defines as a “chronicle of the Great Utopia” or the story of the “red man.”
The most famous were her books in the genre of artistic and documentary prose “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face”, “Zinc Boys”, “Chernobyl Prayer”, “Second-Hand Time”. Alexievich’s works are dedicated to the life of the late USSR and the post-Soviet era, imbued with feelings of compassion and humanism.
Documentary films based on scripts by Svetlana Alexievich.
“Difficult Conversations” (Belarusfilm, 1979), director Richard Yasinsky
“War does not have a woman’s face” (together with Viktor Dashuk) - a series of seven documentary television films (1981-1984, Belarusfilm), directed by Viktor Dashuk. “Parental Home” - (Belarusian Television, 1982), director Viktor Shevelevich
“Portrait with Dahlias” - (Belarusian Television, 1984), director Valery Basov
“Soldiers” - (Belarusian television, 1985), director Valery Basov
“I’m talking about my time” - (Belarusian television, 1987), director Valery Zhigalko
“The past is yet to come” - (Belarusian television, 1988), director Valery Zhigalko
“These Strange Old People” (Belarusfilm, 1988), director Joseph Pickman
Cycle “From the Abyss” (script together with Marina Goldovskaya), director Marina Goldovskaya (OKO-media, Austria-Russia)
"Men of War" (1990)
"People of the Siege" (1990)
Afghan cycle - documentaries based on the book “Zinc Boys” (script together with Sergei Lukyanchikov), director Sergei Lukyanchikov, Belarusfilm
"Shame" (1991)
“I’m out of control” (1992)
“Cross” - (1994, Russia). Director Gennady Gorodny
"Children of war. The Last Witnesses", directed by Alexey Kitaytsev, script by Lyudmila Romanenko based on the book "The Last Witnesses". Svetlana Alexievich takes part in the film. MB Group Studio, Moscow, 2009. The film was awarded a special prize at the Open Documentary Film Competition “Man and War” (Ekaterinburg, 2011).
Films based on books by Svetlana Alexievich
"On the Ruins of Utopia" (1999, Germany)
"Russia. The Story of a Little Man" (2000, NHK, Japan), directed by Hideya Kamakura.
“The Door” (Ireland, 2008), directed by Juanita Wilson, is a short film based on the book “The Chernobyl Prayer.”
“Voices of Chernobyl” is a dramatic film based on the book “Chernobyl Prayer.”
Theater productions
Performance based on the book “Chernobyl Prayer”, Geneva, 2009
Living and working abroad
From 2000 to 2013, a new stage begins in the biography of Svetlana Alexievich: she moves to Italy, and later lives and works on her books in France and Germany. In 2013, she returned to her homeland again and currently lives in Belarus.
Among the numerous awards, orders and prizes of Svetlana Alexievich are the Order of the Badge of Honor (USSR, 1984), the Nikolai Ostrovsky Literary Prize of the Union of Writers of the USSR (1984), the Leipzig Book Prize for contribution to European understanding, the Officer's Cross of the Order of Arts and Letters (France) , 2014). She was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (2015) - “for her polyphonic work - a monument to suffering and courage in our time”
Books by Svetlana Alexievich as documentary prose, literary journalism, documentary monologues, oratorio novels, reportage, testimonial novels. The writer herself defines the genre in which she writes as “the history of feelings.”
Svetlana Alexievich's books have been translated into English, German, Polish, French, Swedish, Chinese, Norwegian and other languages. The total circulation of foreign editions of the Chernobyl Prayer amounted to more than 4 million copies.
The final, fifth book in Svetlana Alexievich’s famous fiction and documentary series “Voices of Utopia.” “Communism had an insane plan,” says the author, “to remake the “old” man, the old Adam. And it worked out... Maybe the only thing that worked out. For more than seventy years, in the laboratory of Marxism-Leninism, a separate human type was developed - homo soveticus. Some believe that this is a tragic character, others call him a “scoop.” It seems to me that I know this man, he is familiar to me, I have lived next to him, side by side for many years. He is me. These are my acquaintances, friends, parents.”
Socialism is over. And we stayed.
Without this book, which has long become a world bestseller, it is no longer possible to imagine either the history of the Afghan war - an unnecessary and unjust war, or the history of the last years of Soviet power, which was completely undermined by this war. The grief of the mothers of the “zinc boys” is inescapable; their desire to know the truth about how and why their sons fought and died in Afghanistan is understandable. But having learned this truth, many of them were horrified and abandoned it. Svetlana Alexievich’s book was tried “for libel” - in a real court, with a prosecutor, public prosecutors and “support groups” in power and in the press. Materials from this shameful trial are also included in the new edition of The Zinc Boys.
The most famous book by Svetlana Alexievich and one of the most famous books about the Great Patriotic War, where the war was first shown through the eyes of a woman. “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face” has been translated into 20 languages and included in school and university curricula.
The second book (the first was “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face”) in Svetlana Alexievich’s famous artistic and documentary series “Voices of Utopia.” Memories of the Great Patriotic War by those who were 6-12 years old during the war - its most impartial and most unfortunate witnesses. A war seen through children's eyes is even more terrible than one captured through a woman's gaze. Alexievich’s books have nothing to do with that kind of literature where “the writer writes and the reader reads.” But it is in relation to her books that the question most often arises: do we need such a terrible truth? The writer herself answers this question: “An unconscious person is capable of giving birth only to evil and nothing else but evil.”
“The Last Witnesses” is a feat of childhood memory.
For several decades, Svetlana Alexievich has been writing her chronicle “Voices of Utopia.” Five books have been published in which the “little man” himself talks about time and himself. The titles of the books have already become metaphors: “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face”, “Zinc Boys”, “Chernobyl Prayer”... In fact, she created her own genre - a polyphonic confessional novel, in which small stories make up a big history, our 20th century.
The main man-made disaster of the 20th century is twenty years old. “The Chernobyl Prayer” is published in a new author’s edition, with the addition of new text, with the restoration of fragments excluded from previous editions for censorship reasons.
The most famous book by Svetlana Alexievich and one of the most famous books about the Great Patriotic War, where the war was first shown through the eyes of a woman. “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face” has been translated into 20 languages and included in school and university curricula.
In the most terrible war of the 20th century, a woman had to become a soldier. She not only saved and bandaged the wounded, but also shot with a sniper, bombed, blew up bridges, went on reconnaissance missions, and took tongues. The woman killed. She killed the enemy, who attacked her land, her home, and her children with unprecedented cruelty. This was the greatest sacrifice they made on the altar of Victory. And an immortal feat, the full depth of which we comprehend over the years of peaceful life.
The second book in the famous artistic and documentary series “Voices of Utopia” by Svetlana Alexievich, who in 2015 received the Nobel Prize in Literature “for her polyphonic creativity - a monument to suffering and courage in our time.” “The Last Witnesses” contains memories of the Great Patriotic War of children, its most impartial and most unfortunate witnesses. The war, seen through the eyes of children, turned out to be even more terrible than that captured by a woman’s gaze in the book “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face.” “The Last Witnesses” is a feat of childhood memory. Like the rest of the books in the series, it is published in a new edition by the author.
Most recently, the Nobel Committee decided to award the prize for literature. Its winner was the writer Svetlana Alexievich, whose biography is little known to modern readers.
Today we will talk in more detail about the life and creative destiny of this ascetic in the literary field.
Brief biographical information about birth and childhood
The future writer was born in Western Ukraine (the city of Ivano-Frankivsk) in 1948. Her father was Belarusian, and her mother was Ukrainian. The life of her family was scorched by the war. The families of both mother and father suffered greatly during the occupation of Ukrainian and Belarusian lands. My father went through the war and was demobilized only after the victory. At the same time, he moved his wife and little daughter to a Belarusian village in the Gomel region. The writer's father and mother worked as teachers.
Svetlana Alexievich has seen a lot in her time, her biography is proof of this.
Having successfully completed school, Svetlana entered the Faculty of Journalism at the Belarusian State University, prestigious by Soviet standards. After graduating from university, she tried a lot of professions: she worked as an educator, teacher and journalist. Its first newspapers were the publications “Pripyatskaya Pravda” and “Beacon of Communism”.
Mature years
Svetlana became interested in writing in her youth, her essays and short stories began to be published in the Soviet press, and at the same time she was awarded the honor of being admitted to the Union of Soviet Writers (this event took place in 1983). Until now, she is considered one of the creators of Belarusian literature, which is reflected in the wording of the Nobel Prize: “Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich.” Her biography and personal life took place in Belarus, hence the truth of such formulations.
During the years of perestroika, the writer published several books that caused a lot of noise and classified her as a dissident (we will talk about these publications a little later). In the 2000s. Alexievich moved to Europe, lived and worked in France, Germany and Italy. Recently returned to Belarus.
Svetlana Alexievich: personal life
The question of the writer’s female fate has always been of interest to fans of her work, but very little is known in this area.
In her works, Svetlana Aleksandrovna told a lot of purely women’s stories, but for all the journalists who interviewed her, the topic “Svetlana Alexievich: personal life” was closed. The writer devoted herself to literature as the main calling of her life; in all profiles she indicates that she is an unmarried woman. It is known that for a long time she raised her niece, the daughter of her sister who died early.
Although it cannot be said that Svetlana Alexievich is a deprived person. Her family consists of her books, film scripts and journalistic works.
First literary experiments
Writer Svetlana Alexievich has always been interested in polemical topics in the history of our country.
Her first book, “I Left the Village,” prepared for publication in 1976, was devoted to the theme of the gradual extinction of the Russian village. The author rightly pointed out that such a mass exodus of the peasantry from the villages was provoked by the authorities with their unreasonable and inhumane policy of general collectivization. Naturally, such interviews (and the book itself is based on these interviews) did not cause delight among the then Soviet officials, so the book was not published in the USSR.
The writer's second book was published in 1983 and caused a lot of noise. It was called “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face.” In this work, the writer collected the memories of many Soviet women who participated in the Great Patriotic War. Some of the memories were cut out by censorship (later the author inserted them into post-Soviet publications). Alexievich actually debunked the image that was created before her in books about the war. In her work, women talk not about exploits and victories, but about fear, suffering, ruined youth and the cruelty of war.
The work “The Last Witnesses: A Book of Non-Children's Stories” (1985) became equally polemical. It was dedicated to children's memories of the terrible events of the Great Patriotic War. Sad childhood stories were told to readers by Svetlana Alexievich, whose family itself found itself under occupation during the war.
Famous works of the writer
The work “Zinc Boys” (1989), dedicated to the sad events of the Afghan war for our country, created a lot of noise. Here Alexievich talks about the enormous grief of mothers who lost their sons and do not understand why their children died.
The next book, “Enchanted by Death” (1993), told about the practice of mass suicides of people who lost faith in previous ideals after the collapse of the USSR.
The writer’s work “Chernobyl Prayer” (1997), which told about the sad events of the disaster, became widely known. The author collected in her book interviews with still living participants in the liquidation of the consequences of this disaster.
As we can see, during her long writing life Svetlana Alexievich created many books, reviews of these books are very different. Some readers honor the author’s talent, while others curse Alexievich, accusing her of populism and speculative journalism.
Genre originality and ideological content of the writer’s books
The writer herself defines the genre of her prose as artistic and documentary. She is attracted to both fiction and journalistic documentaries.
Since the themes of her books concern so many people, the writer’s work is the object of close attention from critics. And they differ in their assessments.
Thus, some modern Western literary figures believe that Svetlana Alexievich, whose biography and work are directly related to the Soviet Union, can tell the truth like no one else about what the USSR was for its citizens. It turns out that the USSR was a real evil empire that did not spare its people in order to achieve illusory political goals. People were massacred in the Gulag, driven to slaughter on the fields of World War II, sparing neither children nor women, the Soviet government plunged the country into the abyss of the Afghan war, allowed the Chernobyl disaster, and so on.
Other critics who consider themselves part of the traditional “Russian world,” on the contrary, reproach the writer for being able to see only the negative sides of Soviet and Russian reality, without noticing its positive sides. These critics accuse the author of actually betraying the interests of his homeland. They say that Svetlana Alexievich, whose biography is directly connected with Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, has never said anything good about the importance of the unity of these three countries in her entire life. These critics believe that the author deliberately distorts real facts in his works, creating an image of “evil and treacherous Russia” for Western and Russian readers.
The writer's political views
The topic “Svetlana Alexievich: biography, personal life” attracts the attention of journalists, but their greater interest is focused on the political views of the writer.
The fact is that Svetlana is a consistent supporter of Westernist views; she has repeatedly criticized the political positions of both the President of Belarus A. Lukashenko and the President of Russia V. Putin. The author accuses both of them of creating a second-hand empire (the writer’s latest book is called “Second-Hand Time” (2013)). Alexievich believes that Putin and Lukashenko want to resurrect the terrible and inhumane Soviet project, therefore, in her public speeches, the writer condemns all the actions of the current Belarusian and Russian leaders. She condemns the revival of the military power of the Russian Federation, considers Putin to be the culprit for the deaths in Donbass, etc.
Nobel Prize: history of the award
The writer was nominated for the Nobel Prize twice: in 2013 and 2015. In 2013, the prize was awarded to another Canadian author.
In 2015, the Nobel Committee decided to award this prize to Svetlana Alexievich. Immediately after the announcement of this decision, many began to be interested in such a person as Svetlana Alexievich. The Nobel Prize was awarded to her for a reason, and this arouses even greater interest.
This prize has not been awarded to Russian-speaking writers for quite some time. Moreover, it was often used as a tool in the political struggle between Russia and the West: throughout its history, the prize was awarded, as a rule, to those who had clear differences in views with the official authorities of Soviet Russia (for example, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Boris Pasternak, Ivan Bunin).
A brief overview of the writer's Nobel speech
By tradition, the Nobel Prize winner in literature gives a speech of gratitude, in which he sums up the unique results of his work.
Svetlana Alexievich also gave such a speech. The Nobel Prize for Literature is given once in a lifetime, so the writer created one of her best texts.
The theme of Alexievich’s speech was the image of the “red man,” that is, a person with a Soviet psyche who still lives in the minds of Russian people and forces them to make certain decisions. Alexievich condemns this man as a product of the totalitarian era.
The author calls Russian people “slaves of Utopia,” who imagine that they have a “special Russian path,” a special spirituality that differs from the spirituality of Western countries. The writer sees the salvation of our country in the denial of this eternal slavery and the appeal of Russian people to the values of Western civilization.
Svetlana Alexievich (birthday May 31, 1948) - Russian-speaking writer and journalist from Belarus, awarded the Nobel Prize for creativity in literature.
Facts from the biography of childhood and adolescence
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Alexievich was born on Ukrainian soil in the town of Stanislav (now Ivano-Frankivsk). When Alexander’s dad was fired from service, the family moved to Belarus. There parents got jobs as school teachers. As the writer herself says, her childhood years were spent on a farm in the Vinnitsa region.
After graduating from secondary education in 1965, she worked as a reporter. At that time, to enter the university to study journalism, work experience in the relevant specialty was required. Since 1967, Svetlana Alexievich has been successfully studying at the university. During her studies, she was repeatedly awarded the title of laureate of all-Union and republican competitions among students.
Further biography
After university, she was assigned to the Brest region, to the regional newspaper in the city of Bereza. A year later, she moved to the republican “Rural Newspaper”. Since 1976, she began to head one of the departments of the Neman magazine, where she worked for eight years.
The works of Ales Adamovich in the genre of the testimonial novel had a great influence on the work of Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich. This new genre of “conciliar novel” or “epic-choral prose” was invented and developed by A. Adamovich. His unusual style showed the aspiring writer his path in artistic journalism.
Creation
The first book was written back in 1976, but its set was scattered. It was called “I Left the Village” and was narrated from the perspective of villagers who went to live in the city. The work was not published, and Svetlana Alexievich was accused of anti-government and anti-party views.
The famous work “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face,” published in 1984 in a magazine version, is compiled from the memoirs of women who participated in the war. To date, the circulation of this book has reached two million. In 1985, the book “One Hundred Non-Children’s Stories” was published, written based on the memories of people who survived the war as children. It has been published frequently and has been critically acclaimed many times.
In 1989, the book “Zinc Boys” was published, written in the words of unfortunate women who lost their sons in Afghanistan. To write the work, Svetlana Alexievich collected materials for 4 years and went to the Afghan war. The author was tried for this work.
In 1993, the book “Enchanted by Death” was published. It tells about people who have not found their place in the modern world without the socialist idea. About those who decided to commit suicide. Four years later, the book “Chernobyl Prayer” was published, compiled from recordings of conversations with eyewitnesses of the Chernobyl accident. The entire circulation of foreign publications exceeded 4 million, the work received three big awards.
Books
1. Second hand time.
2. Fascinated by death.
3. The last witnesses (one hundred non-children's stories).
4. The last witnesses. Solo for children's voice.
5. War does not have a feminine face.
6. Zinc boys.
7. Chernobyl prayer. Chronicle of the future.
Personal life
According to the writer, her personal life, like many others, was not very happy. “Sadness all the time, waiting for something...” The main thing for her is to maintain balance and friendliness to the world within herself. The writer is currently writing a book about love. She notices that it is becoming increasingly difficult for her to love people.
Svetlana Alexievich took in raising the daughter of her sister who passed away early. There are no other children in Svetlana Alexievich’s family. In an interview with the writer about her personal life, she prefers not to talk about it. Even in the biography written by Svetlana Alexievich herself, there is no information about her personal life.
For the last two years, Svetlana Alexievich has been living in her homeland in the city of Minsk, although her works are not published here and are not judged. According to the writer, she wants to live at home where everyone understands each other on a symbolic level. Before that, she emigrated for a long time. Been to Italy, Germany, France, Sweden. The writer’s personal life abroad is a sealed secret.
About the Nobel Prize
In October of this year, Svetlana Alexievich was awarded the Nobel Prize. Her work was called polyphonic, her works became a monument to suffering and courage. The announcement of the Nobel Prize being awarded to Svetlana Alexievich was received differently both in Russia and in Belarus. Many people think about political motivation in choosing a candidate. No matter what, this is a significant fact in the biography of Svetlana Alexievich.
About Russia, about Crimea, about Putin
When presenting the Nobel Prize, Svetlana Alexievich emphasized that she could not say anything bad about Russian culture. Theater, ballet, ... - the wonderful “Russian world” that she embraces. “The world of Beria, Stalin, Putin... is a world alien to me, I don’t like it,” says the writer.
She calls modern Russia a pit, an abyss, with nuclear weapons, crazy geopolitical ideas and complete ignorance of international law. All this gives her a feeling of defeat.
The writer condemns Russia's policy towards Ukraine. Svetlana Alexievich, commenting on the armed conflict that took place in Crimea, says that it’s scary when people kill each other. She explains this by the fact that over the past two hundred years people have fought a lot and lived very poorly, all of which she openly reflects in her work.
Svetlana Alexievich is an active anti-Soviet, known for her condemnation of the domestic and foreign policies of the Russian leader Putin.