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| Fig. 1 - Quotation from Svetlana Alexievich |
This year’s Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to
the Belarusian author Svetlana Alexievich "for her polyphonic
writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time".
Svetlana Alexievich was born on 31 May, 1948 in
Ukraine. When her father completed his military service, the family moved to
Belarus. After finishing school, Alexievich began working both as a teacher and
as a journalist.
Alexievich has depicted and described many aspects
of the Soviet society and because of her criticism of the regime, she has lived
abroad in Italy, France, Germany, and Sweden, among other countries.
Her books are about important events which took place
in the former Soviet Union and will constitute a heritage for future
generation…
For many years, she collected materials for her
first book War's Unwomanly Face, 1988, which is based on interviews of
women who participated in the Second World War. “This work is the first in
Alexievich's grand cycle of books, "Voices of Utopia", where life in
the Soviet Union is depicted from the perspective of the individual.”
Zinky Boys – Soviet voices from a
forgotten war, 1992, is another important work. The book is about the war in
Afghanistan. From 1979 to 1989 a million Soviet troops fought a devastating war
in Afghanistan that claimed more than 50,000 lives. The title Zinky Boys
derives from the fact that the Soviet dead were shipped back in sealed zinc,
while the state denied the very existence of the conflict. Svetlana Alexievich
portrays the Soviet-Afghan War in an outspoken way, having created a historical
document that depicts the war in crude detail.The book caused controversy and
rage when it was first published in the USSR― Zinky Boys presents the open
testimony of officers, nurses and
prostitutes, mothers, sons, and daughters who describe the war and its shocking
effects.
The consequences of the nuclear disaster in
Chernobyl, 1986, was also depicted in Voices from Chernobyl, 1997, which portrays
the consequences of this nuclear disaster.
April 26, 1986, marked one of the darkest pages of
history. The nuclear accident 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. Svetlana Alexievich interviewed
people affected by the meltdown, from innocent citizens, firefighters and to those
called in the clean up of the disaster. Their cries reveal the fear, fury, and
uncertainty with which they still live. Presented in monologue form, Voices
from Chernobyl is an extremely important work, a legacy for future
generations.
Alexievich deepens our comprehension of an entire
era through an original piece of work. Hence, the award…
Ilda Camarneira
Lista de referências bibliográficas:
Bausells, M. (2015, outubro 8). Everything you need
to know about Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the Nobel prize in literature. In The Guardian. Disponível em
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/oct/08/everything-you-need-to-know-about-svetlana-alexievich-winner-of-the-nobel-prize-in-literature
Nobel Literature Prize. (s/d) Svetlana Alexievich. Disponível em http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/
