Svetlana Alexievich, Nobel Prize in Literature

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 Svetlana Alexievich portrays the Soviet-Afghan War in an outspoken way, having created a historical document that depicts the war in crude detail.The book caused controversy and rage when it was first published in the USSR― Zinky Boys presents the open testimony of 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/