Coronavirus burden for most difficult not so much physically, but emotionally. Writer Olga Slavnikova is no exception. The winner of “Russian Booker” for the novel “2017” and prize “Yasnaya Polyana” for the book “the long Jump” explains why people susceptible to fakes, should I wait for social upheaval because of the pandemic, and what will be literature in postirochnoy reality.
– Today, many write that the quarantine has helped them to finally do things that they had long postponed. And as you spend time in isolation?
– In isolation in a day remains twenty-four hours. I teach writing, and a lot of work. Urges attention to their own prose. Make time for home sports: the apartment has a compact simulator, and he’s my best friend. For all six months within the four walls haven’t watched the series. Trying for the sixth time to fully read daisosho “Ulysses”. Think again stuck.
How, in your opinion, quarantine alienate people from each other (or, conversely, will bring)?
– Online communication is, of course, a substitute. Notice that with a couple of friends run out of topics. On the other hand, more closely, there are still things to discuss. Apparently, for each relationship there is a “point of no return”, when people hangs in the void. I hope the quarantine will not last as to those points was a lot. Yes, we are moving away from each other, and may God grant us the strength to after the lifting of limitations to begin anew.
To your novels, you can apply the formula Gogol: “All the hype, all the dreams, all is not what it seems”. Poor boy from the “long Jump” becomes “reprobate”, the beloved hero of the novel “2017” – the cold Mistress of the Mountains, and “the Immortal” war veteran convinced that the court in the 1970s. as far As the illusion and deception woven into our reality?
– We are now up to their nostrils in the illusion. Most of the information, which we operate, comes not from our direct experience, but from “sources” such as social, TV and so on. Virtuality is generated.
Actually, this is already so long ago: propaganda became compelling with the advent of mass media. But if earlier the user was a request for the truth, now dominated by the query to the comfort of the illusory environment. People have been susceptible to fakes, because the fake thrills, but it is also, paradoxically, comfort: satisfaction emotional hunger.
the Trouble is that the virtuality created by the propaganda and fakes (they are also mostly propaganda), this virtuality is very primitive. It simplifies the person. The illusion literature, the worlds created by the imagination of the writer, on the contrary, complex and multidimensional. These virtuality, alas, demand less. Although seemingly important happensEsna literature, as nothing helps to create “the best version of yourself.” But no, the skill is almost lost.
– In “2017”, a picture of the confrontation clowns red and white, developing into real riots. To what extent, in your opinion, the current crisis in Russia may cause a new social upheaval?
– the Situation is highly explosive. Mass disbelief in COVID has shown that people do not trust the authorities. If you place the banners “2+2=4”, the angry citizens of the four crossed out and changed to “five” or “twelve”. How to believe if people are left to fend for themselves?
I Have two pupils were left without work and salaries. Who cares? It’s not about democratic rights and about the basic right to life, physical life. It may start chaos. And will not become better, become worse, including by the protesters.
– In your books the characters often wear heavy vital circumstances. Today, many people are experiencing difficult times. How to find meaning and support?
– the well-Known formula: need help – be “assisting authority”. This makes a lot of sense: you yourself is the one you need. However, easier said than done.
Remember, in 1988, in December, my family and I were sitting at the cottage, skiing. And then announced on television about the earthquake in Spitak. We dropped everything, rushed to the city to transfer money to the by the victims. And have survived all of the same as we shocked people.
Today, with every fundraiser there is an idea that the money is stolen, the recipients will get crumbs. The problem is total mistrust, especially to the officials. Well, enough of scams. Way to create a small horizontal communication, friendly “mutual aid”. Gather people who know and who believe. In such a closed community can receive not only the card but also the volunteer help of a psychologist, for example. In these communities can and should invest. To help.
the Language of your prose is very metaphorical and full of imagery. What kind of metaphor you can apply to us today?
– We are not moving anywhere, like on another planet with the aggressive external environment. Now we are dealing with the invisible, because the visible has become a bit unrealistic. If not Moscow around, and the layout of Moscow in full size.
– what, in your opinion, to change the literature after the pandemic?
– Pandemic created a lot of stories. The drama of reality were richer than the authors of fantasy “darowizny” dystopia. Many writers will be tempted to stick hot cakes. In hopes of a demand, of course. Only here, the demand will not.
I Remember how surprised I postwar films, like “the Kuban Cossacks”. How was it possible, pfter all these years, carried on a sweet fake pictures? But long-suffering people needed a story. And to the point will get those who will write light therapy books: about love, about cats, about the blue helicopters.
of Course, literature as an art form is not advance, but will choke. Authentic literature works of tragedy. The current tragedy is not going anywhere, and books about them will be Mature and will be released in due time, after a few years. Need distance to realize the scale of what happened with us. And art the memory of a brighter immediate impressions that showed Marcel Proust.
the First of the novels, I foresee a flourishing drama. In fact, the apartment in which the family is isolated and there is a scene. You may be interesting autofix. In Russian literature traditionally, writers have been doctors: Chekhov, Bulgakov, today there are Stesin. Physicians that now work in the red zones, will have something to say.
– do you think that we need to review people in postirochnoy time?
– first of all, consumption. My hands did not reach the cabinets, but my two friends took apart and was horrified by what she had found. Garland uncut labels. Layers forgotten. Packed dreams. And the mole! And all for their own money.
Raschlenenie bitterly sobering. We really don’t need so many things. And most importantly, we should not be so manageable. I think after a pandemic will shatter the last mists of the post-Soviet naivete. We infantile, like bright, would Shine. Now become stingy and boring Europeans.
second, travel. Yes, we now yearn for the days when you could easily fly to France, to Italy, but at least in Australia. The so-called experience economy. But is it?
In my experience, it was worth the traveler to be in a historical or just a beautiful place, he immediately accepted to shoot, shoot, shoot. Shut out an iPhone and pushed the impression left from a direct contact with beauty. So, maybe now deprived of the opportunity to move, we begin to appreciate and absorb the immediate, what is around us?
third, the school of distance education will review the role of the adults in the family. Everyone will have to become a bit of a teacher. Yes, the horror, plus all loads. But this is the only way to ensure that our children and grandchildren would be educated people. Not just to do with the child’s schoolwork and to give your home an elective. To read a good book. This will save our children from brainwashing, and of us from Alzheimer’s.
