In the Poznan-based journal Chas CourtleyUkrainian novelist Victoria Amelina argues that it is wrong for Western commentators to ask what to do about Russian culture as Ukraine faces another execution renaissance.
Take, for example, the stories of ballerina Olga Smirnova and propaganda Marina Ovsyanikova. Both voiced their opposition to war before being embraced by the West. The fate of Ukrainian artists, writers and journalists is already being murdered by Russia (Artem Datsyhyn, Oleksandra Kuvshynowa) or risking their lives on the front lines and in besieged cities (Oleg Sentsov, Artem Chekh, Artem Chapaye). , Serhiy Zhadan).
From Amelina’s point of view, the question is not whether Russian culture should be “cancelled”, but whether Ukrainian culture will be destroyed again by imperial invaders. .)
Russia’s neo-imperialist war is the product of a process that dates back to the mid-1990s and can be traced more recently to the doctrine of the “Russian world,” writes Belarusian author and translator Ihar Babkou. Officially adopted in the 21st century, the idea is to upend the global balance of power and “dominate the nation’s efforts to allow Russia to enter a brave new world in which it too has the right.” Yes. The right to wage war. Right to lie. The right to kill and imprison dissenters. The right to ironically ignore public opinion.
Nearly a decade after the annexation of Crimea, Babkow argues that the West has yet to give meaningful analysis of Russia’s imperialist thinking. For him, Western critical theory simply lacks the language to do so. Meanwhile, in the Eastern European borderlands, from Adam Mickiewicz to Janka Kupawa to Zianon Pazniak, he has been speaking on the topic for at least two centuries.
More recently, Ukrainians have applied postcolonial theory to the former Eastern bloc. Babkow contrasts this with the seeming inability of Russian intellectuals to understand the concept.When Edward Said orientalism was published in Russian in 2006, the publisher praised Said as an ally of Russia to the West, rather than recognizing him as a critic of Empire in general.
But even well-developed and significant devices do not always provide the full picture. Babkou recalls an academic analysis of the Belarusian protest movement from 2020 to 2021. This analysis correctly identifies the nature of the failed revolution (both feminist and liberal, heroic and misguided) and the reasons for its failure (no clear program, spectacular but aimless). but failed. To provide actionable and forward-looking conclusions to stakeholders. If it fails, what is it all for? (Read the article in English on Eurogin.)
Changing Children’s Literature
As war, unrest and migration increasingly permeate everyday life in Poland, feminist critic and literary scholar Magdalena Bednarek explores how children’s literature can help young people understand and deal with adult problems. explore. Looking at books and stories published in Poland between 2011 and her 2022, she points out how the character changes over time.
Older publications, especially those before the 2015 European refugee crisis, tend to be more didactic. They introduce simplified information and promote specific attitudes (empathetic, pro-immigration). But as the issue of immigration became more pressing, another type of text became popular. It is now intended for children and parents to read, react, and reflect on stories together. abandoned some.
“Such reading is cultivated in the home and in the microcommunity to feel belonging to the larger whole…as a result, when confronted with stories of people fleeing war, famine, or persecution. Fear and anger can be learned by children.Not childish, but human and shared.
Children’s literature was once thought to be an adult projection of what childhood should be, but in the face of war and climate change, the constructed reality is becoming impossible, says a literary scholar. author Marta Koverko-Urbanczyk writes: Analyzing European picture books on immigration published between 2016 and 2019, she sees them as expressions of “a prevalence of anxiety that belongs to adults but also infects children.” .
in her 2012 book Depression: a public sentiment (2012), Ann Cvetovich argues that political grief should be accepted and expressed. Kowerko-Urbańczyk writes that immigration picture books do the job well. She enables writers and readers to face repressed emotions and make peace with them. In such readings, “the point is not for the author…or the adult reader explains the complexities of migration to a child, but together tackles the topic and explores it in multiple variations.
