War in Ukraine has been plaguing that country for three weeks up to now. Besides the humanitarian crisis, Ukrainian authors are also suffering immensely from the war as they are struggling to survive. However, some of them, at the moment, seem to see through the horrendous war crimes they witness everyday and try to explain them as they can through various media. Andrey Yuryevich Kurkov is one such writer who has devoted his time to speak about his country’s plight with reporters.
A writer and respected commentator
Kurkov who writes in Russian is often called a comic novelist for books like “Death and the Penguin”. So far he has written 19 novels, nine books for children, and about 20 documentary, fiction and TV movie scripts. The unbelievable thing in him is that this Leningrad born 61-year-old author could write a novel about fighting between Russia and Ukraine long before the Russian invasion started on February 24.
His 2018 novel “Grey Bees” was set in the earlier Ukraine-Russia conflict, and describes the life trapped in the war which is very similar to the current situation - in exact terms, the novel is set in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine where, in 2014, rebels loyal to Russia declared independence for the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk.
“Grey Bees” is translated into English by Boris Dracyok, and it is scheduled for release in the United States this April, and while engaging in describing what is happening in the country to International media, he could talk about the book and the Russian aggression in Ukraine with the New York Times.
So, this article focuses on his comments in the interview conducted by Alex Marshall.
The book, “Grey Bees”, follows two old men living in the neutral zone between Ukrainian Army positions and those of the separatists, one of whom is seemingly more interested in tending his honeybees than in the conflict around them. In the interview, Kurkov talked about “Grey Bees,” how the war would change Ukrainian literature and his hopes for the future.
“Earlier we were looking for shelter”
When the interview takes place, Kurkov was at home in Kyiv, though now Kyiv is also plagued by the war. Kurkov started by describing his situation in Kyiv:
“Well, earlier we were looking for shelter because the neighbours started shouting that an air raid was coming, and instead of shelter, we went to the Radisson Hotel and stayed there for half an hour.
“Then we went to my friend who has a shelter in his house. But it was very shabby and not nice. There were more explosions, but then there was some quiet so we returned home.”
“I wasn’t planning to write this book”
The reader’s first question on the book is how could Kukov conceive a story on a war that is yet to be come. His answer is this:
“Well, I wasn’t planning to write this book, but in 2014 we had an influx of refugees from Donbas in Kyiv, and I met a young businessmen from Donetsk who was driving every month to a village not far from the front line, where seven families remained: without shops, without electricity, with nothing. So he was bringing them medicines and whatever else they asked for, and they were saying thanks by giving him jars of preserved vegetables and pickles.
“I had this idea that there were thousands of people stuck between the Russian Army and Ukrainian Army, with nowhere to go, and wanted to give a voice to those people.”
In any war, civilians are the most vulnerable. And after raging the war they do not care about the nationalistic or patriotic ideas, because the most important thing is to survive. In this book also the two main characters do not care about politics or war, they just deal with the daily life. When asking about this Kurkov said:
“People just want to survive. And people adapt to war, if it’s not destroying them personally. I went there (war affected Donbas region of eastern Ukraine) three times, and I noticed that even the children could tell what rocket or mine caused an explosion, just by its sound. War became something banal, part of life.”
“I didn’t think it was realistic”
Marshall’s next question was did he ever expect this invasion in Ukraine. The answer is as follows:
“No, until several weeks ago, I didn’t think it was realistic. And then I noticed that Putin became very old, very quickly, and started talking like Stalin before his death. Putin has a dream of recreating the Soviet Union, and he considers everybody who doesn’t love Russia, but understands the Russian language, as traitors. And he loves to kill traitors.”
“This war created a parallel literature”
Kukov is one of most renowned and veteran writers in Ukraine. So he should know about the present Ukrainian literature.
“Before the war, there was no war literature. It was mostly sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll — and crime stories, of course. But this war created a parallel literature — literature written by war veterans, by volunteers. Those authors are probably already on the way to the frontlines.
“If Ukraine survives, it will create even more militant literature. And that doesn’t mean that the literature will become better. It just means that literature will be more politicised — like Soviet literature, but with a different kind of propaganda or patriotic ideas.”
It sounds like that the development worries him. He said to it:
“It does, because in Russia, traditionally writers are serving the Government and its ideology. But in Ukraine, writers are serving themselves and their readers. I mean, the Government never took interest in what writers were writing. That’s why we had so many books about sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll, and not many about Ukrainian history.”
“Ukrainians and Russians are not same”
Apart from a resource person on the war in Ukraine, Kurkov has also been writing guest essays for newspapers and magazines, to get the word out about the situation in Ukraine. So what message does he want to give readers?
“Generally, I would like to explain the difference between Russians and Ukrainians, Russian history and Ukrainian history, Russian mentality and Ukrainian mentality. Because Putin and all his cronies repeat every day that Ukrainians and Russians are the same — that we are brothers and they have to live together. It is not true. It’s a long story, but Ukrainians for 300 years were independent from the Russian czars and from any kind of imperial rule.”
“I can recommend Maria Matios”
Though people around the world did not take having the Ukrainian literature for granted, now they are in curious about it. So what are the books he suggests for such readers? His answer is this:
“I have my favourite writers I can recommend, like Maria Matios — she’s originally from Bukovina, near the border with Romania. She is the author of one of the best novels written since independence called “Sweet Darusya.” It’s about two villages in Bukovina, and life there from the 1920s to the 1990s. It’s about horrible things, but it’s written in such a wonderful language that you fall in love with every character and you feel for them. It’s an emotionally very powerful book.”
If defeated, half of the country will leave to Europe
As a visionary writer, Kurkov might have something to tell about the war in Ukraine. Alex Marshall’s final question in the interview was on this: “What do you hope will happen now?”
The answer was:
“Well, my only hope is that the world finds a way to stop Putin and to leave Ukraine in peace because his goal is to destroy the country and to destroy Ukrainian independence. And if it happens, then half of the country will leave to Europe — they’ll be immigrants or refugees — and everything that will remain will be destroyed by the Russians who’ll behave like Bolsheviks in 1919.”