Svetlana Alexievich was born in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, in 1948 and has spent most of her life in the Soviet Union and present-day Belarus, with prolonged periods of exile in Western Europe. Starting out as a journalist, she developed her own nonfiction genre, which gathers a chorus of voices to describe a specific historical moment. Her works include War's Unwomanly Face (1985), Last Witnesses (1985), Zinky Boys (1990), Voices from Chernobyl (1997), and Secondhand Time (2013). She has won many international awards, including the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time."
Praise for Svetlana Alexievich and Secondhand Time
"There are many worthwhile books on the post-Soviet period and
Putin's ascent. . . . But the nonfiction volume that has done the
most to deepen the emotional understanding of Russia during and
after the collapse of the Soviet Union of late is Svetlana
Alexievich's oral history Secondhand Time."--David Remnick, The New
Yorker "Like the greatest works of fiction, Secondhand Time is a
comprehensive and unflinching exploration of the human condition. .
. . Alexievich's tools are different from those of a novelist, yet
in its scope and wisdom, Secondhand Time is comparable to War and
Peace."--The Wall Street Journal "Already hailed as a masterpiece
across Europe, Secondhand Time is an intimate portrait of a country
yearning for meaning after the sudden lurch from Communism to
capitalism in the 1990s plunged it into existential crisis. A
series of monologues by people across the former Soviet empire, it
is Tolstoyan in scope, driven by the idea that history is made not
only by major players but also by ordinary people talking in their
kitchens."--The New York Times "The most ambitious Russian literary
work of art of the century . . . There's been nothing in Russian
literature as great or personal or troubling as Secondhand Time
since Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago, nothing as
necessary and overdue. . . . Alexievich's witnesses are those who
haven't had a say. She shows us from these conversations, many of
them coming at the confessional kitchen table of Russian
apartments, that it's powerful simply to be allowed to tell one's
own story. . . . This is the kind of history, otherwise almost
unacknowledged by today's dictatorships, that matters."--The
Christian Science Monitor "Alexievich's masterpiece--not only for
what it says about the fall of the Soviet Union but for what it
suggests about the future of Russia and its former satellites. . .
Stylistically, Secondhand Time, like her other books, produces a
mosaic of overlapping voices... deepened by extraordinary stories
of love and perseverance."--Newsweek "A trove of emotions and
memories, raw and powerful . . . [Secondhand Time] is one of the
most vivid and incandescent accounts of [Soviet] society caught in
the throes of change that anyone has yet attempted. . . .
Alexievich stations herself at a crossroads of history and turns on
her tape recorder. . . . [She] makes it feel intimate, as if you
are sitting in the kitchen with the characters, sharing in their
happiness and agony."--The Washington Post "An enormous
investigation of the generation that saw communism fall,
[Secondhand Time] gives a staggeringly deep and plural picture of a
people that has lost its place in history."--San Francisco
Chronicle "Secondhand Time, [Alexievich's] latest book to be
translated into English, is her most ambitious yet. . . . Its
themes of hope and loss are universal. . . . A professional
listener, Ms. Alexievich manages the feat of being present and
invisible at the same time. . . . The result is always warm and
human, however dark the content. Many of the people the author
meets simply want to talk, sharing memories they had held on to for
years or decades. With Secondhand Time, Ms. Alexievich has built a
monument to these survivors of the collapse of the Soviet Union; a
monument in words."--The Economist "[Alexievich's] writing is sui
generis, blending the force of fact with the capaciousness of
fiction to create a new, vital literary compound."--The Nation
"In Secondhand Time, the 2015 Nobel Laureate deftly orchestrates
dozens of voices. . . . By letting her subjects keep their dignity,
Alexievich has given us a fuller history of the fall of the Soviet
Empire than we had before. By letting the vanquished speak, we
might know better what, if anything, was actually won."--Chicago
Tribune "A compelling vision of the human condition."--Associated
Press "The Nobel Prize winner documents the last days of communism
in the Soviet Union and the dawn of a new way of living in
contemporary Russia. Through interviews with ordinary citizens, she
finds the truth behind the headlines."--Time
"If you want to understand contemporary Russia, Secondhand Time is
essential reading."--Newsday
"An epic chronicle of the fall of the Soviet Union and the
emergence of a new Russia, in the unadorned voices of its ordinary
citizens . . . Told in solos and choruses, her books have the rise
and fall of a symphony."--Vogue "Alexievich's most ambitious
project to date--a panoramic study of ordinary lives affected by
the downfall of the Soviet system. . . . By careful listening and
editing, she turns the transcripts of an interview into a spoken
literature that carries all the truth and emotional power of a
great novel."--The New York Review of Books "For her polyphonic
writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time."--Nobel
Prize Committee
"For the past thirty or forty years [Alexievich has] been busy
mapping the Soviet and post-Soviet individual, but [her work is]
not really about a history of events. It's a history of emotions .
. . a history of the soul."--Sara Danius, permanent secretary of
the Swedish Academy
"In this spellbinding book, Svetlana Alexievich orchestrates a rich
symphony of Russian voices telling their stories of love and death,
joy and sorrow, as they try to make sense of the twentieth century,
so tragic for their country."--J. M. Coetzee "[Alexievich's] books
are woven from hundreds of interviews, in a hybrid form of
reportage and oral history that has the quality of a documentary
film on paper. But Alexievich is anything but a simple recorder and
transcriber of found voices; she has a writerly voice of her own
which emerges from the chorus she assembles, with great style and
authority, and she shapes her investigations of Soviet and
post-Soviet life and death into epic dramatic chronicles as
universally essential as Greek tragedies. . . . A mighty
documentarian and a mighty artist." --Philip Gourevitch
"Alexievich's voices are those of the people no one cares about,
but the ones whose lives constitute the vast majority of what
history actually is."--Keith Gessen
"Riveting . . . Other oral histories have relied on a blended
structure whereby the individual stories form the supporting
elements to the historians' larger narrative; the grace and power
of Alexievich's work is the focus on intimate accounts, which set
the stage for a more eloquent and nuanced investigation. A must for
historians, lay readers, and anyone who enjoys well-curated
personal narratives."--Library Journal (starred review)
"[Alexievich] documents the last days of the Soviet Union and the
transition to capitalism in a soul-wrenching 'oral history' that
reveals the very different sides of the Russian experience. . . .
[Her] work turns Solzhenitsyn inside out and overpowers recent
journalistic accounts of the era. . . . She spends hours recording
conversations, sometimes returning years later, and always trying
to go beyond the battered and distrusted communal pravda to seek
the truths hidden within individuals."--Publishers Weekly (starred
review)
"A rich kaleidoscope of voices from all regions of the former
Soviet Union . . . profoundly significant literature as
history."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Absorbing and important."--Booklist (starred review)
Praise for Svetlana Alexievich and "Secondhand Time
"
Like the greatest works of fiction, "Secondhand Time"is a
comprehensive and unflinching exploration of the human condition. .
. . Alexievich s tools are different from those of a novelist, yet
in its scope and wisdom, "Secondhand Time"is comparable to"War and
Peace." "The Wall Street Journal"
Already hailed as a masterpiece across Europe, "Secondhand Time"is
an intimate portrait of a country yearning for meaning after the
sudden lurch from Communism to capitalism in the 1990s plunged it
into existential crisis. A series of monologues by people across
the former Soviet empire, it is Tolstoyan in scope, driven by the
idea that history is made not only by major players but also by
ordinary people talking in their kitchens. "The New York Times
" The most ambitious Russian literary work of art of the century .
. . There s been nothing in Russian literature as great or personal
or troubling as"Secondhand Time"since Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn s"The
Gulag Archipelago, "nothing as necessary and overdue. . . .
Alexievich s witnesses are those who haven t had a say. She shows
us from these conversations, many of them coming at the
confessional kitchen table of Russian apartments, that it s
powerful simply to be allowed to tell one s own story. . . . This
is the kind of history, otherwise almost unacknowledged by today s
dictatorships, that matters. "The Christian Science Monitor"
Alexievich s masterpiece not only for what it says about the fall
of the Soviet Union but for what it suggests about the future of
Russia and its former satellites. . . Stylistically, "Secondhand
Time," like her other books, produces a mosaic of overlapping
voices deepened by extraordinary stories of love and perseverance.
"Newsweek
" A trove of emotions and memories, raw and powerful . . .
["Secondhand Time"] is one of the most vivid and incandescent
accounts of [Soviet] society caught in the throes of change that
anyone has yet attempted. . . . Alexievich stations herself at a
crossroads of history and turns on her tape recorder. . . . [She]
makes it feel intimate, as if you are sitting in the kitchen with
the characters, sharing in their happiness and agony.
"The""Washington Post"
An enormous investigation of the generation that saw communism
fall, ["Secondhand Time"] gives a staggeringly deep and plural
picture of a people that has lost its place in history. "San
Francisco Chronicle"
[Alexievich s]writing is sui generis, blending the force of fact
with the capaciousness of fiction to create a new, vitalliterary
compound. "The Nation"
"
" In "Secondhand Time," the 2015 Nobel Laureate deftly orchestrates
dozens of voices. . . . By letting her subjects keep their dignity,
Alexievich has given us a fuller history of the fall of the Soviet
Empire than we had before. By letting the vanquished speak, we
might know better what, if anything, was actually won. "Chicago
Tribune"
A compelling vision of the human condition. Associated Press
The Nobel Prize winner documents the last days of communism in the
Soviet Union and the dawn of a new way of living in contemporary
Russia. Through interviews with ordinary citizens, she finds the
truth behind the headlines. "Time"
""
If you want to understand contemporary Russia, "Secondhand Time" is
essential reading. "Newsday
"
An epic chronicle of the fall of the Soviet Union and the emergence
of a new Russia, in the unadorned voices of its ordinary citizens .
. . Told in solos and choruses, her books have the rise and fall of
a symphony. "Vogue"
For her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in
our time. Nobel Prize Committee
For the past thirty or forty years [Alexievich has] been busy
mapping the Soviet and post-Soviet individual, but [her work is]
not really about a history of events. It s a history of emotions .
. . a history of the soul. Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the
Swedish Academy
"Secondhand Time" [is Alexievich s] longest and most ambitious
project to date: an effort to use an oral history of the nineties
to understand Soviet and post-Soviet identity. "The New Yorker"
In this spellbinding book, Svetlana Alexievich orchestrates a rich
symphony of Russian voices telling their stories of love and death,
joy and sorrow, as they try to make sense of the twentieth century,
so tragic for their country. J. M. Coetzee
[Alexievich s] books are woven from hundreds of interviews, in a
hybrid form of reportage and oral history that has the quality of a
documentary film on paper. But Alexievich is anything but a simple
recorder and transcriber of found voices; she has a writerly voice
of her own which emerges from the chorus she assembles, with great
style and authority, and she shapes her investigations of Soviet
and post-Soviet life and death into epic dramatic chronicles as
universally essential as Greek tragedies. . . . A mighty
documentarian and a mighty artist. Philip Gourevitch
Alexievich s voices are those of the people no one cares about, but
the ones whose lives constitute the vast majority of what history
actually is. Keith Gessen
Riveting . . . Other oral histories have relied on a blended
structure whereby the individual stories form the supporting
elements to the historians larger narrative; the grace and power of
Alexievich s work is the focus on intimate accounts, which set the
stage for a more eloquent and nuanced investigation. A must for
historians, lay readers, and anyone who enjoys well-curated
personal narratives. "Library Journal" (starred review)
[Alexievich] documents the last days of the Soviet Union and the
transition to capitalism in a soul-wrenching oral history that
reveals the very different sides of the Russian experience. . . .
[Her] work turns Solzhenitsyn inside out and overpowers recent
journalistic accounts of the era. . . . She spends hours recording
conversations, sometimes returning years later, and always trying
to go beyond the battered and distrusted communal "pravda" to seek
the truths hidden within individuals. "Publishers Weekly "(starred
review)
A rich kaleidoscope of voices from all regions of the former Soviet
Union . . . profoundly significant literature as history. "Kirkus
Reviews "(starred review)
Absorbing and important. "Booklist "(starred review)"
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