Svetlana Alexievich

A chronicle of the past and a warning for our nuclear future, Chernobyl Prayer shows what it is like to bear witness, and remember in a world that wants you to forget. In April 1986 a series of explosions shook the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Flames lit up the sky and radiation escaped to contaminate the land and poison the people for years to come. While officials tried to hush up the accident, Svetlana Alexievich spent years collecting testimonies from survivors - clean-up workers, residents, firefighters, resettlers, widows, orphans - crafting their voices into a haunting oral history of fear, anger and uncertainty, but also dark humour and love.

«La voz de Alexi vich es mucho m s que la suma de las voces que recoge, consiguiendo que la guerra sea tan omnipresente y tan personal, tan real, como cualquier relato de fi cci n lo logr de cualquier otra guerra. -Philip Gourevitch, The New Yorker Entre 1979 y 1989 un mill n de tropas sovi ticas combatieron en una guerra devastadora en Afganist n que el r gimen comunista intent ocultar: los muertos volv an a casa en ata des de zinc sellados, mientras que el Estado no reconoc a el conflicto. Los muchachos de zinc gener una inmensa pol mica cuando fue publicada originalmente en la Uni n Sovi tica. Alexi vich presenta el testimonio c ndido y emocionante de los ofi ciales y los soldados rasos, de las enfermeras y las prostitutas, las madres, los hijos y las hijas que describen la guerra y sus duraderos efectos. El resultado es un relato turbador que expone la verdad de la lucha armada. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION Winner of the Nobel Prize: "For her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time." -Swedish Academy, Nobel Prize citation Afghanistan that claimed 50,000 casualties and the youth and humanity of many tens of thousands more. Creating controversy and outrage when it was first published in the USSR, it was called by reviewers there a "slanderous piece of fantasy" and part of a "hysterical chorus of malign attacks". Zinky Boys presents the candid and affecting testimony of the officers and grunts, nurses and prostitutes, mothers, sons, and daughters who describe the war and its lasting effects. What emerges is a story that is shocking in its brutality and revelatory in its similarities to the American experience in Vietnam. The Soviet dead were shipped back in sealed zinc coffins (hence the term "Zinky Boys"), while the state denied the very existence of the conflict. Svetlana Alexievich brings us the truth of the Soviet-Afghan War: the beauty of the country and the savage Army bullying, the killing and the mutilation, the profusion of Western goods, the shame and shattered lives of returned veterans. Zinky Boys offers a unique, harrowing, and unforgettably powerful insight into the realities of war.

Before the United States' invasion, a million Soviet troops fought a devastating war in Afghanistan that claimed 50,000 casualties--and the youth and humanity of many tens of thousands more. The Soviet Union talked about a "peacekeeping" mission, while the dead were shipped back in zinc-lined coffins. In this new translation, Zinky Boys weaves together the candid and affecting testimony of the officers and grunts, doctors and nurses, mothers, sons, and daughters who describe the war and its lasting effects. A "masterpiece of reportage" (Timothy Snyder, New York Review of Books) emerges of harrowing and unforgettable insight into war.

A powerful portrait of the personal consequences of war as seen through the innocent eyes of children, from a Nobel Prize-winning writer. Nobel Prize-winning writer Svetlana Alexievich delves into the traumatic memories of children who were separated from their parents during World War II--most of them never to be reunited--in this this young adult adaptation of her acclaimed nonfiction masterpiece (The Guardian), Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of WWII. The personal narratives told by those who were children during WWII and survived harrowing experiences, are astounding. So many children were separated from their loved ones in the midst of the terror and chaos. As a result, some grew up in orphanages or were raised by grandparents or extended family; others were taken in and cared for by strangers who risked punishment for such acts. Still others lived on their own or became underage soldiers. Forthright and riveting, these bravely told oral histories of survival reveal the heart-rending details of life during wartime while reminding us that resilience is possible, no matter the circumstances.

A powerful portrait of the personal consequences of war as seen through the innocent eyes of children, from a Nobel Prize-winning writer. Nobel Prize-winning writer Svetlana Alexievich delves into the traumatic memories of children who were separated from their parents during World War II--most of them never to be reunited--in this this young adult adaptation of her acclaimed nonfiction "masterpiece" (The Guardian), Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of WWII. The personal narratives told by those who were children during WWII and survived harrowing experiences, are astounding. So many children were separated from their loved ones in the midst of the terror and chaos. As a result, some grew up in orphanages or were raised by grandparents or extended family; others were taken in and cared for by strangers who risked punishment for such acts. Still others lived on their own or became underage soldiers. Forthright and riveting, these bravely told oral histories of survival reveal the heart-rending details of life during wartime while reminding us that resilience is possible, no matter the circumstances.

Selected as a Book of the Year 2019 by The Times and Telegraph'Astonishing. . . Like the great Russian novels, these testimonials ring with emotional truth' - Caroline Moorehead, GuardianExtraordinary stories about what it was like to be a Soviet child during the upheaval and horror of the Second World War, from Nobel Laureate Svetlana AlexievichWhat did it mean to grow up in the Soviet Union during the Second World War? In the late 1970s, Svetlana Alexievich started interviewing people who had experienced war as children, the generation that survived and had to live with the trauma that would forever change the course of the Russian nation. With remarkable care and empathy, Alexievich gives voice to those whose stories are lost in the official narratives, uncovering a powerful, hidden history of one of the most important events of the twentieth century. Published to great acclaim in the USSR in 1985 and now available in English for the first time, this masterpiece offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of the human consequences of the war - and an extraordinary chronicle of the Russian soul.

Second-hand Time is the latest work from Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature. Here she brings together the voices of dozens of witnesses to the collapse of the USSR in a formidable attempt to chart the disappearance of a culture and to surmise what new kind of man may emerge from the rubble. Fashioning a singular, polyphonic literary form by combining extended individual monologues with a collage of voices, Alexievich creates a magnificent requiem to a civilization in ruins, a brilliant, poignant and unique portrait of post-Soviet society out of the stories of ordinary women and men.

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle AwardWinner of the Nobel Prize in Literature A journalist by trade, who now suffers from an immune deficiency developed while researching this book, presents personal accounts of what happened to the people of Belarus after the nuclear reactor accident in 1986, and the fear, anger, and uncertainty that they still live with. Chernobyl, the acclaimed HBO miniseries (winner of ten Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards), is based in large part on the personal recollections from Voices from Chernobyl. On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear reactor accident in history 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. Journalist Svetlana Alexievich interviewed hundreds of people affected by the meltdown---from innocent citizens to firefighters to those called in to clean up the disaster---and their stories reveal the fear, anger, and uncertainty with which they still live. Comprised of interviews in monologue form, Voices from Chernobyl is a crucially important work, unforgettable in its emotional power and honesty. The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Svetlana Alexievich "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time."

El libro en que se inspir la serie de HBO. PREMIO NOBEL DE LITERATURA 2015 La escritora bielorrusa da voz a aquellas personas que sobrevivieron al desastre de Chern bil y que fueron silenciadas y olvidadas por su propio gobierno. Este libro les da la oportunidad de contar su historia. Chern bil, 1986. «Cierra las ventanillas y acu state. Hay un incendio en la central. Vendr pronto. Esto fue lo ltimo que un joven bombero dijo a su esposa antes de acudir al lugar de la explosi n. No regres . Y en cierto modo, ya no volvi a verle, pues en el hospital su marido dej de ser su marido. Todav a hoy ella se pregunta si su historia trata sobre el amor o la muerte. Voces de Chern bil est planteado como si fuera una tragedia griega, con coros y unos h roes marcados por un destino fatal, cuyas voces fueron silenciadas durante muchos a os por una polis representada aqu por la antigua URSS. Pero, a diferencia de una tragedia griega, no hubo posibilidad de catarsis. « ...] por su escritura polif nica, que es un monumento al valor y al sufrimiento en nuestro tiempo. . -Jurado de la Academia Sueca al otorgar a la autora el Premio Nobel de Literatura 2015. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION Winner of the Nobel Prize in LiteratureWinner of the National Book Critics Circle Award On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear reactor accident in history 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. Journalist Svetlana Alexievich interviewed hundreds of people affected by the meltdown---from innocent citizens to firefighters to those called in to clean up the disaster---and their stories reveal the fear, anger, and uncertainty with which they still live. Comprised of interviews in monologue form, Voices from Chernobyl is a crucially important work, unforgettable in its emotional power and honesty.

'A must read' - Margaret Atwood'It would be hard to find a book that feels more important or original' - Viv Groskop, ObserverExtraordinary stories from Soviet women who fought in the Second World War - from the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature"Why, having stood up for and held their own place in a once absolutely male world, have women not stood up for their history? Their words and feelings? A whole world is hidden from us. Their war remains unknown... I want to write the history of that war. A women's history." In the late 1970s, Svetlana Alexievich set out to write her first book, The Unwomanly Face of War, when she realized that she grew up surrounded by women who had fought in the Second World War but whose stories were absent from official narratives. Travelling thousands of miles, she spent years interviewing hundreds of Soviet women - captains, tank drivers, snipers, pilots, nurses and doctors - who had experienced the war on the front lines, on the home front and in occupied territories. As it brings to light their most harrowing memories, this symphony of voices reveals a different side of war, a new range of feelings, smells and colours. After completing the manuscript in 1983, Alexievich was not allowed to publish it because it went against the state-sanctioned history of the war. With the dawn of Perestroika, a heavily censored edition came out in 1985 and it became a huge bestseller in the Soviet Union - the first in five books that have established her as the conscience of the twentieth century.

A long-awaited English translation of the groundbreaking oral history of women in World War II across Europe and Russia--from the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post - The Guardian - NPR - The Economist - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Kirkus Reviews For more than three decades, Svetlana Alexievich has been the memory and conscience of the twentieth century. When the Swedish Academy awarded her the Nobel Prize, it cited her invention of "a new kind of literary genre," describing her work as "a history of emotions . . . a history of the soul." In The Unwomanly Face of War, Alexievich chronicles the experiences of the Soviet women who fought on the front lines, on the home front, and in the occupied territories. These women--more than a million in total--were nurses and doctors, pilots, tank drivers, machine-gunners, and snipers. They battled alongside men, and yet, after the victory, their efforts and sacrifices were forgotten. Alexievich traveled thousands of miles and visited more than a hundred towns to record these women's stories. Together, this symphony of voices reveals a different aspect of the war--the everyday details of life in combat left out of the official histories. Translated by the renowned Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, The Unwomanly Face of War is a powerful and poignant account of the central conflict of the twentieth century, a kaleidoscopic portrait of the human side of war. THE WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time." "A landmark."--Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century "An astonishing book, harrowing and life-affirming . . . It deserves the widest possible readership."--Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train "Alexievich has gained probably the world's deepest, most eloquent understanding of the post-Soviet condition. . . . She] has consistently chronicled that which has been intentionally forgotten."--Masha Gessen, National Book Award-winning author of The Future Is History

Uno de los mejores libros del Siglo XXI seg n el New York Times De la Premio Nobel de Literatura 2015, una obra maestra in dita hasta ahora que recoge el recuerdo de los ni os que sobrevivieron a la segunda guerra mundial. Un tema de gran inter s desde una perspectiva totalmente distinta. La Segunda Guerra Mundial dej casi trece millones de ni os muertos y, en 1945, solo en Bielorrusia, viv an en los orfanatos unos veintisiete mil hu rfanos, resultado de la devastaci n producida por la guerra en la poblaci n de ese pa s. A finales de los a os ochenta la Premio Nobel Svetlana Alexi vich entrevist a aquellos hu rfanos y compuso con sus testimonios un emocionante relato de una de las mayores tragedias de la historia. Esta obra maestra in dita constituye un retrato personal y profundamente conmovedor del conflicto en el que la propia autora no interviene m s all del pr logo: son sus protagonistas los que hablan conformando con sus palabras una especie de memoria coral de la guerra, original, aut ntica y fascinante. « ...] por su escritura polif nica, que es un monumento al valor y al sufrimiento en nuestro tiempo. , palabras del Jurado de la Academia Sueca al otorgar a la autora el Premio Nobel de Literatura 2015. «Me dedico a la historia omitida, las huellas imperceptibles de nuestro paso por la tierra y por el tiempo. Recojo la cotidianidad de los sentimientos, los pensamientos y las palabras. Intento captar la vida cotidiana del alma. Svetlana Alexi vich ENGLISH DESCRIPTION One of the New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE WINNER NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY - The New York Times - The Washington Post - The Boston Globe - The Wall Street Journal - NPR - Financial Times - Kirkus Reviews When the Swedish Academy awarded Svetlana Alexievich the Nobel Prize, it cited her for inventing "a new kind of literary genre," describing her work as "a history of emotions--a history of the soul." Alexievich's distinctive documentary style, combining extended individual monologues with a collage of voices, records the stories of ordinary women and men who are rarely given the opportunity to speak, whose experiences are often lost in the official histories of the nation. In Secondhand Time, Alexievich chronicles the demise of communism. Everyday Russian citizens recount the past thirty years, showing us what life was like during the fall of the Soviet Union and what it's like to live in the new Russia left in its wake. Through interviews spanning 1991 to 2012, Alexievich takes us behind the propaganda and contrived media accounts, giving us a panoramic portrait of contemporary Russia and Russians who still carry memories of oppression, terror, famine, massacres--but also of pride in their country, hope for the future, and a belief that everyone was working and fighting together to bring about a utopia. Here is an account of life in the aftermath of an idea so powerful it once dominated a third of the world. A magnificent tapestry of the sorrows and triumphs of the human spirit woven by a master, Secondhand Time tells the stories that together make up the true history of a nation. "Through the voices of those who confided in her," The Nation writes, "Alexievich tells us about human nature, about our dreams, our choices, about good and evil--in a word, about ourselves."

"I love life in its living form, life that's found on the street, in human conversations, shouts, and moans." So begins this speech delivered in Russian at Cornell University by Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature. In poetic language, Alexievich traces the origins of her deeply affecting blend of journalism, oral history, and creative writing. Cornell Global Perspectives is an imprint of Cornell University's Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. The works examine critical global challenges, often from an interdisciplinary perspective, and are intended for a non-specialist audience. The Distinguished Speaker Series presents edited transcripts of talks delivered at Cornell, both in the original language and in translation.

Una historia oral innovadora de mujeres en la Segunda Guerra Mundial en Europa y Rusia, del ganador del Premio Nobel de Literatura NOMBRADO UNO DE LOS MEJORES LIBROS DEL A O POR The Washington Post - The Guardian - NPR - The Economist - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Revisiones de Kirkus Durante m s de tres d cadas, Svetlana Alexievich ha sido la memoria y la conciencia del siglo XX. Cuando la Academia Sueca le otorg el Premio Nobel, cit su invenci n de "un nuevo tipo de g nero literario", describiendo su trabajo como "una historia de emociones". . . una historia del alma ". En La guerra no tiene rostro de mujer, Alexievich narra las experiencias de las mujeres sovi ticas que lucharon en el frente, en el frente de casa y en los territorios ocupados. Estas mujeres, m s de un mill n en total, eran enfermeras y doctoras, pilotos, conductoras de tanques, ametralladoras y francotiradores. Lucharon junto a los hombres y, sin embargo, despu s de la victoria, sus esfuerzos y sacrificios fueron olvidados. Alexievich viaj miles de millas y visit m s de cien ciudades para registrar las historias de estas mujeres. En conjunto, esta sinfon a de voces revela un aspecto diferente de la guerra: los detalles cotidianos de la vida en combate que quedan fuera de las historias oficiales. « ...] por su escritura polif nica, que es un monumento al valor y al sufrimiento en nuestro tiempo. Jurado de la Academia Sueca al otorgar a la autora el Premio Nobel de Literatura 2015. Rese a: «Gracias a Alexi vich, la historia de un mill n de mujeres que participaron en el ej rcito sovi tico o como partisanas contra los alemanes es algo menos desconocida. Felipe Sahag n, El Cultural de El Mundo «De la lectura de los libros de Alexi vich (Stanislaviv, 1948) no es posible salir indemne. Gabriel Albiac, ABC Cultural ENGLISH DESCRIPTION A groundbreaking oral history of women in World War II across Europe and Russia--from the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BYThe Washington Post - The Guardian - NPR - The Economist - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Kirkus Reviews For more than three decades, Svetlana Alexievich has been the memory and conscience of the twentieth century. When the Swedish Academy awarded her the Nobel Prize, it cited her invention of "a new kind of literary genre," describing her work as "a history of emotions . . . a history of the soul." In The Unwomanly Face of War, Alexievich chronicles the experiences of the Soviet women who fought on the front lines, on the home front, and in the occupied territories. These women--more than a million in total--were nurses and doctors, pilots, tank drivers, machine-gunners, and snipers. They battled alongside men, and yet, after the victory, their efforts and sacrifices were forgotten. Alexievich traveled thousands of miles and visited more than a hundred towns to record these women's stories. Together, this symphony of voices reveals a different aspect of the war--the everyday details of life in combat left out of the official histories.

From 1979 to 1989 Soviet troops engaged in a devastating war in Afghanistan that claimed thousands of casualties on both sides. While the Soviet Union talked about a 'peace-keeping' mission, the dead were shipped back in sealed zinc coffins. Boys in Zinc presents the honest testimonies of soldiers, doctors and nurses, mothers, wives and siblings who describe the lasting effects of war. Weaving together their stories, Svetlana Alexievich shows us the truth of the Soviet-Afghan conflict: the killing and the beauty of small everyday moments, the shame of returned veterans, the worries of all those left behind. When it was first published in the USSR in 1991, Boys in Zinc sparked huge controversy for its unflinching, harrowing insight into the realities of war.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A symphonic oral history about the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the emergence of a new Russia, from Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the Nobel Prize in LiteratureNAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY - LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE WINNEROne of the New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the CenturyWhen the Swedish Academy awarded Svetlana Alexievich the Nobel Prize, it cited her for inventing "a new kind of literary genre," describing her work as "a history of emotions--a history of the soul." Alexievich's distinctive documentary style, combining extended individual monologues with a collage of voices, records the stories of ordinary women and men who are rarely given the opportunity to speak, whose experiences are often lost in the official histories of the nation. In Secondhand Time, Alexievich chronicles the demise of communism. Everyday Russian citizens recount the past thirty years, showing us what life was like during the fall of the Soviet Union and what it's like to live in the new Russia left in its wake. Through interviews spanning 1991 to 2012, Alexievich takes us behind the propaganda and contrived media accounts, giving us a panoramic portrait of contemporary Russia and Russians who still carry memories of oppression, terror, famine, massacres--but also of pride in their country, hope for the future, and a belief that everyone was working and fighting together to bring about a utopia. Here is an account of life in the aftermath of an idea so powerful it once dominated a third of the world. A magnificent tapestry of the sorrows and triumphs of the human spirit woven by a master, Secondhand Time tells the stories that together make up the true history of a nation. "Through the voices of those who confided in her," The Nation writes, "Alexievich tells us about human nature, about our dreams, our choices, about good and evil--in a word, about ourselves." A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Financial Times, Kirkus Reviews

Sovjetunionens ti år lange krig i Afghanistan har blitt kalt den sovjetiske Vietnamkrigen. Over en halv million unge russere tjenestegjorde i krigen som har formet det russiske samfunnet frem til våre dager. Her kommer de til orde - soldatene, sykesøstrene, kjærestene og mødrene. «Kister av sink» er en dokumentar om krigens meningsløshet, om en fortapt generasjon unge soldater og om Sovjetunionens begynnende oppløsning. En helt nødvendig bok for alle som vil forstå dagens Russland. «Det har gått 25 år siden den først ble utgitt, men innholdet er like tidløst som grufullt ... Vi kan hevde at vi vet hva krig er, men Kister av sink er forskjellen på å vite og å forstå.» Peter Fröberg Idling, Expressen