Narrative · A way to begin
The Unwomanly Face of War
У войны не женское лицо
Svetlana Alexievich · 1985
Synopsis
Hundreds of Soviet women, snipers, pilots, sappers, nurses, cooks or laundresses, tell of their war against Nazi Germany. Grouped into chapters according to how they experienced their service, their voices speak of the fear of death, the memory of beauty and youth, ruses and secrets, love, and even the life of a German soldier saved during the siege of Stalingrad.
Context
Completed in 1983, the book stayed with the publisher for two years: the author was reproached for her pacifism and her naturalism, and for tarnishing the image of the Soviet woman. It appeared in 1985 in Minsk and Moscow, thanks to perestroika, and was then thoroughly revised. It was translated into French in 2004 by Galia Ackerman and Paul Lequesne, and into English in 2017 by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky; the stage has taken it up, from the Taganka theatre in Moscow in 1987 to a staging by Didier Ruiz in 2008.
Who it is for
A book of testimonies in Russian, made up of short monologues; translated into French and English.
Prizes and reception
Reprinted in more than two million copies in the Soviet Union, and received from 1985 with as much enthusiasm as concern.
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