Eastern Partnership Literary Review 2014/1 by EP Literary Review

EASTERN PARTNERSHIP

LITERARY REVIEW ARMENIA GEORGIA AZERBAIJAN

BELARUS UKRAINE MOLDOVA

2014/1 authors, books & literary life from eastern partnership countries

The Eastern Partnership Literary Review (EPLR), founded in 2014, is a semi-annual journal published by Porta Danubiana, o.z. for Comenius University (Bratislava) in English.

This issue of the journal is published as a part of the Visegrad Eastern Partnership Literary Award project granted by the International Visegrad Fund. To subscribe to the Eastern Partnership Literary Review, please contact: veapla@veapla.eu

ISSN: 1339-7583

Eastern Partnership Literary Review authors, books & literary life in Eastern Partnership countries Vol. 1 (2014), No. 1

Editorial board

Anton Eliáš (Editor), Ľubor Matejko (Managing Editor), Mária Kusá, Ivan Posokhin, Tereza Chlaňová, Paulina Olechowska, Lajos Pálfalvi

Contents Dear readers

LITERATURE, ART & SOCIETY Ukrainian Literature: Current Status and Perspectives Irina Dulebová

The Literary Situation in Contemporary Belarus Ivan Posokhin

Contemporary Armenian Literature: Its Appearance and Personalities Nina Cingerová

Moldovan Literature: The Past and Present Libuša Vajdová

Contemporary Georgian Literature: Curse or Challenge? Katarína Hrčková

WHAT’S ON IN LITERARY LIFE Kav’yarnya-Knyharnya Cafe Interview by Svetlana Fedoruk Promoting Literature through Translations: A Path to Recognition for Small Countries Arevik Ashkharoyan

EAP LITERATURE ABROAD A Group of International Publishing Professionals visits Armenia on an Editorial Visit within the Book Platform Project Arevik Ashkharoyan

In the Gate of hte Country of Happiness Németh Orsolya

Armenian Literature in Slovak Nina Cingerová

Dear readers We are pleased to present the first issue of this journal, which deals with issues related to literature and book culture in the postSoviet area, especially in Eastern Partnership countries (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine). The Eastern Partnership Literary Review aims to contribute to broadening a platform for cooperation amvong intellectuals working in the field of literature both in the post-Soviet and V4 countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), and support the sharing of cultural achievements and ideas of freedom. As the only journal in the field published in a V4 country, the EPLR should serve as a forum for all Central European readers, academics, writers and university students interested in post-Soviet studies. By publishing articles on the current literary processes in a social context, EPLR will offer an opportunity to introduce the most influential authors, literary activities and outstanding literary events in Eastern Partnership countries to Central European readers. Studies on writers, new trends, topics, genres and specific poetical aspects of these lesser known literatures are to be found in the Literature, Arts & Society section. The aim of journal is also to provide the European reader with information on new books, awards, festivals, literary magazines and all else that concerns contemporary

literary life. This is primarily the purpose of the section entitled “What’s on in Literary Life”. The reception of Eastern Partnership countries’ literature, especially in V4 countries, will regularly appear in the journal in a section entitled “EP Literature Abroad”. Since the journal’s publication has been made possible by the International Visegrad Fund within the Visegrad Eastern Partnership Literary Award (VEPLA) project, a special issue of the journal will be devoted to nominated and awarded authors and books every year. EPLR (Vol. 1, No. 1) presents “pilot” articles on the current state of literature in contemporary Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova, Georgia and Belarus. An interview with the owner of a literary cafe in Odessa which has already become a social phenomenon in the city’s life has been included, as well as some information concerning the newest literary initiatives worthy of attention in Armenia and the reception of Armenian literature in the V4. We hope the journal will keep you informed on the latest developments in the field of contemporary literature in Eastern Partnership countries and will greatly facilitate your work. Kindest regards, Ľubor Matejko

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Literature, Art & Society UKRAINIAN LITERATURE: CURRENT STATUS AND PERSPECTIVES Irina Dulebová* Political changes in Ukraine have significantly affected literary life and literary processes since 1991. The dogmatic paradigms of Ukrainian literary development within the precisely determined ideological limits of socialist realism valid until that time have ceased to be in force and been replaced by an intensive search for new aesthetic methods of displaying reality, genre forms and the appearance of various literary tendencies. All this has been taking place within the complicated political and social contexts of overcoming the post-colonial syndrome, the rise of freedom of the author’s individuality and the rising awareness of the author’s “self” as a part of the Ukrainian nation and its newborn culture. Contemporary literary science examines contemporary Ukrainian literature using basically three essential perspectives: the creative works’ aesthetic and stylistic orientation, the generational point of view and the regional (or more precisely, geographical) point of view, which in the context of the current situation in the country appears to be the most original and highly significant. In the range of different forms of literary discourse, Ukrainian literature is currently dominated by the traditional discourse of the countryside and post-modern tendencies. However, certain expressions of modernism and neo-modernism are also

identified here.1 The traditional discourse of the countryside, sometimes also labelled as “rustico-testamentary”,2 is based on traditions from the turn of the 20th century and is strongly influenced by the literary paradigm of socialist realism from the Soviet period. It is based on realism tendencies with elements of romanticism and modernism, highlighting the countryside, the provincial peasant mentality, the conceptual symbology of the “nation”, “traditions”, Shevchenko (Malanyuk, Dontsov, Stus), “statehood”, “land” and “work”. The origins of Ukrainian postmodernism date back to the late 1980s. It has been given a peculiar charm by the fact that it represents a certain synthesis of a reflection of global postmodernism with all its own features and the eminently nonpostmodern situation of Ukrainian art as a consequence of the degradation of the rusticotestamentary discourse and the cultural shock caused by the fast development of informational and social openness in Ukraine. Ukrainian postmodernist discourse is based on the underground scene of the 1980s, which brought art beyond the borders of ideology and made it aesthetically self-sufficient.3 This has significantly resulted in the modernization of literary language: for example, with Y. Andrukhovych, V. Dibrova, O. Irvanets and S. Pyrkalo there is a tendency to mock * Irina Dulebová, Comenius University, Bratislava, irinablava@centrum.sk 1 The issue of classification of discourses is predominantly based on the publication Плерома 2000. Мала українська енциклопедія актуальної літератури. «Лінея НВ», Івано Франківськ, 2000. 2 Єшкілєв, В.: Повернення деміургів. / Maла українська енциклопедія актуальної літератури "Плерома", 1998. 3 Based predominantly on the literature of the underground, “samizdat” and the literature of the Ukrainian diaspora. 7

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the official language, Soviet and pseudo-folk clichés and introduce slang elements. With I. Rymaruk, V. Herasymyuk, O. Zabuzhko and Y. Pashkovskyi and T. Prokhasko, the authors’ neologisms and occasionalisms are markedly present as are complex syntax and wording. Here we can see a continuation of trends brought over by modernism in the 1920s. Even though Y. Andrukhovych said that “postmodernism in our country is not criticized only by the lazy or the dead” it is still one of the most widespread literary tendencies in Ukrainian literature. It is characterized by a symbiosis of different literary traditions and norms in varied literary genres (including novel-confession, antiutopia, parables with elements of fantasy, mythological short-stories and social, philosophical and psychological novels) that are surprisingly successful among readers. The structure of Ukrainian literature has been especially influenced by the variety of genre forms of postmodernism and the search for a new means of expression. In the late 1990s, literary figures were relatively significantly divided into two groups: there were “Westerners” (захiдники) such as Y. Andrukhovych, O. Zabuzhko, Y. Izdryk, T. Prokhasko, M. Ryabchuk and V. Yeshkilyev, and the so-called “Landers” (ґрунтівці, from the Ukrainian word “ґрунт” – land) such as V. Medvid, Y. Pashkovskyi, V. Herasymyuk and O. Ulyanenko, who “pay a great deal of attention to national autonomy and perceive the countryside as an artistic metaphor that represents the only means to preserve the spirit of Ukraine”.4 It is currently apparent that the orientation of the Landers often appears to have only a declarative character on the tradition.5 Харчук, Р.: Покоління постепохи. / Дивослово, 1998, №1. p. 8. 5 Харчук, Р.: Сучасна українська проза. Постмодерний період. Навчальний посібник. Київ. Видавничий центр «Академія», 2008. 4

From the point of view of the generational approach, it is customary to classify presentday authors following the period of their entry into literature: i.e. there are the “authors of the eighties” (вiсiмдесятники), who were mostly connected to the underground scene of the 1980s (Y. Vynnychuk, H. Petrosanyak, V. Neborak, Y. Andrukhovych, O. Irvanets, Y. Pashkovskyi and I. Malkovych), and the “authors of the nineties” (devyanostnyky), to which we traditionally link writers such as T. Prokhasko, I. Andrusyak, I. Cyperdyuk, R. Kukharuk, Y. Izdryk and S. Zhadan. A regional approach to reflections on contemporary Ukrainian literature was suggested by N. Bilotserkivets 6 and V. Danylenko 7, but this also has its roots in the works of O. Hrushevskyi.8 This is based on the concept that the historical division of Ukraine between the Russian and AustroHungarian Empires (and later on between the USSR and Poland) can be the grounds for features characteristic of Ukrainian society in its cultural aspect – as a society of an imaginary civilizational divide as well as having one of its parts belonging to Western traditions and the other to Russian (Eastern) traditions. In order to create a complete picture of literary life and processes in Ukraine, it is especially appropriate and timely to mention the question of the language in which the literature is written: i.e. the question of whether works written in Russian but published and read in Ukraine can be considered a part of contemporary Ukrainian literature. From a purely pragmatic point of view, it is justifiable to consider these works Білоцерківець, Н.: Література на роздоріжжі. / Критика, 1997, № 1. pp. 28—29. 7 Даниленко В.: Золота жила житомирської прози. / Вечеря на дванадцять персон. Київ, Генеза, 1997. 8 Грушевський, О.: З сучасної української літератури. Начерки і характеристики. К.: Друкарня Першої Київ. друк. спілки, 1918. 6

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as examples of Russian literature written abroad. Such an opinion is also based on the fact that these works enter Ukrainian literary life and processes alongside the works of Russian authors published in Russia. * The authors of the so-called “Stanislaviv Phenomenon”9 are among the most talented writers of postmodern tendencies today and deserve mention. In the international context, undoubtedly the most influential, translated and recognized Ukrainian writer today is Yuri Andrukhovych (1960). Along with V. Neborak and O. Irvanets, Andrukhovych was a founder of the BU–BA–BU (Burlesk (burlesque) – Balahan (mockery) – Buffonada (buffonade)) group, which became a symbol of young Ukrainian postmodernism. In addition to novels (“Recreations”, 1992; “The Moscoviad”, “Perversion”, 1996; “Twelve Hoops”, 2003; “Lexicon of Intimate Places”, 2011) and poem collections, he is the co-author of a book of essays entitled “My Europe” (together with A. Stasiuk).10 His creative work is characterized by a “post-carnival syndrome”, while the works of Y. Izdryk are marked as “a little apocalypse” and his “writing [as] an act of autopsychotherapy”.11 The innovative creative work of the so-called “young literary alternative”, also referred to as DKZhP (ДКЖП) and representing the initial letters of the names of Deresh (1984), Karpa (1980), Zhadan (1974) and Povalyayeva (1974), is also discussed very often. The themes, poetics

and style of this group express a conflict with the “normal world”, specifically with its traditionalism, conformism, babbitry, social engagement, mass and provincial culture and tabloid magazines as well as “geriatric” Ukrainian society, which ignores the potential of the young. The most well-known and successful writer of these tendencies is undoubtedly Serhiy Zhadan (1974) – a poet, writer, journalist, translator and philologist from Kharkiv and the author of several very successful novels (“Anarchy in the UKR”, 2005; “Voroshilovgrad”, 2010; “Mesopotamia”, 2014).12 Among female writers, the most wellknown author globally is Oksana Zabuzhko (1960), author of the novel “Field Research in Ukrainian Sex” (Польові дослідження з українського сексу, 1996), the novelette “A Fairy-tale about a Viburnum Pan-pipe” (Казка про калинову сопілку, 2000), the novel “The Museum of Abandoned Secrets” (Музей покинутих секретів, 2009)13 and collections of poems.14 The creative work of Yevheniya Kononenko (1959) can be characterized as a “three in one”(a detective story, socio-psychological novel and gender-essay). 15 Her latest novel, “The Russian Story” (Російський сюжет, 2012), highlights the issue of Ukrainian identity and its critical self-reflection as a part of Slavic and European civilization and is rich in allusions (mostly to Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin”) and interesting historical and cultural connotations; it represents an Umberto Eco More on his works can be found at: http://veapla. blogspot.sk/2014/03/serhij-zadan.html. 13 2010 Book of the Year according to a survey by Корреспондент magazine and winner of the Angelus literary award for 2013 (Nagroda Literacka Europy Środkowej „Angelus”). 14 More on her works can be found at: http://veapla. blogspot.sk/2014/03/oxana-zabuzko.html. 15 Харчук, Р.: Сучасна українська проза. Постмодерний період. Навчальний посібник. Київ, Видавничий центр «Академія», 2008, p. 198. 12

The term used by V. Yeshkilyev, a well-known writer and proponent of the said tendencies. The name is metaphorical and derived from the name Stanislaviv, a city which is nonexistent today, where Y. Andrukhovych was born. 10 More on his works can be found at: http://veapla. blogspot.sk/2014/03/normal-0-21-false-false-false-sk-xnone_25.html. 11 Харчук, Р.: Сучасна українська проза. Постмодерний період. Навчальний посібник. Київ. Видавничий центр «Академія», 2008, p. 154. 9

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like post-modern text. Lina Kostenko (1930) has been active in Ukrainian literature for over 50 years, first of all as a poet and today as a committed journalist and talented prose writer. Her first work of prose, entitled “Notes of a Ukrainian Fool” (2010), gives a picture of everyday life and the spiritual atmosphere in Ukraine in the period of L. Kuchma and the Orange Revolution. It was published when the author was 80 years old and is a dense symbiosis of fiction, diaries, “contemporary chronicles” and committed journalism. Mariya Matios (1959) is considered to be the most hard-working Ukrainian writer with the widest range of genres. Literary critics see the reasons for her success primarily in her orientation on traditional Ukrainian values, which was considered by other literary artists to be an anachronism. Nonetheless, Matios uses a sophisticated symbiosis of tradition and stylization with expressive sentimentality and thrilling plots.16 As far as the present author is concerned, there is currently a vigorous literary discussion on the situation of popular literature and creative works, with Matios’s works being put somewhere in between. A leading proponent of neo-modernism, Vyacheslav Medvid (1951) is considered to be the ideologist of traditionalism among the “authors of the eighties”. Medvid introduced a phenomenon known as the “stream of consciousness” to Ukrainian literature. Another important traditionalist could also be added here – Yevhen Pashkovskyi (1962) – often labelled the “most significant contemporary innovator of Ukrainian traditions in prose writing”17 as well as the “hell and purgatory of the Ukrainian conscience”.18 His novels reach back to the Харчук, Р.: Сучасна українська проза. Постмодерний період. Навчальний посібник. Київ, Видавничий центр «Академія». 2008, p. 68. 17 Зборовська, Н.: Код української літературі. «Академвидав», Київ, 2006. 18 Загребельний, П.: Вступне слово „До унікального художнього твору“. / Українська газета 2000, № 21(121)

recent past, and in their continuous stream of words (novel–sentence), thoughts and retrospectives, they reveal the rough reality of the inability of human communication and understanding alongside the cruelty surrounding us. The writers from the 1970s “Kyiv School of Irony” – Les Podervyanskyi (1952), Bohdan Zholdak (1948) and Volodymyr Dibrova (1951) – are well-known and successful, with each of them being inimitable in their own way. While Dibrova “museified the hero of the totalitarian type” and B. Zholdak created a “verbal memorial – surzhyk”19 for him, the popular playwright Podervyansky “is a sound engineer of the collective consciousness”.20 Most of Zholdak’s works and their genre have been labelled by critics as “city folklore miniatures” and their storyteller as “Homo Sovieticus”. The successful language experiment of the writer using the surzhyk showed that not only does this language hybrid lower the authority of the official language, it also becomes an original discovery of postmodernism. Dibrova and his novel “Andrew’s Descent” (Андріївський узвіз) won the BBC Book of the Year award in 2007. There is a thought vibrating in this work – death is not the worst that can happen in one’s life. A tragic detachment from contemporary Christian and national traditions is highlighted here, as is the disintegration of family and friendship without confidence. A Galician analogy of the Kyiv School is offered in the black humour of a well-known writer from Lviv called Yuri Vynnychuk (1952), who has been the vice-president of the Association of Ukrainian Writers

/ 2000. 19 A mixture of the Ukrainian and Russian languages. 20 Гундорова, Т.: Післячорнобильська бібліотека. Український літературний постмодерн. «Критика», Київ, 2005.

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since 2004.21 He was the first winner of the BBC’s literary award in 2005 for the novel “Spring Games in the Autumn Garden” (Весняні ігри в осінніх садах). In 2012 the author was awarded the Golden Writer of Ukraine medal and in the very same year (for the second time) he was awarded the BBC Book of the Year award for the novel “Tango of Death” (Танґо смерті). Vira Ageyeva, member of the panel of the BBC Ukrainian Book of the Year awards, commented on this book: “Yuriy Vynnychuk’s novel has an exciting storyline and a strong emphasis on historical facts – a combination which results in wonderful scenes from the life in Lviv between the first and second world wars. Yuri Vynnychuk masterfully aligns the funny and the tragic in his trademark style”. Writers of popular literature include L. Denysenko, I. Rozdobudko, O. Klymenko and V. Shklyar, but here we cannot really talk about this popular literature having a “mass” character. The book market is not yet as developed as the publishing business and it is only starting to form.22 According to some authors, the most significant features of the contemporary literary process in Ukraine are characterized by long-term civilizational change, changes in cultural orientation, the fall of the influence of Russian literature, the formation of a new type of readership which is no longer satisfied with the stylistics of socialist realism or narrow ethnically-oriented and folk literature, and the constantly growing influence of Internet technologies on the literary process itself.23 Together with the already mentioned association, there is another writers’ organization operating in Ukraine called the National Writers’ Union of Ukraine (Націонaльна спiлка письменників України). The complicated relationship between the two reflects the organizational inconsistencies and contradictions of the literary process in contemporary Ukraine. 22 Харчук, Р.: Сучасна українська проза. Постмодерний період. Навчальний посібник. Київ, Видавничий центр «Академія», 2008, p.233. 23 Полiщук, Я.: Що змiнюється в сучаснiй лiтературi.

However, contemporary Ukrainian literature can still be marked as “postcolonial”; it reflects the existence of a nation which, after long-term Russification and Sovietization, is getting back to its own identity and possessing a literature on the area of a “civilizational rupture” between the West and the East, operating in a society that can hardly be characterized as “highly cultural”.24 The most noticeable tendencies in contemporary Ukrainian literature include the return to large prosaic forms, a departure from extreme postmodernism and a significant decentralization of the ongoing processes within culture and literature. The return to topics long considered taboo, the search for new language and stylistic methods, the expansion of new genres, and a deep, broad reflection of contemporary social issues and historical memory are especially positive tendencies worth mentioning. What is noticeable in today’s complicated situation is the constantly growing political (mostly proWestern and democratic) commitment of the majority of Ukrainian writers.

/ Українська мова й література в середніх школах, гімназіях, ліцеях та колегіумах, 2005/4. 24 Харчук, Р.: Сучасна українська проза....Київ. Видавничий центр «Академія». 2008, p. 234. 11

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THE LITERARY SITUATION IN CONTEMPORARY BELARUS Ivan Posokhin* In 2012 the popular Belarusian web portal Tut.By published a list of the ten most successful Belarusian writers, nine of which were prose writers and one (actually, quite surprisingly) who was a poet.1 Even a quick glance at the list clearly points out some distinctive traits of the contemporary Belarusian literary process. The female writers Olga Tarasevich, Olga Gromyko and Anna Olkhovskaya occupy the first three places. All three write in Russian and Russian publishing houses publish their books in the tens of thousands. Olga Tarasevich (1977) writes detective stories marked by certain historical and cultural motifs and falls into the special category of “artefact detective stories”. Olga Gromyko (1978) is one of the big names in Russian-language fantasy literature. She gained success after creating a cycle of novels about a witch called Volkha (“Профессия: ведьма”, “Ведьма-хранительница “ and others). Anna Olkhovskaya quite productively writes novels in the popular genre of “ironic detective stories”, and critics usually call her the “Belarusian Darya Dontsova” because of that. There are only three “serious” writers in the Top 10 – Andrei Fedarenka (1964), Georgiy Marchuk (1947) and Gennadiy Pashkov (1948) – out of which only Fedarenka writes predominantly in Belarusian. However, according to one of the experts commenting on the list, the reason why these writers were included could lie in the fact that at least Ivan Posokhin, Comenius University, Bratislava, posokhin1@uniba.sk. 1 ВОРОБЕЙ, М. Топ-10 самых успешных писателей Беларуси. [online] [quot. 03.04.2014] Available at: http:// news.tut.by/society/305938.html.

two of them have been introduced into the secondary school curriculum. This could have raised the sales of their books.2 At the same time, Marchuk and Pashkov are members of the Writers’ Union of Belarus, which is loyal to the government. Fedarenka left the union in 2013, failing to become its “devoted co-member”.3 It seems that this kind of list may demonstrate several characteristic traits of present-day literary Belarus (but not only Belarus, of course): the predominance of “mass” and “popular” forms, the dominance of the Russian language on the book market and the tacit division of “official” and “unofficial” literature. While the first point is universal and applicable to what happens in literature all over the world, the other two are more culture-specific. We should immediately admit that while using terms like “readership”, “popularity” and “importance” in connection with certain writers and their works, one should always remember that books written by Belarusian authors in general considerably lag behind the market leaders in readership and sales. The bestselling authors are mainly Russian (to put it roughly – from Pushkin to Pelevin, not to mention sci-fi, fantasy and detective novels) and global “star” writers like D. Brown, H. Murakami, P. Coelho and others. * The current literary situation in Belarus has been shaped under the influence of drastic social, political and economic transformations caused by the fall of the Soviet Union. After having been “freed” from censorship and the stylistic limitations of the Soviet epoch and after having satisfied the need for forbidden themes, literature found itself in a crisis. As

As above. Официальный союз писателей выжил Андрея Федоренко. [online] [quot. 03.04.2014] Available at: http:// www.belaruspartisan.org/politic/237229/. 2 3

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in other post-Soviet countries, the writer as an “institution” lost his crucial role in society; literature itself has become just another form of entertainment.4 The 1990s and to some extent the 2000s were years when several literary generations coexisted. In the 1990s, writers of Soviet classics such as Maxim Tank (1912–1995), Ivan Shamyakin (1921–2004), Vasil Bykau (1924–2003) and Nil Hilevich (1931) were still active. They tried to apprehend the new reality and incorporate it into their works. Ryhor Baradulin (1935), one of the patriarchs of Belarusian poetry, and the “People’s Poet of Belarus”, passed away in 2014. His works are deeply connected to the national history, culture and folklore of Belarus. At the same time, the 1990s witnessed the birth of a new literary generation that was willing to apply new aesthetical practices to their works. As A. Belskiy noticed at the time in what is likely the only monograph on 1990s Belarusian literature, “Belarusian literature is taking a ‘recapitulation course’ on the world’s aesthetic experience. For that reason, writers are actively looking for new forms of creative thinking, and there are appearing examples of both modernist and postmodernist writing (which tries to combine traditional and modernist reflections of reality).”5 In the 1990s the field of creative experimentation was represented by the Bum-Bam-Lit creative association which is considered to have been a rather specific phenomenon in modern Belarusian culture. The association was created in 1995 by Zmitser Vishnyou (1973), Ales Turovich (1978), Serzh Minskevich (1969) and other writers, who created avant However, I should mention that at a certain point I think Vasil Bykau fulfilled the role of a consolidating persona for the liberal part of Belarusian society. Byka u was very vocal in his opposition towards the Belarusian government and later on had to emigrate. He returned home in 2003 just a month before his death. 5 БЕЛЬСКІ, А. Сучасная літаратура Беларусі: Дапаможнік для настаўніка. Минск : ТАА «Аверсэв», 2000. 127 pages. ISBN 985-6389-61-5, p. 13. 4

garde texts using game techniques, épatage and methods of primitivism, and who tried to “create a boom” in literature.6 Later, nonrealist techniques continued to develop and take up their place in the works of young writers. In their works, contemporary Belarusian writers tend to cover topics that correspond to the facts of the country’s everyday life. In the 1990s and 2000s much attention was still being paid to the tragedy of Chernobyl; new books that depicted the Second World War from different perspectives and life in the Belarusian countryside – key themes of Belarusian literature in the 20th century – also appeared. Andrei Fedarenka has demonstrated new approaches to the topic of rural life. His works demonstrate the certain marginalization of the countryman as a main character. These years were also marked by the emergence of new topics such as the modern city and its inhabitants (these topics were strongly desired by Belarusian students as they were almost absent in the Soviet period of Belarusian literature); writers like Adam Hlobus (1958), Alherd Bakharevich (1975) and Sevyaryn Kvyatkouskiy (1973) were active in this area. Many writers address the history and past events of the country: the times of ancient Polatsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later periods. What is worth pointing out is that the history of Belarus has become the basis of realistic, sci-fi and fantasy stories and even detective stories. One can see this, for instance, in the works of Lyudmila Rubleuskaya (1965) and Pyatro Vasyuchenka (1959). A lot of attention has been paid to the problems of Belarusian identity and national awareness as well as to the problems of young people at this crucial moment in history. Svyatlana Alexiyevich (1948) has continued her creative investigations and created a polemic БЕЛЬСКІ, А. Сучасная літаратура Беларусі: Дапаможнік для настаўніка. Минск : ТАА «Аверсэв», 2000. 127 pages. ISBN 985-6389-61-5, p. 13. 6

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documentary prose that covers controversial topics like Chernobyl and its consequences, the war in Afghanistan and the life and consciousness of the “Soviet generation” after the fall of the USSR. As one of the most prominent contemporary poets, Ales Razanau (1947) is continuing his aesthetical experiments and incorporating into his work new topics connected to modern life. The contemporary literary process in Belarus is also highly influenced by the peculiar language situation in the country. The 1995 referendum determined that the country would be officially bilingual. However, in practice the Russian language dominates over Belarusian in every sphere of public and private life. There was even a time when officials marginalized the Belarusian language, which to some extent led to the language’s critical status and low popularity among people nowadays. According to surveys carried out by the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS) in December 2013, only 3% of respondents used Belarusian as their main language of communication.7 The problem of language rapidly became a political matter. It had its effect on literary events as well. In 2005 it was one of the reasons for a split inside the main writers’ organization – the Union of Belarusian Writers, the successor of the Writer’s Union of BSSR. As a result, two practically feuding organizations have appeared – the Union of Belarusian Writers and the Union of Writers of Belarus. The former positions itself as an independent union, whereas the latter does not hide its loyalty to the government. Among other reasons for the split, one can mention the highly politicized atmosphere Динамика белорусского общественного мнения по некоторым социально-экономическим и политическим проблемам (по результатам национальных опросов НИСЭПИ). [online] [quot. 06.04.2014]. Available at: http:// iiseps.org/old/trend.html. 7

inside the organization prior to the third successive presidential campaign of A. Lukashenko. The members of the Union of Writers of Belarus include authors writing in Belarusian as well as in Russian, while the Union of Belarusian Writers clearly prefers Belarusian. The former receives financial support from the government and can easily access state publishing houses (for example, Mastatskaya litaratura), whereas the latter does not have support from official bodies and has to mainly address private publishing houses. The head of the Union of Writers of Belarus is Nikolay Cherginets (1937). He is the author of a number of detective stories and novels depicting the life of militiamen, other law enforcers and soldiers.8 Nevertheless, one should bear in mind that in today’s cultural situation being a member of a writers’ organization is often a formality since both unions can only have a marginal influence on what is happening in the literary world. What is more important is the personal consolidating factor, where the writer is the “writer’s own union”. 9 These writers have the ability to unite a certain, albeit small, part of society. These writers include Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu (1946), one of the most prominent poets in today’s Belarus, and Uladzimir Arlou (1953), a popularizer of Belarusian history. * A number of art and literary periodicals are now trying to keep and popularize Belarusian writers and their work. Several magazines that were established already in the times of the USSR, such as Rodnaye slova, Nyoman, Polymya and Maladosts are still active. Their N. Cherginets is also trying to act as a moral guard. For example, he was very vocal about the proposed cancellation of a concert by the German band Rammstein, who, fortunately, were eventually allowed to perform. 9 МАРТЫСЕВІЧ, М. Апісаньне ляндшафту сучаснай беларускай паэзіі. / ARCHE, № 5, 2007. [online] [quot. 08.04.2014]. Available at: http://arche.bymedia.net/200705/martysievic705.htm. 8

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content is usually quite “cautious” from an aesthetical standpoint and their published works are not always at the same level of quality. That is why an “alternative” magazine named Dzeyaslou, established in 2002, is far more presentable when compared to the ones mentioned. The magazine presents itself as “the only magazine in the country that objectively covers the literary and creative process and publishes new works by Belarusian authors (and translations from foreign languages) which, for any of several reasons, cannot be published in other periodicals”.10 The editorial board of the magazine includes such significant writers as Barys Pyatrovich (Sachanka) (1959) (also the head of the Union of Belarusian Writers) and Andrei Fedarenka. Literary awards can also be considered a sort of a barometer of the contemporary literary situation. This sphere is also marked by a certain ideological and aesthetical division and several levels can be distinguished: governmental awards, official awards (with support from the Union of Writers of Belarus), “alternative” awards (with support from the Union of Belarusian Writers, the Belarusian PEN centre and Dzeyaslou magazine as well as from the Polish embassy and the Polish cultural institute in Minsk) and “politically independent” awards (created on a purely commercial basis). The first group includes the State Award of the Republic of Belarus for Achievements in Literature, Art and Architecture. Awards like Zalaty Kupidon (for the best book of the year) and Maladaya Belarus are in the second group. The main alternative award for the best book written in Belarusian is the Giedroyc Prize, established in 2012. Regarding this group, several other awards are worth mentioning: the Maxim Bahdanovich Prize for writers under 35, the Пра Дзеяслоў. [online] [quot. 14.04.2014]. Available at: http://dziejaslou.by/пра-дзеяслоў/#. 10

Ales Adamovich Prize for works in literary journalistic genres, Dzeyaslou magazine’s Zalaty apostraf prize, the symbolic prize Hlinyany Vyales, which is given for a book written in Belarusian and others.11 The award given to the winners of the Pervaya glava competition could be considered “politically independent” as it is organized by the privately-owned Registr publishing house. One can notice a certain stratification in the publishing policies of today’s Belarus as well. The main actor in the market of fiction literature is the Minsk-based publishing house Mastatskaya litaratura. Its catalogue includes re-editions of Belarusian “classics” and books written by contemporary authors. Albeit quite broad, the publisher’s catalogue does not offer any significant number of books written by writers from “alternative” circles. For this reason, the majority of them have to cooperate with private publishing houses, the most well-known of which are Lohvinau and Haliyafy. In the autumn of 2013, the Lohvinau publishing house was deprived of its licence after it published a collection of photographs called “Press Photo Belarus 2011” (the court claimed its content to be “extremist”).12 * As has been mentioned above, the question of readership and readers’ engagement in Belarusian literature is rather complicated. Just like any other “small” national literature, Belarusian literature written in either Belarusian or Russian (even though works written in Russian have the possibility to address a wider spectrum of readers) has to survive trying to compete with “big” literatures. This makes it difficult to answer the question of whether readers have any real interest in Belarusian literature. For more “alternative” awards, consult the web page of the Belarusian PEN centre: //pen-centre.by/projects_ en.html. 12 СИНЮК, Е. Суд постановил прекратить деятельность издательства "Логвинов" из-за выпуска "экстремистских" материалов. [online] [quot. 16.04.2014]. Available at: http://news.tut.by/society/375313.html. 11

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On the one hand, detective stories by Olga Tarasevich, female-oriented novels by Natalya Batrakova (1964) and even the militia-themed novels by Nikolay Cherginets are sold in the thousands. However, an average reader can hardly identify the provenience of a writer whose works are published in Russian by Russian publishing houses (this does not concern Cherginets to that extent) in editions that do not necessarily highlight the “Belarusianness” of the author. On the other hand, there does exist literature which for popular readers as well as for literary critics, whose point of view is based on the principle of “what sells best is best”, is written by “‘pocket’ writers […] exclusively for the needs of the ‘Belarusian aquarium’”.13 One can frequently meet the opinion that to write in Belarusian today is a senseless thing since the language “has become obsolete”.14 It is worth mentioning that in this context writers that are considered to be of a “pocket” or “irrelevant” type can represent different ideologies and can be of different aesthetical values. * Leaving the issues of mass character/ popularity/sales rates aside, several names that have a certain authority in “serious” (for lack of a better word) literary life should be named. One of the most relevant writers (if one wishes – on an aquarium scale) in today’s Belarus is Alherd Bakharevich, who creates intellectual “postmodern” novels “Практычны дапаможнік па руйнаванні гарадоў” (2002), “Малая медычная энцыклапедыя Бахарэвіча” (2011), “Шабаны. Гісторыя аднаго знікнення” (2012). Syarhey Balakhonau (1977) is also known for his postmodernist writings in novels like “Імя грушы” (2005) and “Зямля пад крыламі Фенікса. Нарысы з

паралельнай гісторыі Беларусі” (2012). Adam Hlobus, who writes both poetry and prose, is considered to be an authority. He was one of the first to introduce “carnality” into the “virginal” Belarusian literature. He became famous after publishing the book “Дамавікамерон” (1994). In the 2000s, several of his other books, such as “Літары” (2006), “Play.by” (2009) and “Казкі пра дарослых” (2013) were published. Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu can be considered one of the main poets of today. He writes prose as well, and in 2012 he received the Giedroyc Prize for an autobiographical novel about 1960s Minsk called “Аўтамат з газіроўкай і без”. Lyudmila Rubleuskaya writes in mystic and historical genres. Her novels “Авантуры Пранціша Вырвіча, шкаляра і шпега” (2012) and “Ночы на Плябанскiх Млынах” (2013) received acclaim from both critics and readers. She also writes poems and plays. Her husband Viktar Shnip (1960) is also a poet, the winner of the Zalaty Vyales Prize and an award from the president of Belarus. In 2009, a lot of media attention was drawn to the dystopian novel “Паранойя” by Viktar Martsinovich (1977), which was allegedly banned and it stirred up literary life in Belarus. Later, Martsinovich published two other novels under the titles “Сцюдзёны вырай” (2011) and “Sfagnum” (2013). Martsinovich actively uses elements of popular literature, which makes critics wonder whether it is the natural flow of his narrative style or a “game with popular context”.15 In the poetic domain, the name of Andrei Khadanovich (1973) should be mentioned. His poems are marked by outstanding stylistic experimentation implementing both “elevated” and “lower” genres (“Землякі, альбо Беларускія лімэрыкі” (2005), “Несымэтрычныя сны” (2010)).

МАТВИЕНКО, А. Итоги литературного года. Беларусь – 2013. [online] [quot. 16.04.2014]. Available at: http:// www.litkritika.by/categories/literatura/obzoryi/1428.html. 14 As above.

Крывіцкі апокрыф. Новыя выданні на кніжных паліцах «Дзеяслова». / Дзеяслоў, № 65, 2013, p. 337. [online] [quot. 16.04.2014]. Available at: http://issuu.com/ dziejaslou/docs/dz-65/337. 17

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Literature, Art & Society

CONTEMPORARY ARMENIAN LITERATURE: ITS APPEARANCE AND PERSONALITIES Nina Cingerová*

In his essay on Armenian literary tendencies after the establishment of independent Armenia, Azat Yeghiazaryan mentioned an interesting fact: the first published academic volumes of the work of the national Armenian poet, Hovhannes Thumanyan, were published with a circulation of 75,000 copies and were sold out right away; the last time they were published, they had a circulation of 500 copies without being sold to anyone.1 This example of Yeghiazaryan gives a good illustration of what was not unknown in other countries of the former Eastern Bloc. Although the change in the social and political paradigm brought about a release of censorship and launched the democratization processes in the field of the mass media, it also embodied a limitation on state support to publishing houses and a collapse of distribution systems. While in 1990 almost 10 million books were published in Armenia, a country of 3 million inhabitants, this number had dropped to half a million in 1995.2 Was this in the name of redressing hard-market principles or due to a desperate lack of financial resources in the state treasury? Neither of these two factors played a crucial role in this situation. After the enthusiasm Nina Cingerová, Comenius University, Bratislava, nina.cingerova@gmail.com. 1 Cf. Yeghiazaryan, A.: Pereputiye. Zametki o literature 90-ch. In: Druzhba narodov, No. 2/2005. Also available at: <http://magazines.russ.ru/druzble athba/2005/2/eg22. html>. Last visited: 15.04.2014. 2 Cf. Navasardyan, A., Dabaghyan, D., Avdalyan, L.: Publishing and Bookselling in Armenia. An Overview. A summary of a survey carried out in 2012–2013. Also available at: < http://www.bookplatform.org/ en/activities/45-publishing-am-en.html>. Last visited: 15.04.2014. *

of the 1980s, it seemed that what literary intellectuals had dreamt of in their initial euphoria was simply not needed by anyone. Yeghiazaryan himself says that intellectuals and literary personalities, who were tired and disgusted, refused to take on the role of heralds of moral values and be “more than just poets”.3 For that reason, the writer Gurgen Khanjyan represented a prototype; his prose writings focused on all the “ugly” things in post-Soviet societies, namely, on the destruction within and around us (the novels “Hospital”/Հիվանդանոց, 1994; “Ride through the Subway”/Ճամփեզրի թատրոն, պիես, Վան Արյան, 2002; “Yenok’s Eye”/ Ենոքի աչքը, 2012). However, this was not the only difference. Literary life has become more difficult to grasp and read. While it could be said that Armenian literature in the period of Soviet decay was dominated by a very strong figure representing the centre of an imaginary field Hrant Matevosyan 4 and a few important authors surrounding this personality (e.g. Vahagn Grigoryan,5 Aghasi Ayvazyan and the playwright and screenwriter Perch Zeytuntsyan), today “there are no overwhelmingly recognized figures”.6 It would Cf. Ibid. A master of short prose genres, Hrant Matevosyan (1935– 2002) was the head of the Union of Armenian Writers from 1995 to 2000. He entered literary life with a critical essay entitled “Ahnidzor” in 1961. Besides collections such as Օգոստոս (“August”, 1967) and Ծառերը (“Trees”, 1978), he also became well-known for several movies that were based on his works (e.g. “We and Our Mountains”, 1969; “Autumn Sun”,1977). For more on the creative work of Matevosyan, which formed modern Armenian literary consciousness to a large extent, see: http://hrantmatevossian.org/hy. 5 The writer, translator and screenwriter Vahagn Grigoryan (*1942), who entered literary life in the 1960s, is now wellknown for the novel “The River of Time” (Ժամանակի գետը, 2009), in which he returns to the topic of the Armenian genocide. 6 Cf.: the discussion with Gevorg Ter-Gabrielyan, the author of the review article (“The Archeology of Future Literature” (In: Caucasus Analytical Digest 14/10, also available at: <http://www.laender-analysen.de/cad/ pdf/CaucasusAnalyticalDigest14.pdf>. Last time visited: 15.04.2014) on contemporary Armenian literature in the author’s archives. 3 4

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make more sense to reflect on a few major figures on the domestic scene. One of these is Levon Khechoyan, a contemporary of Gurgen Khanjyan and today’s bestselling author (“The Book of Mher’s Door”/Մհերի դռան գիրքը, 2014).7 Khechoyan entered the literary scene with a collection titled “Trees of Incense” (Խնկի ծառեր, 1991). This all happened right in the period when Armenia gained its independence after having being a part of the Soviet Union for almost 70 years. At the time when the Armenian nation was forming itself anew within public discourse, Khechoyan brought into literature a portrayal of a mythical “Armenianship”: Mher – a hero who does not grow old or die throughout the eponymous short story of the collection. In his prose writings, he also outlines other prosaic characters that are heroes of their time – people in borderline situations who, under the weight of their wounded memory, find themselves in a historical darkness.8 In the author’s understanding, they become a closed, impermeable system. In one interview, Khechoyan said that “by the irony of fate [...] our history reminds one of a wetland, finding itself under your homeland, your city, in front of your threshold at the beginning of every new century; it does not devour you, but it does not let you go either. This conflict, which has lasted for centuries [...] and continues to this day, together with our historical literature [...], is not valid for other nations anymore [conflict, N. C.]; their history is over, it became compact, while Armenpress Introduces Bestseller Books List 2/3. Also available at: <http://armenpress.am/rus/ news/753827/erevanskiiy-bestseller-2/3-novaya-knigalevona-khechoyana-sokhranyaet.html>. Last time visited: 15.04.2014. The book was released after the author had passed away at the beginning of 2014. 8 Koval, Y.: Magitcheskaya sila prozy Khetchoyna. / Aniv, 14.2.2013. Also available at: http://www.aniv.ru/about/ news/magicheskaja-sila-prozy-hechojana-jaryna-koval/. Last time visited: 15.04.2014. 7

ours continues. [...]”9 One of the recent historical milestones Khechoyan reflects on is undoubtedly the Nagorno-Karabakh War. Similarly to the conflict in Chechnya, which gave birth to contemporary Russian war prose (A. Babchenko, Z. Prilepin, A. Karasiov), the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan has become a cataclysm which Armenian literature will keep on returning to. It has become a part of the “wetland” Khechoyan refers to.10 The last initiative in this respect is an almanac titled “The Southern Caucasus” (Juzhnyy Kavkaz), which has been published every year since 2011 with the ambition to become a certain “Caucasian” platform contributing to overcoming the antagonisms in the area.11 The “Karabakh” had a very direct impact on the lives of some writers. “Vazgen wrote a short story. Later, he became the defence minister, almost the master of Armenia,” says Gevorg Ter-Gabrielyan in discussing Vazgen Sargsyan in his short story memoir.12 He further adds: “There’s been nothing else like his short stories in literature.” Vazgen Sargsyan died in 1999 in a terrorist attack. Aleksanyan, N.: Za tysyatchegolosym solovem. / Aniv, 23.06.2006. Also available at: http://www.aniv. ru/archive/12/za-tysjachegolosym-solovem-intervju-slevonom-hechojanom/. Last time visited: 15.04.2014. 10 He gets back to the war in his book “The Black Book and a Weighty Bug” (Սև գիրք ծանր բզեզ, 1999), which was written in the form of a diary. 11 Cf. Juzhnyy Kavkaz. Almanach. Suchum: 2011. Also available at: http://apsnyteka.org/file/Yuzhnyi_ Kavkaz_1-2011.pdf. Last time visited: 15.04.2014. This direction was also taken in a collective issue of a book named “Stone Dreams” by the Azeri author Ekrem Eylisli and the book “Artsatagir” by the Armenian author Levon Yavakhyan, initiated by the Turkish publisher Ragib Zarakolu (Begle publishing house). For more on the discussion emerging from the publication of Aylisli’s book in Armenia, see: Shekoyan, A.: Literary Victories. 12.04.2013. Also available at: <http://m.media.am/en/literary-victories>. Last time visited: 15.04.2014. 12 Ter-Gabrielyan, G.: Grant. Yerevan: 2007. Also available at: <http://southcaucasus.com/old/index. php?page=publications&id=1533>. Last time visited: 15.04.2014. 9

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Another talented literary personality and a member of the Karabakh Committee,13 Vano Siradegyan, became minister of the interior and the mayor of Yerevan; he resigned and was accused of arson, a murder attempt and conspiracy.14 “They were not the only writers”, notes Gevorg Ter-Gabrielyan, “but their fate was indicative for the rest of the prose establishment.”15 Today Vano Siradegyan is on the run. And yet he continues writing.16 As far as his age and experience are concerned, he could be assigned to the generation that found itself between two epochs. Besides Levon Khechoyan, in contemporary Armenian literature we can also mention Gurgen Khanjyan, the journalist and writer Vahram Martirossyan, the author of the successful collection “Bibliophile” (2014),17 Vardan Fereshetyan and Armen Shekoyan, who is well-known for his experimental prose style, having had his novel “The Armenian Time” published in serial form in the Armenian journal Aravot since 2005. A remarkable prose writer, Susanna Harutyunyan, should also be mentioned here – she is the author of the “19 Short Stories” anthology (19 A group of nationalist intellectuals, proclaiming the annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. Cf. Geukiyan, O.: Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict in the South Caucasus. Nagorno-Karabakh and the Legacy of the Soviet Nationalities Policy. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2012, pp. 141–143. 14 See the site of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Also available at:http://www.refworld.org/cgibin/texis/vtx/n?page=coun try&category=&publisher=USCIS&type=&coi=ARM&rid=& docid=3ae6a6a338&skip=0>. Last time visited: 15.4.2014. 15 Ter-Gabrielyan, G.: The Archeology of Future Literature. In: Caucasus Analytical Digest 14/10, p. 3. Available at: <http://www.laender-analysen.de/cad/ pdf/CaucasusAnalyticalDigest14.pdf>. Last time visited: 15.4.2014. 16 Ibid. 17 Armenpress Introduces Bestseller Books List 2/3. Available at: <http://armenpress.am/rus/news/753827/ e reva n s k i i y- b e st s e l l e r- 2 / 3 - n ovaya - k n i ga - l evo n a khechoyana-sokhranyaet.html>. Last time visited: 15.04.2014. The book was released after the author had passed away at the beginning of 2014. 13

պատմվածք, 2011); this was the outcome of a literary competition organized by the Antares publishing house together with the Granish literary club. In her short story (“God Had Passed through Here”), Harutyunyan makes us witness the story of a girl being sold to Europeans by her own father; the Europeans were, however, not the first ones to come and pay for her – the first ones to reach the mountains and do so were people from Yerevan. Their behaviour is not driven by any earthly human desires but by science. They purchase the right to examine the girl’s body illuminated in the dark after she dies. Harutyunyan plays with the reader in a strange manner – she gives him an interpretive key and then takes it away from him only to return to it at the end. Where others do not let things find peace in words, Harutyunyan does not let the world find peace in stories. Maybe it is just the world that does not let her find it. In a short story entitled “The Sun is the Face of God and We Can See It Every Day”, published in a collection entitled “Time to Live” (Vremya zhit, 2004), an anthology of South Caucasian authors (Armenian, Azeri, Georgian and Abkhaz), she returns to the tragic war events in a similar, uncomforting way. As far as poetry is concerned, writers from the period “between two epochs” that advocated for a literary restoration18 include the poets Marine Petrosyan and Violet Grigoryan. The latter was born in Tehran and her family were repatriated to Armenia in 1975. Together with Vahan Ishkhanyan, she was one of the founders of the online journal Inknagir and the eponymous literary club. Firstly, she could be classified as the author of feminist literature. However, it could be more relevant to consider her literature, or rather literary activities, as being aimed at questioning the establishment. The borders Avetissian, A., Matevossian, M.: Editorial. / Transcript, 2013. Available at: http://www.lit-across-frontiers.org/de/ transcript/editorial/. Last time visited: 15.04.2014. 18

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that are no longer supported by institutions are nevertheless still present, disrupting comfortable truth and language. Inknagir also presents literary awards every year. In 2010 the first recipient was a controversial blogger named Dorian19 for a short story titled “The Devil at Sunset” (Սատանան մայրամուտին), which is interesting for several reasons. Firstly, there is the fact that he entered the literary world as a virtual personality in 2009 and his identity was only revealed in 2011 after the publication of his first hard-copy novel “Lily after the Night” (Իսկ գիշերվանից հետո` շուշաններ). Secondly, in the short story itself, questions of power form the background for a sexual relationship between two men, which brought the work a scandalous reputation. Thanks to Inknagir, another contemporary prose writer, Lusine Vayachyan, became known. Her works “employ street language with a relentless supply of profanities”.20 Dorian and Lusine Vayachyan belong to a younger generation of contemporary Armenian writers who reached intellectual maturity only after the fall of the Soviet Union, entering the literary world with different life experiences to those of their “fathers”. A novel by the actor, screenwriter and author Hovhannes Teqgyozyan entitled “The Running City” (Փախչող քաղաքը, 2012) is a story that takes place in a city where everything (including moving buildings and people) is always on the run and the characters reveal their faces through their interactions with a psychologist and text messages. Besides Teqgyozyan, the literary “wunderkind” Arpi Voskanyan could also be mentioned; she started to write as a five-yearold and published her first work at the age of

ten. Her first collection, which attracted much attention, was released when she was 23. Another outstanding poet from the younger generation should also be mentioned – Nara Vardanyan is one of the poets whose works was published in a collection entitled “18–33. Modern Armenian Poetry” (18-33. արդի հայ պոեզիա, 2013). This collection of works from contemporary young poets under the age of 33 also has its analogy in the field of prose writings in an anthology entitled “18–33. Modern Armenian Prose” (18-33. արդի հայ արձակ, 2009), where the first work of Aram Pachyan was also published. Pachyan is wellknown in particular for his collection named “Robinzon and 13 Short Stories” (Ռոբինզոն և 13 պատմվածք, 2011) and a novel titled “Goodbye, Bird” (Ցտեսություն, ծիտ, 2012). Indeed, Aram Pachyan has been singled out as one of the most promising young authors in Armenia. Readers are attracted by his original style, language experiments and the philosophical undertone in his works. Karen Antashian, another writer from the younger generation of Armenians, presents a significant tendency in current literary life, which is the creation of platforms – literary clubs that are supposed to represent an alternative to the Union of Armenian Writers. In addition to Inknagir mentioned above, there is also Garnish, which was founded by Karen Antashian. Activities within literary clubs offer a good perspective for the future. Armenian literature today needs a “lively” public space for discussion on literary works and a platform for a second-level reflection on literature.21 It appears that the literature itself has grounds to build upon.

http://dorian-am.livejournal.com/profile. Ter-Gabrielyan, G.: The Archeology of Future Literature. / Caucasus Analytical Digest 14/10, p. 4. Available at: <http://www.laender-analysen.de/cad/ pdf/CaucasusAnalyticalDigest14.pdf>. Last time visited: 15.04.2014.

19 20

Cf. the discussion with Gevorg Ter-G a b ri el yan , the author of a review article on contemporary Armenian literature (The Archeology of Future Literature. In: Caucasus Analytical Digest 14/10, available at: <http://www.laenderanalysen.de/cad/pdf/CaucasusAnalyticalDigest14.pdf>. Last time visited: 15.4.2014), in the author's archives.

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MOLDOVAN LITERATURE: THE PAST AND PRESENT Libuša Vajdová* There is no better moment to write about Moldovan literature than now. We are living in times that remind us of the past, but we also understand that nothing can be repeated in today’s world. We are speaking of Moldavia and Ukraine, two independent countries that are culturally and historically connected to Central Europe and in this particular case also to Slovakia and Romania. Moldova, also known as Bessarabia, declared itself an independent state in 1991 during the course of the dissolution of the former Soviet Union. The situation in Moldavia and Ukraine helps us to better understand the history, culture and literature of this part of Europe. One should also mention here Transnistria, which is part of today’s Moldavian Republic. Moldavia or Bessarabia (currently the Moldovan Republic) is an ancient country that has always been a part of Europe, but the identity of it has been questioned many times due to continuous political and administrative steps. Many readers as well as experts in foreign literatures could not accept the idea that the language of Moldovan literature could actually be Romanian. Its character was wiped out by Cyrillic and the continuous forming of the general opinion about the resemblance of Moldavian to Russian, so it appeared than Moldavian was a language caught between Russian and Romanian. However, there has existed a territory a few steps westward beyond the river Pruth with the same language – Romanian – for centuries. This territory represented the half of Moldavia that was part of independent Libuša Vajdová, Institute of World Literature of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, lvajdova@chello.cz. *

Romania, and it also had the same name – the Principality of Moldavia. Indeed, the Principality of Moldavia was created in the 14th century as an early feudal state and existed in this form until 1812, when its eastern part was annexed by Tsarist Russia. Then, after a short period when it was part of Romania in the first half of the 20th century, it was re-annexed to Russia in 1940 by Stalin based on the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact. The independence of the Moldovan state was declared only in 1991. Even today, few people know that a large number of traditional Romanian writers in the 19th century were born in Moldova and that not even Moldovan children living on its territory, i.e. on the eastern side of the Pruth, were able to learn about them over the decades. The awareness of Romanian literature in Moldavia decreased so much that even writers and artists like Ion Druţă and the film-maker Emil Loteanu, who were greatly inspired by the original Romanian rural substrate, were considered to be Russian or Russian-Moldovan authors. I am sorry to repeat the same, but it is necessary: the so-called Moldovan language is in fact Romanian with regional and local differences. If we do not write it in Cyrillic but in Latin, we get perfectly comprehensible Romanian which is identical to the language spoken in Romania. In an interview for the Czech literary magazine Plav which showcased contemporary Moldovan literature entitled “Waiting for Better Times is Just an Excuse” (Čekání na lepší časy je výmluva), the prominent Moldovan publicist and writer Vitalie Ciobanu said: “Can you imagine Italian written in Cyrillic?”.1 This comparison is very relevant because Romanian is a Romance language and is similar to Italian. Cf. Plav. Měsíčník pro světovou literaturu – Monthly for World Literature. Besarabesky. Prague, 2012, No. 2, p. 3. 1

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It was only after 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet empire, the time when the independent Moldavian Republic was created, that Moldovan culture, literature and national identity could rise and be strengthened. Thanks to its own endeavour and contact with Romanian literature and culture as well as the wider cultural and political framework of the EU, Moldovan literature could become more known across Europe. We should also mention that several writers, film-makers, young mathematicians and IT specialists have grown up in this culture without mentioning their origins. Contemporary Moldovan literature has undergone a longer development and nowadays it stands independent from Romanian literature. After a period of creating a national identity and specificity, it has started to focus on Central Europe and the wider world, although often by means of the original Romanian environment. Due to this, a well-known but specific and historical name has started to be used – the literature of Bessarabia. This can be seen in the aforementioned issue of Plav magazine, which spoke of Romanian writers from Moldavia. The title “Romanian literature from Bessarabia” shows the historical, geographical, temporal and modern scope of all Moldovan literature. This has been confirmed by several translations of Moldovan writers into Slovak, e.g. the recent title “Burden of Our Goodness” (Bremeno našej dobroty) from the novel by Ion Druţu, which was translated from Russian, as well as other translations of his books from Russian and several more recent works, such as the novel “Pain” (Bolesť), written by Vladimir Beşleagă, and two novels written by the well-known Moldovan (or Bessarabian) writer Aureliu Busuioc: “Alone against Love” (Zočivoči láske), published in 1974, and “The Uncle from Paris” (Ujo z Paríža) published in 1977. 24

The currently active generation of writers, dramatists and other intellectuals and scholars entered literary life in the 1980s. Their question of identity was answered in a specific way. They consider the Romanian aspect of their identity to be obvious, so they focus on the literature and culture of Europe. Of course, there are controversies inside Moldovan literature, and a spirit of criticism is gradually shifting traditional and national identity towards a universal and human one. A comparison to Romanian literature is part of this discussion. It is important to say that several Moldovan writers write in Romanian periodicals and publish their books in Romania. However, the greatest support has been seen in the activities of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Bucharest, which has supported and subsidized several Moldovan periodicals. Later on they were very important and could be developed across Europe and worldwide due to the fact that there are many such institutions around the world which have opened many doors. The most important living figures of Moldovan literature and culture include Mihai Cimpoi, a scholar of the history of Moldovan literature, known for his studies and works on the Romanian poet Mihai Eminesco, and Vitalie Ciobanu, who represents the younger generation and the new wave of Moldovan prose journalism and essays. In 1994 Vitalie Ciobanu started Contrafort magazine in Chişinău. It became an influential publishing platform for young authors; part of its programme was to get in touch with Romanian post-modern literature and new original trends. As the writer, journalist and essayist Vitalie Ciobanu was the editor-in-chief of Contrafort, many other cultural magazines with either a narrower or broader scope were created – e.g. Sud-Est cultural, Semn, Clipa, Destin românesc and others, including the more traditional cultural

Literature, Art & Society

weekly Literatura şi arta. All these periodicals focused on domestic works and monitored cultural events such as theatre productions, films and art exhibitions. They reviewed books published in Romania and commented on important current literary, historical and philosophical questions. Their activities were an important stimulus for emerging Moldovan authors and literary critics that wanted to develop their opinions in contact with the cultural community. This is why the fact that the Romanian Cultural Institute in Bucharest was subsidizing these periodicals was meritorious. This support was significant and indispensable, as could be seen later on. The changes of cultural policy in Romania brought about a change in priorities caused by the economic situation. The management of the Romanian Cultural Institute was forcibly replaced several times, the subsidies were cut back and eventually disappeared. This brought about the demise of several Moldovan magazines; others like Contrafort were published only once a year. * Nonetheless, literary life in Moldavia did not disappear. The writers kept writing and the publishers kept publishing. Just before the end of these magazines in 2010, the president of the Moldovan PEN club Vitalie Ciobanu published an almanac of Romanian poetry from Moldavia in English, French and German called “Arhipelag”, which featured 31 contemporary writers from Bessarabia. He mentioned classic works like those by Grigore Vieru, Vladimir Beşsleagă, Aureliu Busuioc and Nicolae Dabija, which had already been translated abroad, as well as authors of the newer generation – Vasile Gârneţ, Mircea V. Ciobanu, Grigore Chiper, Irina Nechita, Teo Chiriac, Leo Butnaru and Nicolae Rusu, and even newer ones like Vasile Ernu, Tamara Cărăuş, Iulian Ciocan and Alexandru Vakulovski. The list is made

complete with literary critics and essayists like Vasile Gârneţ, who together with Ciobanu has tried to expand awareness of Moldovan literature worldwide. His reviews of Romanian literary criticism and history as well as his articles on frequent themes in contemporary literary theory in the world are very interesting. Similarly to Ciobanu, he has tried to synchronize Moldovan literature and culture with the whole world. This is no longer about national identity or a comparison with historical Romania; this is about succeeding as an independent entity in the world and especially in Europe. Ciobanu and Gârneţ do not avoid traditions or the traditional mentality of their country; they try to discuss its tensions and conflicts and show how unreasonable and absurd it is to consider these problems as the eternal destiny of the country. The themes of young authors correspond to the themes of the modern world and the acceptance of the Romanian phenomenon in it. The authors try to assess the past and form a new European identity from their own perspective based on their own experience. Very often they adopt the techniques of postmodern novels, and some of them also use their experience with other types of art (e.g. film and theatre) in composition and narration. However, the main problem remains the conflicts and contradictions of Romanian society in Moldavia, whether this is the residue of previous regimes or the psychological deformities of people. The younger generation focus mainly on foreign countries and assess their own position and opinions based on experiences from neighbouring Romania or elsewhere. They observe the harsh conflicts and injustices in present-day society, politics and the mentality of people and criticize it mercilessly and brutally, e.g. Alexandru Vakulovski in the novel “Pussyist” (Pizdeţ). 25

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The historical experience of Bessarabia/ independent Moldavia and its culture is extremely inconsistent. This is why it is not only older or traditional authors who focus on it and repeatedly experience traumatic moments. Younger authors often return to their own past, to times decades ago – the times of the Soviet Union. These were meant to be the times of their “idyllic childhood”, but they are depicted with irony. They link sympathy with the humiliated and the absurdity or grotesqueness of their situation. One such author is Iulian Ciocan (1968). His emotive and grotesque short story “Aunt Frosea” (Mătuşa Frosea) became part of an American anthology of the best European short stories for 2011. Iulian Ciocan is also an important literary critic of his generation. He has worked as a commentator for Radio Free Europe and has published a critical evaluation of Moldovan prose “Incursions in Bessarabian prose” (Incursiuni în proza basarabeană, 2004). He gave his narration of Moldavia during the 1950s in the Soviet era a very eloquent name “Before Brezhnev Died” (Înainte să moară Brejnev, 2007; also available in Czech translation). In addition, his novel “Domains of Sasha Kozak” (Tărîmul lui Saşa Kozak, 2011) opens contemporary conflicts by means of the symbolic use of myths and images from the past which paradoxically remain unchanged in Moldavia as well as in other parts of Europe. In addition, the situation of Romanian prose in Moldavia (or Bessarabia) is not idyllic because the very environment of Romanian culture is divided. There are continuous polemics and discussions, often at the level of politics, which have serious cultural impacts. Originally, these were collectively termed the “generational struggle”. According to Vitalie Ciobanu, it is more of a “clash of two completely different mentalities: on one hand, there are the partisans of openness to 26

the world and on the other the advocates of the outdated idea of self-sufficiency that remained at the level of nationalism of the era from 1988 to 1991...”2 However, it is obvious that the process of differentiation and integration into wider contexts of thinking in the literature and culture of the Moldavian Republic will continue. In this case, we will be able to see the creativity and internal sources of this culture, which can surprise us with its true and authentic attitude. This was seen in a recent Moldovan film which surprised the Romanian and European public by reflecting on the situation in Transnistria between the river Dniester and the border with Ukraine. A film that was supposed to come from the well-known Romanian school of directors had finally been made by the young Moldovan director Igor Cobileanski, who depicted everyday reality with extremely credible, simple and rudimentary means of cinema vérité. His film “On the Lower Limit of the Sky” (La limita de jos a cerului), shot in black and white, was chosen for the Berlin Film Festival, where the director introduced it himself; this was a vivid and in its minimalistic approach an extreme testimony of life and desires in this no man’s land.

Slovník rumunských spisovatelů – Dictionary of Romanian Writers. Libuše Valentová et al. (ed.). Praha, Libri 2001. p. 31 (The section devoted to Moldovan literature was written by Vitalie C i o b a n u .) 2

Literature, Art & Society

CONTEMPORARY GEORGIAN LITERATURE: CURSE OR CHALLENGE? Katarína Hrčková* “It’s such a curse to be born a Georgian writer! No one cares, but you keep writing, dejected by the don’t-give-a-damn attitude of your fellow countrymen.”1 This sorrowful and self-pitying quotation from Lasha Bugadze’s novel “The Literature Express” (ლიტერატურული ექსპრესი) may be characteristic for a whole generation of younger Georgian writers. However, it also may be an ironic reification of young authors’ martyr-like feelings all over the world. So what is the real situation in contemporary Georgian literature nowadays? Using Bugadze’s hero’s words, it is “... one big provincial crap! First it was rural problems, then all those drugaddicts and the sh*t of the 90’s! ... And this disgusting egocentrism!”2 I personally think it is definitely worth looking closer at Georgian literature to prove or refute this statement. “Three thousand read, one thousand buy”3 – we can use another of Bugadze’s quotations in order to capture the tiny Georgian audience. Of course, this situation is not caused by society being uncivilized but rather by its size: with just 4.5 million citizens, Georgia is not a population giant. Therefore, it is quite understandable that writers are motivated to reach larger audiences beyond Georgian borders. This was not a big issue during the existence of Soviet Union. Georgian literature was part of one big cultural area and it was distributed all over Katarína Hrčková, Comenius University, Bratislava, hrckovak@gmail.com. 1 Bugadze, L.: The Literature Express, London, Dalkey Archive Press, 2012. 2 Bugadze, L.: The Literature Express, London, Dalkey Archive Press, 2012. 3 Bugadze, L.: The Literature Express, London, Dalkey Archive Press, 2012. *

the union. Thanks to the Russian language – the language into which the majority of works were translated – the writings of Georgian authors were available all over the “Eastern Bloc”. However, since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Georgian book market has become significantly smaller. Nonetheless, there are many literary magazines in Georgia nowadays which are introducing new translations of foreign literature and new Georgian authors as well. These magazines are usually available online, but unfortunately almost all of them are only published in Georgian. The most interesting of these include Arili (არილი)4 and Literaturuli Gazeti (ლიტერატურული გაზეთი).5 A different way to popularize new books is through literary awards. There are many different awards in Georgia presented to the most popular and the most qualitative authors. We can mention some of them here: the Saba Literary Award,6 the CERO Award and the Vazha-Pshavela Award. At the beginning of the 20th century, Georgian literature was influenced by both European decadence and Russian symbolism. It was also an era of one of the biggest Georgian authors – Vazha-Pshavela. Between 1918 and 1921, Georgia witnessed an “explosion of poetry, prose, and ‘happenings’— anarchistic, artistic and political outbursts in Tbilisi, stimulated by the mixture of the refugee Russian avant-garde and Georgian poets heady with their liberation”.7 The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic became a part of the Soviet Union in 1921. The repressions of the 1920s and 1930s affected literature in Georgia widely – writers were persecuted and socialist themes were imposed on literature. On the other hand, literature started to be translated more, and via the Soviet literary http://arilimag.ge. http://www.culture.gov.ge/topic-12.html. 6 https://saba.com.ge. 7 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/230313/ Georgian-literature/272872/The-20th-century. 4 5

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market it became available in many countries. During this time, authors such as Otar Dumbadze, Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Anna Kalandadze and Chabua Amirejibi were active in a literary sense. The 1990s was an era of civil war, economic collapse, emigration processes and independence. All of these factors played an important role in everyday life as well as in literary works. During the first few years of the 1990s, the publishing, theatre and literary markets were seriously crippled. After being stabilized in the middle 1990s, a new generation of writers appeared: writers who wanted to break with traditions and established norms. Western influences and postmodern elements gained their positions, and today we can consider these years as the beginning of a new and really modern Georgian literature. Unfortunately, Georgian literature is not well known in our cultural area and our image of this literature is quite poor. However, from available information and publications, we can create a more or less accurate image of contemporary Georgian literature. It is possible to find various trends: Georgian postmodern diversity, minimalism, hyperrealism, mysticism, neomodernism, shocking eroticism, imaginary historicism, ironic sentimentalism and even mannerism; in short, it is a real “Stendhal’s mirror” broken into vain pieces.8 The new era also inspired older authors to write something new – Otar Chiladze (ოთარ ჭილაძე) published his well-known novel “Avelum” (აველუმი) in 1995. Chiladze published his next work “Godori” (გოდორი) in 2003. After Georgia’s Rose Revolution of 2003, historical topics became more and more current. One of the most popular authors of historical novels is Aka Morchiladze (აკა მორჩილაძე). There are many Western http://magazines.russ.ru/druzhba/2004/3/eban1.html.

influences noticeable in his bestselling works. His writings can be divided into two parts: firstly, there are historical novels set in Georgia at the turn of the 20 century, even though he uses postmodern methods in these works. Detective stories make up the second group, and because of these he is often compared to the Russian writer Boris Akunin. He uses interesting vocabulary in his work, from Anglicisms to Russianisms, from teenagers’ slang to professional jargon, and he believes that a novel does not necessarily need to start at the beginning and proceed in a straight line to the end. To give an example of his writings, we can mention “Santa Esperanza” (a non-linear novel), “Mesaidumlis Kamari” (მესაიდუმლის ქამარი) and “Obolé”. Another interesting author is Zurab Karumidze (ზურაბ ქარუმიძე), who writes books in a modern way. As a literary scientist, he has dedicated his research to postmodern American metafiction, which is also noticeable in his works. His latest work is “Dagny or A Love Feast”, which is partially historical and partially fictional. It shows Tbilisi as a city caught between the East and the West, mythical and mythological. Another master of short stories is Davit Kartvelishvili (დავით ქართველიშვილი), the author of four novels and many short stories, characteristic for his dynamic plots. He works with a wide range of topics – from sentimental pictures from the 19th century to present-day life and manners. His writings are influenced by the Orthodox Church. Another writer, Zaza Burchuladze (ზაზა ბურჭულაძე), is connected with religion as well – he is on the other side of the barricade though. His books were publicly burnt by religious activists. In the beginning, he published under the pseudonym Gregor Samsa. His books are written in a postmodern manner and the topics are, at least for some people, “immoral”. In his novel “The Simpsons” he provides readers with the famous cartoon

Literature, Art & Society

heroes’ opinion on homosexuality. In another novel he shows his disrespect and hatred for his own mother. In his latest novel, “The Inflatable Angel” (გასაბერი ანგელოზი), he deals with spiritualism. The work became the book of the year in 2011 in Georgia. Another religious manifestation is hidden in the writings of Lasha Bugadze (ლაშა ბუგაძე), who is the author of numerous novels and plays. “Bugadze focuses his critical and ironic attention on inter-generational relationships and describes situations in which people fall victim to their prejudices, rigid ideas or stereotypes.”9 His latest work, “The Literature Express” (ლიტერატურული ექსპრესი), is quoted above, but he firstly drew attention with the scandalous story “The First Russian” (პირველი რუსი). “The novel on Queen Tamar led to an uproar for its graphic portrayal of intimacy between the Georgian queen and her Russian husband”10 Yury Bogolyubsky, Prince of Novgorod. The story “outraged many conservatives and triggered a nationwide controversy, including heated discussions in the media, the Parliament of Georgia and the Patriarchate of the Georgian Orthodox Church.”11 The author himself has declared that he was led by satanic forces during his work on this story and that this is why the book starts at the end, with the reader being forced to read it in reverse. Another interesting writer is Beso Khvedelidze (ბესო ხვედელიძე), who has written 13 books and many short stories and plays. He is known as one of the biggest experimenters in the language field – not only does he use dialects, he also mixes different language standards. He is said to be very talented and is able to write very diverse stories. Thanks to his fantastic imagination the heroes of his http://gratzfeld.ch/pages/en/authors/laschabughadse. php. 10 http://rustaveli.tripod.com/lithistory.html. 11 Spurling, A.: The Georgian Literary Scene, International Pen, PEN Bulletin of Selected Books, 53-54, 2003. 9

works are very different from one another. Gela Chkvanava (გელა ჩქვანავა) is one of the young authors affected by the war in Abkhazia. A Sokhumi native, he now lives in Tbilisi as his house was burned down along with his manuscripts. He has summarized his experiences in books such as “Toreadors”, “The Unfinished Story” (დაუმთავრებელი ამბავი) and “Ase” (ასე). War also dominates the prose writings of the current minister of culture and the well-known poet Guram Odisharia (გურამ ოდიშარია). Another remarkable writer is Teona Dolenjashvili (თეონა დოლენჯაშვილმა), who “is regarded as one of Georgia’s most promising young authors”.12 Her first work, a collection of stories named “River of January” (იანვრის მდინარე), was published in 2003 and her novel “Memfisi” was published in 2008. She uses very interesting poetic images and symbols, and she has won various prizes for her books. Another valued author is Dato Turashvili (დათო ტურაშვილი), an activist in students’ protests and the Rose Revolution. His famous novel entitled “Jeans Generation” (ჯინსების თაობა) is based on the true story of some young people who attempted to hijack a plane in 1983 in order to fly to the West. His last novel, “King of Forests” (ტყეების მეფე), is also set in the past and tells the story of “King David the Builder” (David IV of Georgia). Despite its small audience and the uneasy living conditions, Georgian literature is apparently keeping in step with modern literary tendencies. Even more, it is enriched by local topics which are attractive not only for Georgians but for foreign readers as well; for them, Georgian literature is quite exotic and interesting. Unfortunately, just a small part of Georgian literature is translated into foreign languages, even though it has a lot to offer. http://gratzfeld.ch/pages/en/authors/ teonadolendschaschwili.php. 12

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What’s On in Literary Life

What’s On in Literary Life Halynaʾs Kavʾyarnya-Knyharnya in Odessa Interview by Svetlana Fedoruk * “Is it possible that a human can be in love with books so violently and so definitely?” I thought, looking into the bottomless blue eyes of my respondent, a lady named Halyna – one of the leading people at the cosy and special Kav’yarnya-Knyharnya bookstore and cafe, which is located at 77 Katerynynska Street. It certainly is possible! Tell me, how can we not be in love with books? Especially when the coffee is delicious, the staff are friendly, the atmosphere of the cafe is cosy and the assortment of books that the establishment presents is impressive... I went there with a strict aim: to interview the café staff. But, unexpectedly for myself, I fell into a fairy tale. A fairy tale from childhood: Well, Halyna, for a start: When did Kav’yarnya-Knyharnya begin its work? The opening of the café took place in 2011. But it has become a great continuation of a project named “The Ukrainian Book in Moldovanka”. Moldovanka is a part of Odessa where people prefer to do commerce, and it is more of, shall we say, a business-oriented area. There are very few cultural institutions there. And so we had the idea to create something educational in this place. We have brought this idea to life. So, this was how the plan to establish Kav’yarnya-Knyharnya was born. Kav’yarnya*

Svetlana Fedoruk (on the left side) with Halyna Dolnyk

there are adorable beautiful landscapes in the pictures on the walls all around, small chairs and sofas, and cosy neat bookcases with colourful books for every taste. And the air smells so sweet, the smell of cinnamon and coffee... Coffee and books... After gathering my thoughts, having taken in the shelves of books and ordering a cup of coffee, I started a conversation with Halyna. The conversation was very friendly and frank.

Knyharnya is, first of all, a commercial project. And we’d been looking for people that could help us bring together coffee, books and the third component, which is the art gallery. Three years ago four people gathered together and said “We will do it!” And we did it. But, at the same time, this project cannot be called purely commercial. The cultural colouring is very successful. People like it here. Here we have an art gallery, but we’re not in favour of showing only the paintings of the best artists of Odessa. Here we can see students’ work, and there is the opportunity for any artist to exhibit his or her works.

Svetlana Fedoruk, Odessa, svetlanka1989@inbox.ru.

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And whose idea was this project? The idea for the creation came from the owner of this private house, Natalya Olexandrivna. But it’s not something completely new we are creating here. I had experienced the bookstore-cafes in Lvov. I visited them often, and I’ve seen how it’s done. And abroad, for example, in Poland, there are such kinds of establishments. We haven’t created anything new. And I want to say that the format of bookstore/coffee shops, bookstore/wine shops, bookstore/art galleries and bookstore/ libraries will continue to exist because traditional bookstores are no longer surviving. There must be a synthesis of some factors, other kinds of art, some kind of creative or commercial activity. Then it will attract the public. I say this from the commercial point of view. Because, really, we don’t work on any grants, and we survive as we can, although this is a very difficult process. So you’ve based this cafe on the experience of other bookstores, haven’t you? Once, a long time ago, I was inspired by the Kulchytsky bookstore/coffee shop. It was created by a Pole of Ukrainian origin. He invested in the bookstore and created an educational library and a coffee shop in Lvov. This was about 15 years ago. I personally have very close ties with Lvov, and actually I liked that format of cafe. Now that cafe is called Cabinet. Whatʾs the main concept of Kav’yarnyaKnyharnya? The main concept is that the people who come here, our clients, have a cup of coffee or tea and some sweets, and if they want they can choose a book and read it. We give them

permission to read our books. Of course, we give limited access to the expensive books, especially the children’s ones because children can accidentally damage the book while playing. But all our clients know that they can spend their time reading a book, just discovering a book or browsing the books which are new... In addition, we have now started an interesting project: we have decided to also present old books. We didn’t plan this much; it arose spontaneously. People bring in their old books: to toss them out as garbage seems like a form of a murder to us. Therefore, we have set up a bookcase and benches on the street. And people can not only stop at the cafe and look at these books, they can take the books they want. For example, one man found a book by Kuprin. He came to us and said “You know, I really want to read Kuprin’s ‘Gambrinus’! May I take it? And in a return I promise to bring you three other books!” Of course, we allowed him to take the book, and he brought his three books on the same day. And that’s nice. Once a woman gave us her books and said: “I am giving you my soul!” I want to emphasize that I will always call books “Her Majesty’s Books”. The book unites us, helps us, inspires us and brings about such interesting things! We called this “a movement of books around the people”. The people share their old collections, they give us their books and they know that these books will have a second life and live somewhere else. I believe that what we do is good. It’s almost a social project – we help people. Maybe even in some stressful situations. There are paintings, paintings of the sea, landscapes paintings... And I am, personally, often tempted to sit down and to look at our pictures with pleasure. And I think people have appreciated it or will appreciate it. I believe there should be many more such kinds of places around the world.

What’s On in Literary Life

Certainly. Here at Kav’yarnya-Knyharnya the soul really has rest. And the coffee is delicious… With regard to the coffee, we have tried to collect all the branded samples. We try to make only natural tea, not tea with fillers. I will tell you much more about books. There are, let us say, about 600 good publishing houses in Ukraine now. I used to have about 200 publishing houses I cooperate with. At first I wanted to make a palette to show that we have a lot of books. Readers could see what publishing houses our books are from: Kharkov, Lutsk, Ivano-Frankovsk, Zaporozhie and so on. Every region of the country was presented. But after working already about 15 years in this field, I have realized that people are mostly interested only in novelties. Tell us about the books you sell... We are a small bookstore and coffee shop, so I can tell you the literature we have in the order of the shelves. There is modern Ukrainian literature, traditional Ukrainian literature and foreign literature in the Ukrainian language. There is also a section of Russian literature and foreign literature in Russian. We also have books on history, philosophy, psychology and children’s literature, which is divided into the following age categories: 0 to 3 years, 5 to 10 years and 10 to 15 years. We also have a few textbooks for higher educational institutions. What kind of literature do the visitors prefer usually? To be honest, the biggest demand is for children’s literature, so we have increased our range. There are several reasons for this: there are a lot of great illustrators. And we have books here which have worldwide recognition. For example, the book “Stars and Poppy Seeds” [which received a mention in

the Opera Prima Award at the 2014 Bologna Children’s Book Fair]. Unfortunately, encyclopaedias today are not in much demand as they were before because all information can be found on the Internet. But books on such questions as education, relationships between parents and children, the formation of personality, the education of patriotism, devotion, respect for elders, the young and so on are very relevant and we have such books here, where the reader can find answers to these questions by reading a book with a cup of coffee. And what about the visitors? Have you got regular customers? It depends on whether it is summer or winter. When it’s summer, there are many visitors in the city and they usually visit us too. For example, last year many Russians came here and took photographs. They were surprised that we have such a modern cafe here in Odessa. And when it is winter, the students and of course our regular clients visit us. These people are permanent. This is, I would say, our “book hundred”. I have about 100 people that come and ask for new books every time. Even if they won’t buy the book, they will smell it. I really appreciate it. I bow my head to them and I appreciate the fact that they find the time to come. Different people visit us. Some people even come with young kids. Some kids have already grown up during this time. For example, at first some parents came here with a baby, and now the boy is in the 4th grade and already comes here himself. We have such a notion as a tradition and it is very good. That gives me confidence in the future. Talking about traditions, do you have the tradition of holding some thematic events? Of course, we carry out a lot of activities. Just

Eastern Partnership Literary Review Vol. 1 (2014), No. 1

last year we held 14 events. Every month we hold some meeting. I’m not talking about local poets, I’m talking about those who come to us, those whom we have to meet, organize and conduct presentations and meetings. We also organize meetings with students and the wider public in institutions. This year there was a meeting with the Kyiv writer Yevhenia Kononenko. Five times already we have held creative evenings, and now we can say with certainly that there can be about 60 people present at one time. It would be interesting to know how we can get to such a private evening. Of course we have an online presence on all social networks and a Facebook page where we post information. In addition, we call up, write and invite our clients to come. But you cooperate with many Ukrainian and particularly Odessa authors... Oh, yes. We have become a kind of platform for meetings of Russian-speaking writers and poets, for example, the poet Boris Khersonsky. I must say that he always creates a fantastic atmosphere. Recently we invited Sasha Grigorieva, another poet. She was my helper once. I can say that she was not that good as an assistant, but as a poet she is great! Also, recently we had a wonderful poet from Ilyichevsk. Writers often come, visit us and buy the books of other authors. As you know, Odessa has its own poetry cohort which we can cooperate with. But it is much more interesting for me to bring artists from other regions so that people will know them and get acquainted with something new. What future prospects do you see?

First of all, we are planning an online shop, but for now having a webpage is enough for us. We must not sit in one place. It’s wonderful that people come here, but we should also take part in local exhibitions. Recently we took part in the Pysanka festival. We collected all the books about Easter eggs. We participate in various exhibitions and I hope that every day we will be involved in something new. For sure, physically this is difficult. But we can travel by car, collect material and go to exhibitions. We talk to people and exchange business cards. Afterwards people visit our cafe and give us a living contact, which is important. No one has replaced real communication, and there is no substitute for real contact with people. I say such things as “we should” and “we are planning”... Of course, we have to make plans. One day it will become true. For example, I had the idea of Kav’yarnya-Knyharnya somewhere about 18 years ago. And it has become true, as you can see! Yes, certainly. Dreams always come true if we believe and make efforts to reach them... Thank you very much Halyna.

Promoting Literature through Translations Arevik Ashkharoyan* The Armenian Literature Foundation (ALF) is a newly-founded organization in Armenia, established to ensure the international recognition of and access to Armenian literature and contribute to the development of the book market in Armenia. Since January 2014 ALF has been the local partner of the EU-funded Book Platform project, which aims to strengthen the book sectors in Arevik Ashkharoyan, 1st Armenian Literary Agency, Yerevan, arevik@1litagency.am *

What’s On in Literary Life

Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine. The project is a form of cooperation between the Next Page Foundation and partner organizations in the three countries. You can see more about the project at www.bookplatform.org. A workshop on the promotion of literature in translation took place in Yerevan from 21 to 22 February 2014. It lasted for two days, but it felt as if the discussions could have continued for another two. The workshop explored various tools and approaches towards promoting literatures from “small” languages in translation not by offering theories but by showcasing the specific roles of the various actors in the field. Both foreign and domestic speakers and contributors were invited to talk about their roles and working lives as authors, translators, publishers, literary agents, public bodies and NGOs. The workshop was opened by acknowledging the importance of the events that were taking place at the Ukrainian Maidan at the very moment of the workshop and by a short statement by the Ukrainian writer Ljubko Deresh. Nerses Ter-Vardanyan, the Deputy Minister of Culture in Armenia, welcomed the participants with a speech that demonstrated an understanding of the workshop issues, going beyond what is required for a usually formal address. From the book and translations policy field, the programme included representatives from the Ministry of Culture of Georgia’s Programme for the Support of Translations, the French Embassy in Armenia, the Goethe Institute for the Caucasus and the Polish Book Institute. Following a brief introduction by the moderator on the workshop topic, speakers in six modules focused on the key issues that form the debate around translations in Europe and the world today: how and why publishers choose to publish translations

(Ingemar Nilsson, Pierro Salabe), what the smart strategies are for public support for literary exchange (Medea Metrevelli, Ewa Wojciechowska, Fabien Neyrat), the role of literary agents and what makes a successful agent (Silvia Brunelli, Nermin Mollaoglu, Laure Pecher, Arevik Ashkaroyan), how to cope with the “foreignness” of a translation and what policies translators need (Nairi Hakhverdi, Barbara Wattendorf), and how to develop smart information resources for the international market (Ewa Wojciechowska, Pavel Kasciukievic, Ketevan Kighuradze and Naira Khachatryan). Judging from the workshop evaluation forms and feedback during the breaks, the contributions by Pierro Salabe of Hanser Verlag on the importance of the high literary quality of any work and by Silvia Brunelli and Nermin Mollaoglu on the role of literary agents were the ones that most impressed and provoked the participants. Each module was followed by lively discussion and input from all participants; in the breaks there was plenty of networking across national and professional lines. Some of the international speakers donated their fees to the Book Platform’s activities in Armenia and the Armenian Literature Foundation: a genuine sign of appreciation for the work of the project and the foundation in the region. The workshop ended with the endorsement of the Declaration on Encouraging and Promoting Translations – the first ever document of this kind in the region. The Book Platform will continue gathering signatures and support for the declaration in the following months. It is the true professionalism of the speakers, the engaged commitment of the audience and the high level of organization that make this workshop a very special one in the series of Book Platform capacity building events.

Eastern Partnership Literary Review Vol. 1 (2014), No. 1

EaP Literature Abroad

EaP Literature Abroad The Book Platform Project Arevik Ashkharoyan* Six editors and agents from Europe and neighbouring regions were hosted in Armenia from 18 to 20 February as a part of the Editorial Visits component of the Book Platform project. The host organization was the Armenian Literature Foundation – the local partner for Book Platform in Armenia. This was an exclusive event which brought in a group of professionals interested in the Armenian book market for dialogue with local stakeholders. The participants arrived for a three-day visit to meet local publishers, literary agents, journalists and writers to discuss cooperation opportunities in terms of rights exchange. Guests also had the opportunity to visit cultural institutions, museums and historical monuments as well as other places of special interest so as to extend their knowledge about the county, its culture, history and traditions. The Editorial Visits team consisted of Dr Piero Salabe, editor of Hanser Verlag (Germany); Ingemar Nilsson, senior editor of 2244 (Sweden); Dr Silvia Brunelli, founder and director at the Nabu International Literary and Film Agency (Italy); Laure Pecher, literary agent at the Astier-Pécher Literary Agency and editor of Zoe Editions France/ Switzerland; Nermin Mollaoglu, founder of the Kalem Literary Agency and coordinator of the Istanbul Tanpinar Literature Festival (Turkey); and Dejan Trajkoski, the founder and director of the Pro-Za Balkan Festival Arevik Ashkharoyan, 1st Armenian Literary Agency, Yerevan, arevik@1litagency.am *

and editor at the Ikona publishing house (Macedonia). Firstly, the international guests had a presentation on the publishing and book market in Armenia held by the Armenian Literature Foundation, the Book Platform’s local project partner. This was aimed at bringing about a better understanding of the structure, influences and current developments of the book and publishing market in Armenia. Afterwards each of the editors and literary agents had individual meetings with the Antares, Zangak, Print Info, Ankyunakar, Actuelle Art and Komitas publishing houses as well as with the 1st Armenian Literary Agency. European professionals also had a chance to informally meet writers, namely Hrachya Saribekyan, Aram Pachyan, Armen Ohanyan, Hovhannes Tekgyozyan, Gurgen Khanjyan, Vahram Martirosyan and others. This had a special impact on the results of the editorial visits: there was a heightened interest in Armenian literature in general and particularly in the writers they could communicate with. One of the immediate results of the editorial visits was a contract between the 1st Armenian Literary Agency and the Kalem Literary Agency on mutual cooperation around the representation of their rights lists in Armenia and Turkey. Feedback from publishers was given to the 1st Armenian Literary Agency about the titles they represented and more targeted communication was held on the publishing of local writers in the respective countries. Local publishing houses were also interested in the titles which the international editors and

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agents represented and negotiations were held about their possible publication in the Armenian language. On the final day of the editorial visits, all the international guests gave their feedback on the programme and assisted in preparing a list of potential invitees for the next editorial visits, which are being planned by the Armenian Literature Foundation as the first sustainable action for the project’s continuation in Armenia. The Armenian Literature Foundation is planning to establish a yearly Editorial Visits Fellowship Programme. The first fellowship will be announced in June 2014 and will start in September 2014. Information: www.bookplatform.org

In the gate of the Country of Happiness Németh Orsolya* If the reader does not know Artur Klinau, the Belarus writer, architect, performer and editor, he or she may think at first that they have a simple guidebook about Minsk in their hands. It will quickly turn out that it is far from that. So then what is this book in fact? It is a sure thing that it is not a classic guidebook, but partially a kind of album of the Belarus capital – as the author is an architect. In the same time it can also be a „history book”, because the most important moments of the Belarus history Németh Orsolya, Pázmány Péter Katolikus Egyetem, Budapest, orsolya.nemeth@yahoo.co.uk *

come alive on its pages. On the third place, it is an autobiography too, because Klinau guides his readers through several stops of his life that are connected with different points of the city or with historical happenings. Or if you like, we may say that this book is a proclamation, a manifesto of the artist who protests against the current system. The title (Minsk – Sunny City of Dreams) refers to the utopistic work of Tommaso Campanella who lived in the 17th century (The City of the Sun). Klinau admittedly uses this as an intertext, and also other concepts of Campanella got place in the book of the Belarus writer. Klinau’s work is also a kind of utopia, the utopia of the Country of Happiness (the Soviet Union), which naturally never will come, but its gate is the Sunny City, Minsk. The writer says that it is not an accident: „Was there any better place than the place where the Sunny City of the Utopia was born? The city of an Island which does not exist, in the same way as the Country which does not exist, where a Nation lives that does not exist, and where the capital is a City which does not exist. The Sun City as a physical body that could take place only in an ideally bodiless city.” After all, Klinau also borrows the concept of the Metaphysician, who in the italian autor’s book meant the high priest, the guardian of the virtues, but here it refers to the actual leader of the Country of Happiness, who can also be considered as a kind of high priest (sometimes also Klinau uses this term), who – using Czesław Miłosz’s concept – propagates the New Faith. In addition, a lot of things are written with capital letter, so this way they become notions, like for example Block of Flats, Palace Walls, the Big Tractor Driver or the Big Komsomolist, but here the gotesque and irony are clearly present. Like in a photo album, in a guidebook written with belletristic fastidiousness, Klinau shows what the readers can see if they arrive

EaP Literature Abroad

to the Sunny City by train, car or plane. We „see” pictures like in a fairy tale, so we will be curious to know, how does the city of Minsk, about which everybody thinks that it’s dark, gray, dirty and soviet, look like. But from the description of Klinau – at least at the beginning – we meet an entirely different Minsk, the colors, the smells are coming alive, we can almost feel and smell them. Here nothing is gray, rather yellow, sometimes the Yellow City becomes the synonym of the Sunny City. At this point we may easily say that the writer is sensationalist, but let me remind you that Klinau is an artist and he took lots of photos to make a trustworthy album for his foreign freinds, so the essays were written to the photos afterwards. Here we meet a special city, with many passageways between the blocks, small courts, palaces, parks and prospects. And of course we can see the microsociety of the city, although Klinau pays only a small attention to the people. This colorful Sunny City turnes into gray after a while also for the writer, and remains only the gray plaster of the small palaces (big and beautiful at he beginnig). And this way we arrived to the next, personal and autobiographic perspective of the book. We see the different places of the city in connection with the different happenings in the life of the author. Easy to observe that Minsk in the childhood is the very positive, colorful, exciting, mysterious Sunny City but later, when he is already able to make difference between true and false, he also sees what is behind the scenery, and realizes that the Yellow City is actually gray. So we can see the Sunny City from two points of view: firstly by the eyes of a child, who was – and this is important – educated by a real communist mother, secondly from the point of view of the man, who protests against the system and who can look at his hometown

from a distance. Nevertheless, we never find any judgment, nothing is bad or good. All the things only „exist”, and Klinau tries to make the Belarus identity understandable by them. It seems to be difficult and he doesn’t give us a clear answer (and I think there is really no clear answer). The reader has to find his or her own image of the country – hopefully without the well-known stereotypes. The book, besides that it is a kind of guide and autobiography, has a third, historical layer too. There we can find the most important moments of Minsk and Belarus from the beginning, from the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until nowadays, to the inauguration of Lukashenka. By the way, at the end of the book Klinau speaks out to the current president. He dedicates more attention to the 20th century, because the Country of Happiness was built in that time, and the Sunny City is the gate of this country. Regarding the structure, at the beginning the parts describing the city, the historical and autobiographical narratives are clearly separated. Later on, in the description of the second half of the 20th century, when the writer is already an adult and the Yellow City turnes gray, the three parts are mixing. At the very end we see the three narratives separated again. This way the book has three individual endings. At first, Klinau takes stock of himself, whether he was able to be happy in the Country of Happiness, after he expresses his fear and his hope in the president and the system, and at last he says goodbye to the reader who now leaves the Sunny City of dreams (which may never come true). Artur Klinau: Minsk. Sonnenstadt der Träume. – Essay. Aus dem Russischen von Volker Weichsel, Frankfurt am Main: edition SUHRKAMP, 2006. Artur Klinau: Minszk. Az álmok napvárosa. Kairosz, 2012. Ford.: Pálfalvi Lajos

Eastern Partnership Literary Review Vol. 1 (2014), No. 1

Armenian Literature in Slovak Nina Cingerová* Revue svetovej literatúry, the Slovak journal for literature in translation, has entered its fiftieth anniversary year of publishing with a special issue (1/2014) dedicated to Armenian literature, which has been reintroduced to Slovak readers after a long absence. A selection conducted by an expert in Russian studies, Valerij Kupka, presents an interesting cross-section of three generations of writers. The poet and screenplay writer Razmik Davoyan; the prose writer and translator Ruben Hovsephyan; and the poet, translator and publicist Davith Hovhannes, whose work of prose “The Eternal Armenian” outlines “a biography not only of the Armenian nation, but also of his own soul”, all represent the older generation who reached adulthood in the 1960s and 1970s. Another prose writer and screenplay writer can be added here: Vahagn Grigoryan is presented in this issue with a short story entitled “Over a White Sheet of Paper”; the author is currently most well-known for his novel “The River of Time”, which focuses on the Armenian genocide. The main personality of this generation, Hrant Matevosyan, was already introduced to the Slovak readership in the 1980s is absent in the journal. However, there is a short story by Hovik Vardumyan dedicated to him entitled “Red-green, Yellowblue World”, referring to the themes of the countryside, typical of his creative work and Nina Cingerová, Comenius nina.cingerova@gmail.com. *

University,

Bratislava,

the Lori area – a region where Matevosyan and the national Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan had their origins, as does the controversial contemporary writer and former politician Vano Siradgyan. The prose writer Susanna Harutyunyan, with her striking sense of paradox and her prose works “Unburied Little Bones of a Donkey” and “The Vardush Memorial” is from the middle generation of writers on the Armenian cultural scene – those who formed their profiles in post-Soviet Armenia. In addition to Levon Khechoyan (“A Letter from Yerevan”), a participant in the NagornoKarabakh War, the prose writer, playwright and screenplay writer Gurgen Khanjyan (“Guardian of a Ramshackle House”), presents a “disillusioned and disappointed man who rejected society” in his prose. The youngest generation of authors, growing into adulthood in the post-Soviet period, is represented by Hovhannes Aznavuryan, who stands for a phenomenon characteristic for several countries of the region – he writes his works in Russian. The poet Silva Kaputikyan, who started to publish her works in 1933, is an exceptional part of the selection and worth mentioning as she was a significant personality in Armenian literature. If there is anything consistent in the majority of extracts presented in the issue, then it is certainly and completely naturally the focus on tragedies that have struck Armenia over the last century – genocide, repressions, conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh and earthquakes. While not always expressed explicitly, the topics often jostle to the surface of the text, being only indicated. They are present behind the words, and the memories permeate the lives and actions of the protagonists. Armenian literature has reached us through the translations of Valerij Kupka, Juraj Andričík and Ilda Drugová (poetry),

EaP Literature Abroad

and Ivana Kupková, Katarína Ciprusová, J. Huťová and M. Marcinková (prose works), which were made through the Russian language. In this respect, it is also significant that the issue opens with an essay by the literary scientist Azat Yeghiazaryan published in 2005 in the Russian journal Druzhba narodov, which is one of very few Russian review articles on post-Soviet Armenian literature. In one form or another, despite the fact that it was published almost ten years ago, the point of view of

Azat Yeghiazaryan has become the basis for further and subsequent reflections on Armenian literature (compare, for example, the collection titled “Slovo bez granits. Literatura stran SNG i blizhnego zarubezhia”, 2007). In this manner, the Russian language still functions as a particular filter for literary perception, and is a prominent aspect when comparing the thematic (Armenian) issues of Transcript, the European online journal for world literature, and the Austrian Lichtungen literary review (132/2012).

The Eastern Partnership Literary Review is devoted to the problems of the literary process, literary life and book culture in the post-Soviet area, especially in Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine). It is a forum for academics, writers and university students, and the only journal in the field published within V4 countries. It has an international readership and subscribers. All articles submitted to EPLR are subject to blind refereeing. The journal maintains an online archive.

EPLR welcomes manuscripts in English. Since the journal is made possible by the Eastern Partnership Literary Award project, all authors are kindly requested to join the blog of the project: www.veapla.blogspot.sk

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically (sent as an e-mail attachment in MS Word or RTF format). Articles normally should not exceed ten pages in length (including footnotes). Book reviews and reports should not exceed three pages. If the article is accompanied by images, the authors are requested to arrange permission with image providers, and we ask for copies of these permissions for our files prior to publication.

All manuscripts should be addressed to: Katedra rusistiky a východoeurópskych štúdií Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Komenského Gondova 2 814 99 Bratislava SLOVAKIA E-mail: veapla@veapla.eu