about what you will write, do you prepare somehow? And I answered: “No, it’s just like in speaking, I do not plan at all.” JP: I get this feeling when you speak about these language cliques that there was a kind of rift within the group: Russians against the “other” Europeans. Was it like this? AK: It was more like those Europeans who had never visited Russia or the Soviet Union, experienced a culture shock and were very open about it. Already in Kaliningrad for the first time. But St Petersburg was very European, well apart from that one thing in the Smolny Institute, where there was a little museum in Lenin’s old office. I asked the guide whether they could tell me where concentration camp number 2 was located because my grandmother was there for a time in 1919. And the guide was flabbergasted and said, “we did not have anything like this”. And yeah, there were always journalists around us, making stories, asking questions. This one television journalist came up to me immediately afterwards and asked me about what I had said. So, I told her the story of my grandmother and I made an appearance on television that night, but I missed it. Afterwards, this young Belarusian writer who spoke Russian and also Swedish came up to me and told me: Listen, you were on the television last night.” So, I asked what I had said, and she responded: “Well you were praising St Petersburg and saying how great a city it is”. [laughs] So I don’t really know what happened there or how they interpreted what I said. JP. After St Petersburg you went to Moscow. What happened there? AK: Yes, that is when we sent this petition to Putin where we demanded the end of the Chechen War. I just checked: 84 authors signed it. We were 107 so there were many that did not sign it. It was a political thing, the others... there was even one who signed it but afterwards crossed his name out. And then there was this extremely active political influencer who also spoke Russian (who, by the way, opposed everything inter-
net related as well) campaigning against this petition, saying how these Chechens were blowing up our buildings, that they had to be brought to heel and so on...like saying “do you not understand our situation here?” Many Russians are a bit like that; they like to play the victim and then blame others. The same thing...And now this Ukraine situation is difficult...it was already like that back then. This Ukrainian woman writer (whose name I can’t remember) started the petition and got the Russians mad at her. So, they don’t get along at all, even though they share so much. Ukraine has been so important...it was part of Old Russia, where the [Russian] culture began and grew. They had good writers there, even during the Soviet times, very good writers, especially in Odessa, but also in Kiev. JP: Did the Russians have anything to say about Finns? AK: Well, there was a guy from Azerbaijan, who had visited Finland and knew some three words in Finnish and four in English. He was a big fan of Finland for some reason. He always offered this very strong...whatever he had. He was in the Russian speaking group, a very joyous man. He wrote these crime novels, and he was very popular over there, selling millions of copies. He did not live with us in the decent hotels we were offered. He always had these – Europeiska in St Petersburg and… well, all the best hotels. He had a secretary who organised all his stays from Moscow. He was the only rich author [laughs]. But he was pretty generous, always sharing whatever he had. JP: I remember you mentioned there was some Russian author who said Western culture is worthless...can you tell me about him? AK: It is this same Muscovite who was so negative about everything, let’s not speak about him too much. I do recall this one Ukrainian writer, who had been to America on a Fulbright scholarship who said it was so great over there [in the US] as they only had one language, not like in Europe where there is a cacophony of languages – he enjoyed his stay over there.
eurovisie | may | page 19
