Hero or Victim?
How S. Aleksievich Dismantled a Soviet Myth
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
In Soviet culture, the myth of the male hero was of fundamental importance. He makes up part of a mythical family triangle of father (ruler), mother (home-land), and son (hero) that was already formative in Russian history long before Soviet rule. Svetlana Aleksievich’s books, beginning with Boys in Zinc (1989), deconstruct this myth. Alone her unfurling of the polyphony contained in the panorama of war must have seemed a provocation against the background of the official, monolithic cult of heroes. In terms of content, her attention was directed precisely to war’s unheroic aspects, the “small story”, unspectacular human action. With the forced revival of the hero cult in Putin’s Russia, her critical view has gained new currency.
(Osteuropa, 3-4/2023, pp. 213–219)