Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets

"Svetlana won the Nobel Prize in Literature last year and there has been debate about whether her writing is literature, or pure reportage. We’re straddling that by putting her up for a nonfiction prize. It’s one of those books that, as judges, we were initially unsure how to respond to. The quality of the writing, the stories she tells, are very absorbing. “It’s about how dark the lives are of some of those people, who were brought up in a completely different environment.” She has done this before. In her book about Chernobyl, she collected the voices and stories of survivors of the Chernobyl disaster. In this book, she is talking to people across Russian society, all of whom have the feature of having been born, or lived most of their lives, in Soviet times. Those people are dealing with how fast the USSR collapsed, and Russian society. The power comes from the stories themselves, the people she found and talked to. Some are in the Caucasus and different parts of the country, people trapped in different Republics, who then face terrible discrimination and have undergone horrible experiences. There are others who, at the time property rights were being established, had their houses or apartments stolen from them by mafia groups. “Those people are dealing with how fast the USSR collapsed, and Russian society” In some ways, this book is backward looking because it’s reminding people how fast Russia has changed and how many people that change has left behind. It’s about how dark the lives are of some of those people, who were brought up in a completely different environment. The book doesn’t have a traditional narrative structure. It’s not one you read in a straightforward way. It’s one you dip into, or pick up and become absorbed by for an hour or so and then step away from. But as a piece of reportage, it’s an extraordinary achievement. And that’s something that’s being grappled with across eastern Europe. These were regimes that delivered very little in economic terms and failed in lots of other ways, but, on some basic measures of equality: equal treatment of women, of minorities, or even access to universal health care, were ahead of Western society. I’ve been thinking about that. The way I read it is that these people are living a used existence, making good with second hand things from the old regime, rather than actually leading a new life. One thing that comes up a few times is the idea that books are now the only things that people can afford because nobody values them anymore. They used to be a core part of entertainment and life, there was an obsession with literature in the old Russia. Now, books are literally two a penny, and the people who have no money can still buy books. It’s one of those books where, if you’re highlighting, you end up highlighting loads and loads of quotes. There are so many redolent phrases. I reread the book the other day. One fair criticism is that she doesn’t talk to anyone who has done well, or have any positive voices. It does get you down after a while. That’s another reason you probably wouldn’t want to sit down and read the whole thing in one sitting. I think that’s right. Westerners are shocked when Putin says the fall of the Soviet Union was the biggest disaster that ever befell Russia. We think of it as this great triumph for freedom. But one of the reasons Putin is so successful is that he is able to tap into that sense of humiliation, of national disaster. He has territorial ambitions, talks about restoring Russian greatness. Having read this book, you’d understand his support a lot better. “Putin says the fall of the Soviet Union was the biggest disaster that ever befell Russia” The people in the book are, in a sense, the silent majority. They have not been able to fully embrace the good things that have come out of the new Russia. They feel their lives have been stolen from them and if Putin promises to restore some element of that, even as he tanks the economy, that is appealing. And it is a genuinely poignant book. You have older people talking about the moments of great excitement in their youth, like when Yuri Gagarin goes into space. “People went out into the streets laughing, embracing and crying. Strangers… It was an unforgettable moment! It took your breath away the awe. To this day I get excited when I hear this song…” It’s history from the inside, which is why it is both literature and non-fiction."