Amid explosions and violence, words still have power, are convinced Ukrainian and foreign writers who gathered at the Lviv Book Fair held in defiance of Russia’s continued deadly attacks.
One of the themes that has marked the contest is the search for formulas to reach countries that do not belong to Europe where many do not seem to understand the dimension and consequences of Russian aggression.
The imposing Powder Tower used to be an important part of the medieval city’s fortification, where citizens flocked for safety for centuries.
The tower cannot offer the same protection against Russian missiles while the 30th edition of the fair is held around it, much smaller than in the years before the invasion.
Yet thousands of people have attended dozens of public debates and book launches, seeking hope that words can transcend borders.
“What Russia is doing in Ukraine is an attempt to establish an empire and it is very important that people from countries like India, Brazil or Mexico understand it,” stressed Volodymyr Yermolenko, writer and philosopher.
Many in these countries do not recognize this immense tragedy and see the war in Ukraine simply as the conflict between the West and Russia, notes Indian novelist Pankaj Mishra, who joins the discussion, speaking online.
“They focus on who Ukraine’s allies are, some of whom are former European colonial powers that have not fully accepted responsibility for their past actions,” he explains.
This view ignores that the West “did not want” Ukraine before the Russian invasion, Yermolenko emphasizes. Furthermore, this vision itself follows an imperialist logic, as it denies autonomy to Ukraine, a smaller nation.
On the contrary, Ukraine’s experience of resistance should resonate more, as it shows that smaller countries can successfully confront larger powers, he argues.
“One of the saddest things in the history of imperial oppression is the time lost: all those untranslated Ukrainian authors who were denied the opportunity to represent Ukraine to the world in their own time,” he notes, for his part. , Halyna Kruk, a Ukrainian poet.
The war has generated increased interest in Ukrainian culture, but the void left by Russian colonial policies is difficult to fill quickly, he says.
Another tragedy, Kruk stresses, is that the world learns about some writers, such as Victoria Amelina, who was killed by a Russian missile in Kramators in June, only after her death.
No matter what, like many other Ukrainian writers, she seeks to convey the experience of Ukrainians through her words, as long as she has “the strength to do so.”
While the Ukrainian audience remains silent as you read your poem aloud, the challenge is to find the right and powerful ways to reach readers abroad.
“Modern culture uses images of violence for entertainment, which means that photos of bloody bodies from Ukraine often fail to provoke strong reactions,” he explains.
Instead, Kruk uses the depiction of a bus full of Ukrainian women and young children fleeing war, who remain unnaturally silent for hours as the distance between them and their attacked homes grows.
The debate also addressed the fact that Russia instrumentalizes famous figures in its literature. A careful look reveals that some of the famous authors aligned themselves with the imperialist policies of their state. Others are used to spread abroad a “humanist” image of Russia that contrasts with the actions of the invaders.
“They didn’t learn anything from Leo Tolstoy,” says Ben Okri, a Nigerian-born British author, as he reads a poem addressed to Katia, a seven-year-old Ukrainian girl, who is hiding from Russian bombs and watching the destruction of her city.
