«You need to have the courage not to know the answers»: a public interview with literary critic Yevheniy Stasinevych as part of the VOICES exhibition of the Museum of Civilian Voices by Rinat Akhmetov Foundation

The Museum of the History of the City of Kyiv hosted a public interview with Yevheniy Stasinevych, a literary critic, literary scholar, popular lecturer, TV and radio presenter, as part of the VOICES exhibition of the Museum of Civilian Voices by Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. The conversation was moderated by Anastasiia Platonova, a cultural critic and curator.

Speaking about how literature responds to the experiences of the current war, Yevheniy said that as of last year, a thousand books written by those who served or are serving in Ukraine were published during the war. The critic emphasised that Ukrainian literature is «mastering» the present at the same time as the events: 

«In Ukraine, reality and war have become one. That's why these books are mastering reality at the same time as they are mastering the war. I see that books after 2022 are not always about the front and the trench. The vast majority are now about the home front - about the experiences of occupation, emigration, and other things. But there is also the life of today's Kyiv, Bucha, Kharkiv. What was lacking before is now there, but it comes with a burden, framed by the war. The latest Ukrainian literature is learning to work with both hands at once: with the war and with the present».

According to the literary critic, many books about Ukraine's experience in the twentieth century convey images of loss and victimhood, and the narrative is conservative and predictable:

«I used to be interested in reading books aimed at memory. Especially sagas about the twentieth century. I really wanted such books to appear in Ukrainian literature. They started to appear, but I quickly realised that these books are often very ideological. Their worldview quickly becomes clear, they are very similar: it is such a shame for what happened. ‘We lost the entire twentieth century, it's a great pity, but life goes on anyway.’  I miss an adult conversation about us. Not „they came and tied us up“. Including an adult position about our responsibility».

In his answer about the importance of remembering, Yevheniy emphasises that it is also necessary to forget certain experiences. In his opinion, one must be able to close certain topics for oneself and have the courage to not know the answers to important questions: 

«I want to emphasise the value of forgetting. It's not a bad thing to be able to push aside something we've been thinking about. We are totally overheated now. This state will last for a long time. That's why some things and topics need to be „aired out“.  There are no solutions, no good solutions - let's step away from this table for now, let's walk around, and then come back and talk. It's important not to make an absolute deity out of memory, because we are already so much turned to the past. But we don't have to be doomed to that».

The public interviews are part of the  Museum of Civilian Voices series of cultural events aimed at preserving the memory of the war. Follow the announcements of the events on the social media of Rinat Akhmetov Foundation and on the Museum's website https://civilvoicesmuseum.org

The VOICES exhibition is open to visitors until June 12, 2024 at the Museum of the History of the City of Kyiv at the following address: 7 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho Street. Entrance is free.  A curatorial tour will take place on Saturday at 3pm and is also free of charge.