I'm lucky that my local bookstore does carry some Ukrainian focused titles. That's how I discovered Professor Serhii Plokhy. Gates of Europe was on the shelf not long after the full scale invasion. I had no idea who he was but I loved the title and decided right then and there it would be my introductory book to Ukrainian history from a Ukrainian lens. I'm so glad I found him! I want to own everything he's written.
My bookstore also carries some of Timothy Snyder's work, including Bloodlands last time I looked. But there's nothing about Belarus that I ever remember seeing. There's not much Russian history or Russian classics either because this is the rural Deep South and people don't even know how to say Karamazov. But at the Barnes and Noble stores I visit in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, there's tons and tons of Russian history. The only Ukrainian stuff is about the war and it's not even the good books about the war. It's the ones by the Kremlin shills that I refuse to touch. Last fall I actually rearranged the shelf a little to hide one of them.
For every Russian classic I read, it'll be paired with a Ukrainian or Belarusian classic. Whichever I can get my hands on at the time. Because it matters that those books and authors are seen too and I want to be able to recommend them when I'm around people discussing Tolstoy.
I love your approach, and I wished more people followed it: read a Ukrainian classic (or classics from other Eastern European countries) for every Russian classic they read — or, better, substitute Russian classics completely.
I also noticed the same in big and small bookstores in my area, that they have either awful and biased books about Ukraine or don’t have any at all, let alone Belarus. Serhii Plokhy is a good writer. I’m glad you found his book back then! I wish we would see the times when we won’t need to rearrange the bookshelves, but who knows, it looks like these biases are planted too deeply.
Before, I quietly accepted that I wouldn’t see any books about Belarus in the bookstores abroad. However, recent years changed my perspective and attitude entirely and gave me a huge motivation to work towards seeing my book about Belarus on all those shelves that are occupied by Russian books now.
I very much look forward to your book about Belarus. Looking at my fave online bookstore there's very little about Belarus. It shouldn't be that way. I have several books about the region on my wishlist, including one that's nearly 1,000 pages, but it won't be enough to satisfy my curiosity about Belarus. It shouldn't be that way.
Your "From My Heart" are always interesting. I know I am anachronism, both in terms in place and time. As I write, I can't but compare ruzzians as a nation of Heathcliff's from Wuthering Heights fame, and not the Byronic Hero portrayed in the movies but the sadistic psychopath that Emile Bronte meant to portray. And the illusion of greatness that ruzzia believe they are is just as narcistic as Catherine's threats to haunt Heathcliff from the grave until he joins in her suffering. Don't watch any movie about Wuthering Heights, but read the book to get the full flavor. The point is ruzzia for many has been portrayed, even at his worst via the popular media for such a long time as being nothing like it really has been that few people have really bother to look beyond what they have read or seen in movies. I'm personally ashamed, and worst yet I have been habituated to accept a level of leadership in our political leaders than what is needed. The recent picture of the UN President shaking hands with Lavrov is emblematic.
I completely agree with Llennihan that I hope yourself and Ukrainians and Belarusians continue to educate the world.
Thank you for your feedback, David! You made an interesting comparison. I haven’t read Wuthering Heights, but I looked it up and read about Heathcliff to understand what you mean.
I completely agree that for some twisted reason, russia has been romanticized and therefore adored by many in the West (russian culture, mysterious russian soul, russian empire, tsars and their families, etc). At the same time, all the crimes and evilness were omitted and overlooked in order not to spoil the “greatness and mystery.”
I don’t know how much time should pass so people can finally see russia for what it is and drop those pink glasses. I don’t know when academia will stop viewing and teaching about Eastern Europe through russian colonial lenses. It upsets me so much, and I often feel completely discouraged.
My newsletter is just a small drop in the ocean, but I hope that this drop will eventually join others, and together, we will become a wave of change.
Hold on. Does "bela" mean "white" (or something like that)?
Reading books by Ukrainians is my primary motive for learning the language. But I've been realising that trying to find English language books by Ukrainians can be a challenge - especially if one has no idea where to begin. So I'm looking at building a list of books by Ukrainians on my blog. Haven't used the blog in years, but it'll maybe become a small contribution.
Darya, It is so vitally important that Ukrainians and Belarusians continue to educate the world about this issue of Russian colonialism. There are few other people on twitter who are discussing Ukrainian art and artists. Such beautiful pieces by artists that I know nothing about. Thank you so much for this education you are giving us. Please don’t give up!
Thank you! Yes, I follow a few Ukrainians on Twitter who share the works of Ukrainian artists as well, and to my shame, I’ve never heard of the majority of them. However, I really enjoy learning about them, as their works are very beautiful. What makes me sad is that I don’t see Belarusians doing that, and if you asked me even a few years ago about Belarusian artists, I would be able to name only Russian ones - because this is what I studied at school. When I realized to what extent Russian colonialism influenced me and my life, it scared me. Right now, I’m on a journey of re-discovering my own heritage and culture. It’s a rewarding but very bittersweet experience.
Sad but true. Russian colonialism has tried to erase other countries' culture -- history, language, identity -- and replace it with a Russian version. Iranian author Azar Nafisi wrote some about this in her book, "Reading Lolita in Tehran", in which author Nabokov portrays the villainous, murderous Humbert as a child kidnapper rapist who plays the victim to the jury, blaming the innocent girl, who never gets to tell her own story; the villain tells her story from his point of view. Nafisi's book was sobering, chilling, especially considering what Russia has been continuing to do to Ukraine, Belarus, and other countries it occupies.
I agree, to some extent, that Russia is indeed Humbert. The parallels are striking. The way the world’s audience treats this character and is fascinated by its “complexity and mystery” — the same way Russia’s behavior is justified, romanticized, and discussed. At the same time, the victims, their stories, and experiences are ignored, and the victims are blamed for “provoking” the abuser.
I once wrote: “The “mystery” of the Russian soul that was amplified so much in the West turned out to be just a complete lack of morals and sick depravity. You can talk about “mysterious” souls of maniacs with the same success.”
It's with shame that I must admit that we call Belarus, "Hviderusland" (White Russia) as well in Denmark. I don't know if it's changing now. Part of the problem is probably that "that's just what we've always called it".
The same goes for "Kiev", that personally also took me a little while to accept was "Kyiv", since we automatically just seem to spell and call it the russian or soviet way and accept it as our Danish interpretation, just like our capitol Copenhagen is the English spelling and not our local spelling of "København".
We're just not aware of our wrongdoing and ignorance.
I hope it will change. I also hope that my writing will motivate you to call Belarus by its real name and not the name that suggests that it belongs to Russia. Historically, Belarus was named White Rus because of the ancient Scandinavian people who lived in the region. Those who lived on the modern Belarusian territory were called White Rus. But then Moscovia appropriated the name Rus, colonized the territories, and since then, people have associated the word Rus with Russia. In reality, Rus has nothing to do with Russia whatsoever, same as the name White Rus and Belarus.
I'm lucky that my local bookstore does carry some Ukrainian focused titles. That's how I discovered Professor Serhii Plokhy. Gates of Europe was on the shelf not long after the full scale invasion. I had no idea who he was but I loved the title and decided right then and there it would be my introductory book to Ukrainian history from a Ukrainian lens. I'm so glad I found him! I want to own everything he's written.
My bookstore also carries some of Timothy Snyder's work, including Bloodlands last time I looked. But there's nothing about Belarus that I ever remember seeing. There's not much Russian history or Russian classics either because this is the rural Deep South and people don't even know how to say Karamazov. But at the Barnes and Noble stores I visit in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, there's tons and tons of Russian history. The only Ukrainian stuff is about the war and it's not even the good books about the war. It's the ones by the Kremlin shills that I refuse to touch. Last fall I actually rearranged the shelf a little to hide one of them.
For every Russian classic I read, it'll be paired with a Ukrainian or Belarusian classic. Whichever I can get my hands on at the time. Because it matters that those books and authors are seen too and I want to be able to recommend them when I'm around people discussing Tolstoy.
I love your approach, and I wished more people followed it: read a Ukrainian classic (or classics from other Eastern European countries) for every Russian classic they read — or, better, substitute Russian classics completely.
I also noticed the same in big and small bookstores in my area, that they have either awful and biased books about Ukraine or don’t have any at all, let alone Belarus. Serhii Plokhy is a good writer. I’m glad you found his book back then! I wish we would see the times when we won’t need to rearrange the bookshelves, but who knows, it looks like these biases are planted too deeply.
Before, I quietly accepted that I wouldn’t see any books about Belarus in the bookstores abroad. However, recent years changed my perspective and attitude entirely and gave me a huge motivation to work towards seeing my book about Belarus on all those shelves that are occupied by Russian books now.
I very much look forward to your book about Belarus. Looking at my fave online bookstore there's very little about Belarus. It shouldn't be that way. I have several books about the region on my wishlist, including one that's nearly 1,000 pages, but it won't be enough to satisfy my curiosity about Belarus. It shouldn't be that way.
Your "From My Heart" are always interesting. I know I am anachronism, both in terms in place and time. As I write, I can't but compare ruzzians as a nation of Heathcliff's from Wuthering Heights fame, and not the Byronic Hero portrayed in the movies but the sadistic psychopath that Emile Bronte meant to portray. And the illusion of greatness that ruzzia believe they are is just as narcistic as Catherine's threats to haunt Heathcliff from the grave until he joins in her suffering. Don't watch any movie about Wuthering Heights, but read the book to get the full flavor. The point is ruzzia for many has been portrayed, even at his worst via the popular media for such a long time as being nothing like it really has been that few people have really bother to look beyond what they have read or seen in movies. I'm personally ashamed, and worst yet I have been habituated to accept a level of leadership in our political leaders than what is needed. The recent picture of the UN President shaking hands with Lavrov is emblematic.
I completely agree with Llennihan that I hope yourself and Ukrainians and Belarusians continue to educate the world.
Thank you for your feedback, David! You made an interesting comparison. I haven’t read Wuthering Heights, but I looked it up and read about Heathcliff to understand what you mean.
I completely agree that for some twisted reason, russia has been romanticized and therefore adored by many in the West (russian culture, mysterious russian soul, russian empire, tsars and their families, etc). At the same time, all the crimes and evilness were omitted and overlooked in order not to spoil the “greatness and mystery.”
I don’t know how much time should pass so people can finally see russia for what it is and drop those pink glasses. I don’t know when academia will stop viewing and teaching about Eastern Europe through russian colonial lenses. It upsets me so much, and I often feel completely discouraged.
My newsletter is just a small drop in the ocean, but I hope that this drop will eventually join others, and together, we will become a wave of change.
Hold on. Does "bela" mean "white" (or something like that)?
Reading books by Ukrainians is my primary motive for learning the language. But I've been realising that trying to find English language books by Ukrainians can be a challenge - especially if one has no idea where to begin. So I'm looking at building a list of books by Ukrainians on my blog. Haven't used the blog in years, but it'll maybe become a small contribution.
Yes, “bely” means “white” in Belarusian language.
That’s a nice initiative to build a list of Ukrainian books that are published in English! Please let me know if you do.
Nice one! Pretty pleased with myself for figuring that out. Ukrainian to the rescue 🤣
I meant to write that there ARE other Ukrainians on twitter educating us about Ukrainian artists, at least! Such beautiful work!
Darya, It is so vitally important that Ukrainians and Belarusians continue to educate the world about this issue of Russian colonialism. There are few other people on twitter who are discussing Ukrainian art and artists. Such beautiful pieces by artists that I know nothing about. Thank you so much for this education you are giving us. Please don’t give up!
Thank you! Yes, I follow a few Ukrainians on Twitter who share the works of Ukrainian artists as well, and to my shame, I’ve never heard of the majority of them. However, I really enjoy learning about them, as their works are very beautiful. What makes me sad is that I don’t see Belarusians doing that, and if you asked me even a few years ago about Belarusian artists, I would be able to name only Russian ones - because this is what I studied at school. When I realized to what extent Russian colonialism influenced me and my life, it scared me. Right now, I’m on a journey of re-discovering my own heritage and culture. It’s a rewarding but very bittersweet experience.
Sad but true. Russian colonialism has tried to erase other countries' culture -- history, language, identity -- and replace it with a Russian version. Iranian author Azar Nafisi wrote some about this in her book, "Reading Lolita in Tehran", in which author Nabokov portrays the villainous, murderous Humbert as a child kidnapper rapist who plays the victim to the jury, blaming the innocent girl, who never gets to tell her own story; the villain tells her story from his point of view. Nafisi's book was sobering, chilling, especially considering what Russia has been continuing to do to Ukraine, Belarus, and other countries it occupies.
I agree, to some extent, that Russia is indeed Humbert. The parallels are striking. The way the world’s audience treats this character and is fascinated by its “complexity and mystery” — the same way Russia’s behavior is justified, romanticized, and discussed. At the same time, the victims, their stories, and experiences are ignored, and the victims are blamed for “provoking” the abuser.
I once wrote: “The “mystery” of the Russian soul that was amplified so much in the West turned out to be just a complete lack of morals and sick depravity. You can talk about “mysterious” souls of maniacs with the same success.”
It's with shame that I must admit that we call Belarus, "Hviderusland" (White Russia) as well in Denmark. I don't know if it's changing now. Part of the problem is probably that "that's just what we've always called it".
The same goes for "Kiev", that personally also took me a little while to accept was "Kyiv", since we automatically just seem to spell and call it the russian or soviet way and accept it as our Danish interpretation, just like our capitol Copenhagen is the English spelling and not our local spelling of "København".
We're just not aware of our wrongdoing and ignorance.
I hope it will change. I also hope that my writing will motivate you to call Belarus by its real name and not the name that suggests that it belongs to Russia. Historically, Belarus was named White Rus because of the ancient Scandinavian people who lived in the region. Those who lived on the modern Belarusian territory were called White Rus. But then Moscovia appropriated the name Rus, colonized the territories, and since then, people have associated the word Rus with Russia. In reality, Rus has nothing to do with Russia whatsoever, same as the name White Rus and Belarus.