![]() ![]() To create her “novels in voices,” Alexievich interviews ordinary Russians who survived some of the worst episodes of the twentieth century. Her newly translated book Secondhand Time: The Last of the Sovietsbears no resemblance to “investigative journalism.” In interviews, however, Alexievich has stressed the literary nature of her intentions and methods, and she rejects the title of “reporter.” Her work opts for subjective recollection over hard evidence she does not attempt to confirm any of her witnesses’ accounts, and she chooses her stories for their narrative power, not as representative samples. The Western press described her as an “investigative journalist” and “contemporary historian,” accepting her work as accurate documentation of Soviet and post-Soviet reality. There was some confusion, however, about the lineaments of Alexievich’s chosen genre. Since the Nobel Prize goes almost exclusively to novelists and poets, writers working in the sprawling, ill-defined world of “nonfiction” welcomed Alexievich’s win as an acknowledgment that even true stories can make great literature. ![]() She was a woman writing about the effect of world events on ordinary people she was an outspoken advocate for peace and respect for the environment. American journalists found their own reasons to celebrate her win. ![]()
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