“Live until the end of this warlike madness” | EUROtoday

FRagments of a complete : that is how the “quarter” of Selected works by Ludmila Oulitskaïa printed by Gallimard. Because it’s certainly an entire that kinds the bewitching work of the ex-biologist and geneticist, who grew to become a author after having been dismissed from the Academy of Sciences Moscow for having copied and disseminated prohibited books, the well-known Samizdats. French readers particularly know Ludmila Oulitskaïa for his novels – as Medea and her kids, An incredible success. However, the octogenarian put in in Berlin because the invasion of Ukraine by the military of Vladimir Putin has lengthy favored new and brief tales, which is discovered on this quantity: “For me, every novel is an ordeal. The form of information corresponds extra to my temperament: I really like to begin a job on Monday a lot and end it on Saturday! »» she confides to us, laughing. In this universe of outstanding coherence, tremendously alive, we talk about agency in constructing classes or in trains launched at excessive pace, and we uncover a world of ladies skilled by the violence of males and the cruelty of historical past, however sturdy of their mind and their vitality …

Unforgettable Sonietchka (1996), who chooses happiness whereas the whole lot conspires to precipitate it in despair, wonderful Genia, this recurring and double character of the author who seems in a number of collections, notably the virtuoso The topics of our tsar (2010). In addition to the pleasure of discovering these nice texts, these “fragments of a whole” make it potential to discover the lifetime of Ludmila Oulitskaïa, which evokes its trajectory in fascinating biographical and illustrated biographical landmarks (“landscapes of a life”) the place one meets a watchmaker in a watchmaker in kyiv whose store was ransacked throughout a pogrom, a grandfather, who seems Adolescent in uniform then prematurely aged by the gulag. “I still have many other family photos that come from my father […]. Most of these photos were taken in kyiv. Most of these people and their children stayed there for centuries-in the Babi Yar pit. »»

Return to Moscow

In addition to this “quarter”, decidedly rich, Ludmila Oulitskaïa publishes The Book of Angels monitoring Six times seven, A collection of news as funny as desperate. As in The wings of desire, The characters are under the protection of invisible angels who sometimes struggle to help men payable. “Angels are quite a lot of the hyperlink between the world of actuality and that of the past, explains the writer, An invisible world, however which is critical for man, particularly in occasions of unhappiness and hazard. My reflections on angels should not based mostly on any actual expertise, I didn’t have the chance to frequent them. Even if, between us, I’m not fully certain: there have been moments in my life once I requested for assist in heaven, and I acquired it. »»

Blessed by the angels, considered one of his characters chooses to dedicate his life to the happiness of his cows, to which he broadcasts music and presents copies of Raphaël or Michelangelo. Two different characters are outdated women who cherished the identical man and provides him a heat go to to the cemetery. In the afterword of the gathering, the octogenarian with brief hair and the temperament of fireside evokes the town the place she lived most of her life and admits the hope that inhabits her: “Living till the top of this warlike insanity and returning to Moscow, rue de l’Airport, within the acquainted and costly world the place I really feel in my place. »» But in interview, in a much less optimistic temper, she confides: “My household had lived in Russia for 5 generations. Before that, 5 generations had lived in Poland and Germany, and, nonetheless earlier than that, in Spain and Palestine. I feel it’s unlikely that I’ll return to Russia. I’ve already used this concept. »»

To uncover



The kangaroo of the day

Answer

“Fragments of a whole. Chosen works ”, by Ludmila Oulitskaïa, translated from Russian by Bernard Kreise and Sophie Benech (“Quarto”, Gallimard, 1,024 p., € 28).

“The Book of Angels monitoring Six occasions seven ”, by Ludmila Oulitskaïa, translated from Russian by Sophie Benech (Gallimard, 128 p., € 18).