Secondhand Time – 2 articles
Two excerpts from Svetlana Alexievich, Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets: An Oral History. Tr. Bela Shayevich, (NewYork: Random House, 2016).
- In the introduction to Secondhand Time (excerpted in the Times Literary Supplement), Svetlana Alexievich asserts that Homo Sovieticus (the Soviet person) found it difficult to make the transition to life in Russia after the USSR was disbanded. What factors made this transition so hard? Discuss three points she makes.
- How does nostalgia for the USSR manifest itself in Russia today? Discuss three examples of this raised by Alexievich in her introduction.
- The breakup of the Soviet Union meant that, suddenly, people from non-Russian republics found themselves stranded in Russia. Gafkhar Dzhurayeva, the Director of Moscow’s Tajikistan Fund, discusses this in his interview with Svetlana Alexievich. Discuss three things that you learned about the experience of Tajiks in post-Soviet Moscow from this interview.
- Racism in post-Soviet Russia is rampant and often directed at Central Asians. Describe and discuss three examples of this raised in the Alexievich piece.
- In the excerpt of Secondhand Time featured in the New Republic, 35 year old Alisa Z, contrasts her parents’ life under the Soviet Union with her own. Describe three examples of this.
- How does Alisa Z describe “happiness” in the new Russia? Discuss this in 2-4 sentences. Then assess whether you think she is happy, and why you arrived at this assessment.
