Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich

The first book in our series exploring revolution is "Second-hand Time." Join us at SAT, MAR 4 · 4:00 PM CST, at Bourgeois Pig Cafe.

Written in 2016, "Second-hand Time" is the latest work from Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature. Here she brings together the voices of dozens of witnesses to the collapse of the USSR in a formidable attempt to chart the disappearance of a culture and to surmise what new kind of man may emerge from the rubble. Combining extended individual monologues with a collage of voices, Alexievich creates a requiem to a civilization in ruins, a brilliant, poignant and unique portrait of post-Soviet society out of the stories of ordinary women and men.

Russian-American political writer Masha Gessen describes the book as hearing Russiana "...talk about the loss of the Soviet idea, the post-Soviet ethnic wars, the legacy of the Gulag, and other aspects of the Soviet experience.... Through her books and her life itself, Alexievich has gained probably the world's deepest, most eloquent understanding of the post-Soviet condition."

Looking forward to a fruitful conversation!