On Tuesday evening (March 2, 2004) at the North Liberty Community Library, Russian author, Victoria Fomina, discussed how Soviet culture influenced her life and her writing. Fomina is the University of Iowa International Programs Writer-in-Residence for 2004. She was born in Nalchik in the former Soviet Union, and currently lives in Moscow. As a part of the International Writers Program, she has been traveling around Iowa conducting readings and workshops at schools, libraries, and other public venues.
Ms. Fomina began her talk by describing the current president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. “He is the first intelligent president we have had,” she said. Putin, who did not serve in any political office before his presidency, is popular with young people, the educated, and Muscovites.
Fomina pointed out that she comes from a generation of writers who witnessed the breakdown of the once powerful Soviet Union into smaller independent states, and that this event and the political conditions of her country greatly influence her writing as well as the writing of most Russian literary authors.
The visiting writer stated that under Stalin’s totalitarian government, the Soviet people developed a great fear for one another. “If someone heard you speaking out against the government and reported you, you could be executed,” she said. She also stated that most books and newspapers were banned because of their potential for stimulating new ideas or stirring up dissent with the existing bureaucracy. The Bible was banned because it was considered to contain idealistic thought. Professors at universities were considered a threat also and were paid little more than yard workers.
Fomina said that when the Perestroika (Gorbachev’s restructuring program) and Glasnost (policy of openness) began in 1986-1988, people went crazy with the new freedom to read and buy books and newspapers. Students would subscribe to multiple newspapers. The demand for them was so high that they had lotteries to determine who could subscribe.
The elimination of censorship affected the writers of the Soviet Union in another way. With the ban lifted, many more people began to write and publish. It was harder for a writer to become famous. “Your words had to be more powerful,” Fomina said. Additionally, in the new market economy, publishers would pressure big name authors to put out many books in order to capitalize on their fame. The quality of books went down. She distinguished between books that were coming out for the mere intent to make profit, and those that were not intended for profit, those of a literary nature.
Fomina currently works as an editor in a publishing house in Moscow. When asked who the current big names in Russian literature were, she named Victor Erofeyev, Vladimir Sorokin, andVictor Pelevin. And she told a short story by one of these authors, about a flight school named after a famous pilot, who had lost his feet because of frostbite after having to jump out of his plane in a forest. Young boys in the flight school met with the horrific discovery that a part of their graduation was to have their feet amputated, just like the famous pilot for whom the school was named after. Fomina explained that this story was a statement about government bureaucracy and the degree it would go to create the impression of fame. The story served as an example of the political/cultural nature of much of Russian literature.
The Russian author described her own writing as “transcendental realism.” There is a strong “inner voice,” she said. “It has features of eastern philosophy.” Fomina also writes plays and has had one, “Secret of Another Dimension,” performed in America. She has had one of her short stories published in a highly acclaimed anthology of contemporary Russian prose, and one of her books, “Letter to the Colonel” translated into English. She donated a copy of the latter to the North Liberty Community Library.
Ms. Fomina will be speaking at the Senior Center in Iowa City and at West Liberty High School later this month. Her lecture schedule for the rest of March is listed on the web at http://www.uiowa.edu/~intl/writerschedule/index.html.
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