“A tenement house is not enough” – an interview with Svetlana Alexievich

– Everything we know about war we know with “a man’s voice.” We are all captives of “men’s” notions and “men’s” sense of war – Svetlana Alexievich wrote. The Belarusan writer decided to change it. Her book “The Unwomanly Face of War” is a shocking testimony to hundreds of women fighting in the ranks of the Red Army during World War II. Alexievich’s book, which was recently published in Poland, has already received wide coverage in Europe. But, most importantly, the author succeeded in what she wanted to achieve above all – “to write a book about war that would make war sickening, and the very thought of it repulsive. Insane. So that even the generals would be sickened”. In this interview, Svetlana Alexievich speaks about the dominance of the male perspective, about hiding behind the husbands’ backs and the lack of a superior idea in the contemporary world.