´We carried flags in May and November parades in honour of the Red Army, the Revolution and Communism, while at home we crossed ourselves and waited for the English army to come and free Latvia from the Russian boot´.
Be aware, very aware of the duplicity and hypocrisy a dictatorship - atheist, far or left-right religious no matter what - induces into the daily lives. Once you learn from a very early age that you should wear two masks and you have to guard your tongue from talking the truth it is very hard to lose knowledge of those habits that are becoming automatic. A very good academic friend of mine that grew up in a very communist country told me that even today, after having lived for decades in the ´free world´ being surrounded by people that only knew democratic governments, she still cannot fully trust other fellow human.
Soviet Milk by the Latvian author Nora Ikstena is one of the many stories from the everyday life Soviet Union. A monologue which alternates between the daugher and the mother - not named, which I am not sure I really appreciate because a name bestows and individuality to a person - it covers the eventful period between 1969 and 1989. The communist rulers change in Moscow, some of the deportees from Siberia return, the KGB satellites in the republics are becoming more and more intrusive and aggressive, including among their targets the very young teenagers. The mother is a deeply depressed gynecologist whose non-conformity with the many political directions will cost her job. She is far from being a dissident, just a non-significant victim of the big historical turmoil. Her daughter is having her early meeting with the regime, including being forced to denounce some of her teachers, but is breathing a different air: she is just trying to life further, to find her place, while the mother is stuck in a present without a future.
A pathetic parable of this situation is the fate of Bambi the hamster who gobbled his own children and waiting to be let out of his cage and died for not enjoying this pleasure any more. The daughter asks: ´How can one eat one´s children and then die from yearning for freedom?´ The communism distorted the human nature - which is not a perfect medium for morality and goodness anyway. What was left, the hypocrisy and many untold stories of everyday failures.
I´ve read the book - which in 2015 won the Annual Latvian Literature Award - in the English translation of Margita Gailitis.
Rating: 3 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment