Attempts at Nothingness
Chernobyl in Text and Pictures
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The documentary representations of the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power station differ fundamentally from fictional and popular ones. The writers Yuri Shcherbak and Svetlana Aleksievich, the photographer Robert Polidori, and the filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter not only provide information about the events of 26 April 1986 and their unforeseeable consequences, they also capture the sense of helplessness that spread after the accident. To this end, they work with monologues, lead comparisons astray, and show the emptiness of existence.
(Osteuropa 7/2011, pp. 81–94)