The great disappointment
Experiences of crisis and disillusionment in Svetlana Alexievich’s texts
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
One important theme in the final three volumes of Svetlana Alexievich’s cycle Voices from Big Utopia is disillusionment. The experience of crisis from the Afghanistan war, the atomic catastrophe of Chernobyl and the collapse of the Soviet Union triggered a great deal of insecurity. An increasing number of people felt that the promises that had been made by Soviet ideology were hollow and false. However, many of those questioned were also disillusioned by the post-Soviet era. This leads to a paradoxical result. The crisis of purpose is followed by a reversion to old thought patterns and nostalgia for the socialist past.
(Osteuropa 1-2/2018, pp. 27–42)