Books for April: Psychologies selection

Relations

“A Friend of My Youth” by Alice Munro

Nobel laureate Alice Munro is called the modern Chekhov for a reason. Her stories, like the texts of the Russian classic, gravitate towards ambiguous situations and characters. And the main value invariably turns out to be freedom and the right of a person to make an independent choice, including in love. The collection “Friend of my youth” was no exception.

Whatever these stories are about – the relationship between children and parents, a man and his vocation, man and woman, illusions and reality – the author reveals internal contradictions with a sharp thin knife of details and halftones. Another short story, like a swallowed grain, sprouts inside you and sometimes makes you return to the text, where there is neither an extra word, nor a boring image.

The thrashings of a widowed priest, a schoolgirl’s escape from her family, a family drama of an opera singer on a ship… Despite the variety of problems and situations, in “A Friend of My Youth” there is a common idea, each time illuminated from a new angle. Munro reflects on betrayal and, more broadly, on a change in relationship. And not only partner ones, although they are described in most of the stories.

In Menstang, Munro makes us witness to the disappointment of a sophisticated poetess in love, as soon as a man begins to reciprocate her feelings. She is tired of being alone, but she understands that being with him is not what she needs. And in the story “Otherwise” Georgia yearns for the marriage she lost of her own free will. Other heroes cheat in order to escape from relationships in which they do not find understanding. Moreover, they themselves are not always fully aware of this.

In fact, how to understand – we have temporarily cooled down or it’s time to start a relationship, even if they look good and comfortable? Usually we know the right answer, but we cannot always formulate it for ourselves and make the right decision. The book “A Friend of My Youth” brings us closer, among other things, to this not the easiest achievement in the modern world – to confidence in one’s own emotions and desires.

Alice Munro is a Canadian writer, master of short fiction, author of over 15 collections of short stories, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (2013) and the International Booker Prize (2009).

ABC-Atticus. Per. from English by Tatyana Borovikova, 384 p.

Crisis

“Anger” by Bulat Khanov

Agree, it is not easy to admit to yourself that your vocation has turned into a formal position, the interests of loved ones turned out to be alien, and the now hated love from the past does not let go. 32-year-old philology teacher Gleb Veretinsky succeeds. But it is much more difficult to cope with the growing internal aggression due to the crisis, find an acceptable way out for it and not become a cynic.

The hero is disappointed in the profession, despises his wife and ex-girlfriend, reproaches his own fate. And the world around him – with all its corruption, digital reality and pretentious artists – only increases his anger. Is it possible to get rid of this destructive feeling? Bulat Khanov does not offer ready-made recipes. But his debut novel strangely becomes an antidote to bitterness.

Eksmo, 288 p.

Vera

“Heavenly postman Fedya Bulkin” Alexandra Nikolaenko

Fedya Bulkin is just about to go to school, and already unwillingly faced with unchildish realities. Here is a beloved grandmother, here is a native cat, and a king hare, and delicious berries in the country. It might still be good! But why not always and not with everyone? What prevents God from letting mom and dad out of the City of Heaven at least for a while? At least give them a message!

Everything that happens, Fedya shares in a notebook, and in his notes questions about death and the meaning of life are asked and resolved with touching wit and immediate frankness. Fedya grows up before our eyes, gets sick, recovers and experiences misfortune, argues, doubts and still gains faith – in the significance of life, the power of love and the ability to change the world for the better. Reading a novel by Russian Booker winner Alexandra Nikolaenko, it’s hard not to find her with him.

Edited by Elena Shubina, AST, 352 p.

Dignity

Compassion as self respect

It’s amazing how close books are sometimes, it would seem, from completely different worlds. A Pulitzer novel about a half-breed spy and an essay by a Swiss philosopher say, albeit in different ways, the same thing. Human dignity – what is it? How not to lose it when it seems inevitable?

Reflecting on this, Peter Biri cites examples from Kafka and Orwell, analyzes marginal phenomena – the game of throwing dwarfs and prostitution. According to Beery, we tend to destroy the dignity of a person when we perceive him as an object, when we deliberately ignore him, when we lie, when we focus on his flaws.

The Sympathizer, on the other hand, unfolds a terrible, but incredibly exciting story of the captain of the defeated Vietnamese army. His mixed heritage is perceived as a flaw by friends and enemies, his allies ignore the role of his people in the struggle, as a double agent he lies to others and himself.

His dignity is infringed upon by many of Peter Biri’s criteria. But the hero defends his rights and does not look crushed even after the concentration camp. Why? It seems that the answer to the question from the novel is given in the fifth chapter of the essay: our ideas about dignity are subjective and subject to change. An important role in maintaining self-esteem Beery assigns empathy – the main quality of the captain, who sympathizes with people on both sides of the barricades. This helps to abstract from the imposed roles and make your choice.

“Life choice. On the Diversity of Human Dignity, Peter Beery. Publishing house of Ivan Limbakh. Translation from German by Dmitry Silvestrov. 504 p.

“Sympathetic” Viet Thanh Nguyen. Translation from English by Vladimir Babkov. Corpus, 416 p.