Chapter 34 postscript

One day thirty years ago, I accidentally flipped through the Soviet "October" literary magazine, and was immediately attracted by the title and content of this work.That year was the 40th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War.In the blink of an eye, another thirty years have passed, and earth-shaking changes have taken place in that land. The former Soviet writer is now a Belarusian writer. I have hastily translated the first edition of this book that just came out, this time based on the 2013 edition of Moscow Times Publishing Company.From the first edition to the revised edition in the new century, it is almost the re-creation of the author. Not only has a lot of content been added, but also because the author has published many contents that were banned by the newspaper censorship department or forced to self-delete after the Soviet Union went from great changes to disintegration. , candidly wrote about topics that were kept silent during the war and for quite a while after the war, such as the cruelty of war, the feelings of female soldiers and the relationship between men and women in the war, and some personal behaviors of Soviet soldiers after they entered Germany, and more A lot of space is the author's own confessional thinking and excerpts from dialogues with relevant departments.

The author of this book, Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich, was born in Stanislav, Soviet Union (now Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine) in 1948.His father is Belarusian and his mother is Ukrainian. Both parents are rural teachers. Later, the family moved to Belarus.She graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Belarusian State University. Alexievich created a series of chronicle nonfiction literature named "Voice of Utopia", including five works including this book.In fact, she created a unique literary genre: long confessions in political rhythm, in which small people tell their own destiny, and small history builds big history.

Due to political reasons, she left Belarus in 2000 and lived in Italy, France, Germany and Sweden. In 2012, he returned to live in Minsk. Alexievich's works have been translated into as many as thirty-five languages, and the Russian edition of this book alone has sold more than two million copies.Her work has also been the subject of hundreds of films, plays and radio shows around the world.She has received numerous international awards, including a special award from PEN Sweden for her courage and dignity, the Leipzig Book Award in Germany, the French National Radio "Witness to the World" award, and the National Book Critics Association Award, among others. In 2013, Alexievich was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and was shortlisted for the final list.

Regarding this book, no matter in terms of literary color or practical concept, I want to translate it as "there are no women in war". Although this is a simple short sentence, it has profound and far-reaching meaning.The title of the Chinese translation of the book "No Women in War" has sparked discussions among enthusiasts. Some people think that it should be translated as "There are no women's faces in war" according to the original title, and some people think that it should be translated as "Women in War" according to the content. , and Chinese writers created emotional and poetic titles such as "War Makes Women Go Away" based on this.But I still think that "there are no women in war" is the most appropriate way to convey the original meaning.Although this book is written about women in war, but through the idea of ​​the book, the story of the protagonist and the realistic atmosphere, it tells people: when women fall into the flames of war, not only their clothing, hairstyles, behavior, but also their temperament and even From appearance to physical characteristics have changed, which is the cruelest effect of war on women.Therefore, this book about women in war uniquely uses such a highly contrasting title as "there are no women in war", which should be intentional by the author.Thirty years have passed, and this unique sentence pattern has become a household name and has become internationally famous.The special role of women in the war, especially the special feeling, has become a topic that people talk about.As long as you click on this sentence on the Internet, the images of female soldiers in various countries, ethnic groups and battlefields in the world will swarm out.

This is a book of pain, but also a book of truth.In the process of reading the original text and translating it into Chinese, I was repeatedly shocked and moved by the shocking content and human details, and even couldn't hold back my tears.We read the story of Zhuoya and Shula when we were young. This book shows thousands of Zhuoya, ordinary Zhuoya, and Zhuoya in various forms.It was ordinary men and women, unknown little people, who saved the Soviet Union from the steel tracks of the Nazis with great sacrifices and painful sacrifices.Later, as the author sighed in the book, the motherland that millions of people desperately defended during the Great Patriotic War no longer exists.I think this is not only the result of politicians' operations, but also the silent factors of countless ordinary people.

On the 70th anniversary of that disastrous war, I went to Red Square and saw with my own eyes the scenes described in this book: veterans wearing medals (or their descendants), playing the number plates of the original unit , Trying to maintain the emotional bond established in blood and fire.Unfortunately, due to the relentless flow and erosion of the river of time, the number of people gathered is getting smaller and smaller, which is embarrassing. When the new translation based on the new version is published, I must once again express my great gratitude to Mr. Zhang Hailing, my classmate and friend when I was a graduate student in Russian literature, who provided great help for my translation thirty years ago!