“Life Went on Anyway: Stories” by Oleg Sentsov

January 27, 2020

“Life Went on Anyway: Stories” by Oleg Sentsov

Life Went on Anyway by Uilleam Blacker and Oleg Sentsov

Life Went on Anyway: Stories was the winter 2020 LARB Book Club pick. To join the Book Club, where we put you in conversation with editors and members and send a copy of the selected title to your door, become a LARB Friend member today.

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“Through his courage and determination, by putting his life in danger, the filmmaker Oleg Sentsov has become a symbol of the struggle for the release of political prisoners held in Russia and around the world.”
— Antonio Tajani, European Parliament President

“Today you exist in a cell that must feel soundproof. If only you could know that all around the world people are calling your name, decrying the behavior of the Russian government, and calling for your freedom. Your courage gives us all courage. We need you. Don’t give up.”
— Svetlana Alexievitch, Nobel Prize-winning author of Second-hand Time and Voices from Chernobyl

From Sakharov Peace Prize-winning Ukrainian film director, writer, and dissident Oleg Sentsov comes a timely collection of stories.

The stories in Ukrainian film director, writer, and dissident Oleg Sentsov’s debut collection are as much acts of dissent as they are acts of creative expression. These autobiographical stories display a Tarkovsky-esque mix of nostalgia and philosophical insight, written in a simple yet profound style looking back on a life’s path that led Sentsov to become an internationally renowned dissident artist.

Sentsov’s charges seemingly stem from his opposition to Russia’s invasion and occupation of eastern Ukraine where he lived in the Crimea. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in August 2015 on spurious terrorism charges after he was kidnapped in his house and put through a grossly unfair trial by a Russian military court, marred by allegations of torture. Many of the stories included in this collection were read during international campaigns by PEN International, the European Film Academy, and Amnesty International, among others, to support the case for Sentsov across the world. Sentsov’s final words at his trial, “Why bring up a new generation of slaves?” have become a rallying cry for his cause. He spent 145 days on hunger strike in 2018 to urge the Russian authorities to release all Ukrainians unfairly imprisoned in Russia, an act of profound courage that led to the European Parliament awarding him the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Sentsov was released from prison in September 2019.

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OLEG SENTSOV is a Ukrainian filmmaker and writer from Crimea, best known for his 2011 film Gamer. Sentsov was arrested in May 2014 in Crimea on specious allegations of “plotting terrorist acts,” after participating in the EuroMayden demonstrations that led to the overthrow of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and helping deliver supplies to trapped Ukrainian troops during Russia’s occupation of Crimea. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, causing an outcry by international human rights groups who condemned his imprisonment as a fabrication by the Russian government in an attempt to silence dissent, and calling for investigations into reports of torture and witness coercion. In 2017 he was given the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. Sentsov’s work includes several scripts, plays, and essays, as well as two short films, A Perfect Day for Bananafish and The Horn of the Bull. In May of 2018, he went on a hunger strike to protest the incarceration of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia.

DR. UILLEAM BLACKER is an academic and translator specializing in Ukrainian, Polish, and Russian literature. His translations of contemporary Ukrainian literature have appeared in numerous publications, including Modern Poetry in Translation, Words Without Borders, and Dalkey Archive’s Best European Fiction series. He lives in London.

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