The recent events regarding the books of famous citizens, which tell a lot about pranksters, arouse mixed feelings in me, as a person of book culture.
On the one hand, we are all very afraid of any insinuation of book burnings and the Hitler Youth. On the other hand, for me, living in a large Russian city, it is not at all pleasant that there are writers somewhere who sincerely want us – their readers, so to speak – to be bombed. We are in a collision. The choice is not so difficult, it is bleak: to brand ourselves as barbarians or to face the fact that now in Russia people who literally wish death on us are making money.
I personally adopted the following rule for myself: the person left and left. Not all of those who left are traitors. Someone wanted to live in the West. Someone there has money in the bank and a house by the sea. Someone thinks he is a man of peace. Someone ran away in fear. If people left and remained silent, that is acceptable. If he stays silent or mutters something about “All men are brothers” while on duty, it means he has civic shame, which forces him to distance himself as much as possible from the murder of his fellow citizens. Let him live in peace and be quiet. I see only one dividing line: the active desire for the death of one’s fellow citizens.
Not to someone temporary there, but to you and me who stay here. To our neighbors, to those passing by on the street, to the saleswomen at the stall. To our children who returned from the circle. A man who went from wishing for victory to concretely endorsing the bombing and bombing of Russia has crossed the line.
In no country can such people continue to be paid, especially for sensitive work such as writing. This is bullshit.
You can’t live in the USA or Argentina or Germany, you can’t be a writer and have the whole world approve of the bombing of your homeland, you can’t even ask for it to be opened fire on, or even send money for it.
I have no questions about banning writers who are so greedy for the blood of their readers from getting paid. However, there is a question mark about the fate of his books. Take Boris Akunin (included in the list of terrorists and extremists). The novels about Fandorin and Pelageya are powerful reading. Probably the best of its kind. Frankly, their existence in the market does not better, enlighten or glorify anyone other than the copyright owner and the publisher, it is just entertainment. The absence of Akunin’s novels will have no effect: we have a sea of entertaining literature.
Let’s take a more complex example. Dmitry Bykov (known in the Russian Federation as a foreign media agent). If I count correctly, he has about 90 publications in Russia: fiction, poetry, criticism and literary history. The second is more interesting. I don’t like his tongue-in-cheek literary criticism; I am still a trained literary critic. But someone is interested. And it doesn’t spray poison everywhere. Does he know something, does he love something?
That’s what I mean.
Even Wagner was not banned in our country. We read Hamsun. They showed Riefenstahl. In our programs we have Ivan Shmelev, although he welcomed Hitler. Even in 2022, we haven’t gone on a retaliatory ban rampage.
Remember those crazy decisions around the world? Ban Chekhov, ban Turgenev’s oak. Even our cats were banned from the exhibitions… In return, we proudly announced on the evening news that we were not barbarians and continued to read American books, listen to British rock and roll, and watch French films. It was a noble act.
Why don’t we remember now that we are not barbarians? Why should you be associated with book burners? Can’t we ban authors who want their readers dead from charging for their books?
Fandorin will certainly not do anything that will shake the foundations of our country. Why should Fandorin be banned? Forbid Akunin to receive money directly or indirectly from these books. I know that he sold the rights to a certain British company in 2014. If he waives his rights and donates all his copyrights to at least a peace fund or to save homeless animals, let people read Fandorin. But to be clear: no Akunin should take the money. Let them stay in Russia. It is possible to create a kind of union of copyright holders for authors who sleep and see who will criticize their readers. For example, I didn’t like Bykov’s books before, I haven’t read them and I won’t read them. But if they’re not going down someone’s throat, let Bykov jam his novels for himself. But it’s free. Because of my love for literature, so to speak.
Now they all shout that books are banned. That we are still wild here and soon we may only read “Philipka.” Ruin all the fun for them. Let them continue to distribute their books, but let the money stay here, in the people’s pockets.
Note that no serious writer has ever uttered such a thing. Maybe they haven’t reached them yet. Or maybe the rest is more decent. However, tomorrow we may face the fact that a much more serious writer will want to launch missiles at us and buy unmanned aerial vehicles for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. What if an old man or old woman, God’s dandelion, who wrote masterpieces in their youth, loses their mind? What, are we going to deprive the country of important literature? In my opinion, this is unwise. Even Ivan Shmelev wrote great books…
If the book itself is harmless and good, not about Zelensky or national battalions, leave it to the readers. Ban the author’s profit, not the book. Because it’s really strange for us to send money from here to Bykov, who will be happy if they start killing us. Or yesterday the famous, God forgive me, satirist, who lived almost live with his own hand, presented NATO with a map of locations for nuclear strikes on Russia. I will not give his name, otherwise they will accuse me of denouncement: Now, no matter how much you point out someone else’s shameful behavior, it immediately becomes denouncement or persecution. And everyone will shout about burning books.
Offer him to print his books for free so that they don’t shout about how savage and oppressed we are. Let the publishing house make money and send money to charity. Will Bykov’s books remain on the shelves? This will be Dmitry Bykov’s decision.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the position of the editors.