A new anthology of wartime stories by Ukrainian authors is launched today at the University of Edinburgh. The collection brings together stories of people’s lives influenced by the war, authored by some of Ukraine’s most well-known contemporary writers alongside diaries by ordinary people caught up in the current conflict.
Published by the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) at the University of Edinburgh, After The Third Bell has been translated by the Ukrainian-Russian translator appearing here under the pseudonym E.M.
Unusually, the book is not available in English, but is instead published in Russian and made available for download as a free eBook. The aim is to offer Russian readers around the world a richer understanding of the ongoing war in Ukraine, as presented in contemporary fiction – at a time when Ukrainian art and culture are increasingly inaccessible for many Russians.
The anthology includes previously untranslated works by Oksana Zabuzhko, Maria Matios, Evgeniya Kononenko and Marianna Kijanowska written between 2017 and 2022. Oksana Zabuzhko is arguably the most widely-known novelist and poet in Ukraine; her first novel, Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex, is considered one of the most important books in recent Ukrainian literature. In March 2022, she addressed a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg regarding the war. The anthology also features entries by six Ukrainian diarists, ranging from an engineer to a painter. It gives insights into daily life during the fighting in Kyiv, Bucha and other cities.
E.M. said, “This book of translations comes out at an incredibly difficult time. It is not easy to say if a work of literature can help people amidst the chaos of war. Yet I still feel that its publication is important. I am deeply grateful to the authors who agreed for their texts to appear in this collection, thus bringing them to Russian speakers all over the world. I am convinced that this book can help these readers to see the current events through Ukrainian eyes. I believe it is this profoundly human perspective, via a talented work of fiction, which may stir true compassion.”
Professor Lesley McAra, Director of IASH, said, “IASH is proud to support the work of E.M. In the context of an increasingly turbulent world, translation forms a necessary bridge to greater understanding. It is not merely words that are translated but emotions, experiences, even whole cultures. In enabling the reader to bear witness, the act of translation is a form of peacebuilding.”
IASH has published more than thirty books since 1970, from plays and poetry collections to scholarly essays. After The Third Bell is the Institute’s second Russian-language publication. IASH hosts international visitors to the University of Edinburgh, bringing academics to Scotland as well as artists at risk.
To read After The Third Bell, please click here (opens as PDF).