Human wars have always changed the features of homelands, and humans have not escaped from them. If a person’s body is delivered and survived, he may not surrender himself, according to what some psychologists believe, but what is the impact of war on the writer in particular?

Because literature is polite and purifies the human soul, as it is said, many writers have become described as fragile and tender, so the writer - like buildings - is crushed by what is left by destruction and death, and if the war ends and the infrastructure is rebuilt, you will see who will restore the writer Previously, if he was infected with ideolitis?

In this corner, Al Jazeera Net opens a window for writers from the Russian and Ukrainian peoples, to express their opinion about the fate of literature during and after the war, and their opinions about what some writers of wars or their opponents say, and some unions, and about the position of their peoples towards it, and about the duty of the writer and his humanitarian position towards Accepting or rejecting war and declaring it openly, and siding with his homeland, even if he started the war, or lining up for a person who crosses nationality and nationalism, that is, the militarization and ideologization of literature.

The Russian poet and writer Elena Vsenia was born in the city of mines, one of the most important cities of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Donetsk, and then moved to live in Moscow. She published more than 8 books that varied between poetry and prose.

  • What is your personal position on the war between Russia and Ukraine?

The war for the Russian people was a great shock.

Personally, it pains me so much that this war has become possible.

The book "The Later Taste" is a lyrical story about late, passionate and sinful love, published by the Union of Russian Writers in 2012 (Al-Jazeera)

  • Do you not think that it is the duty of the writer to reject wars and announce his rejection?

There is nothing more valuable than human life. We are now living in the 21st century when politicians have not yet learned to resolve issues peacefully, through negotiations.

Whatever military conflicts there are, no single target is worth a penny if it kills people.

Poets and writers are the vanguard of humanity, in their hands the most powerful weapon is the word, and the word should always stand for truth and peace.

  • Does the writer stand by the side of man, no matter what his drink is, or is he obligated to side with his country, even if his country is the aggressor?

I am deeply convinced that the writer should, by all means available to him, make our world a better world.

The writer is not a politician, by taking the history of one human life, he must show the horrors of war and the senseless death and destruction, the writer's goal is to make the reader think and empathize.

  • Does war contribute to creating a different literature?

The writer, first and foremost, is a human being, and it is natural for a person to fear for the lives of his loved ones, and worry about the fate of his homeland.

The war came as a huge shock to the people, and surely, if the writer wanted to assess the prevailing events, he would.

There are many beautiful novels that deal with war themes, but often the main place, in any literary work, is the human being.

He will create after the war or during the war good or bad literature, but this depends on the talent of the author.

As I said before, the war between Russia and Ukraine was a shock to all creators, Russian and Ukrainian, and it would take them a long time to rethink or reconsider these tragic events, and I as a writer also cannot stay away from this topic.

I was born and raised in the Donbass, since it was the Soviet Union, and I remember well the stories of my father, survivors of the horrors of World War II.

Since 1983 I have been living in Moscow, this city has long been my lover, and Russia has become my second home, but I still remember my grandfather Ivan from Kyiv, who died at the age of 32 during the Great Patriotic War (World War II in the Russian name) in Fighting near Moscow.

Everything that is happening now in Ukraine pours pain into my heart.

I am now working on the novel “War Loves Youth.” Through the facts of the life of a young volunteer, Kosti Saenko, in an undeclared war on the Donbass, I want to convey my position on this war.

"The Margins" is a collection of poetry by the poet, published in 2012, and her poems varied between the subjective and the public (Al-Jazeera)

  • What do you think of the militarization of literature, and do you think it will return?

I think that war is temporary, while love is eternal, perhaps a wave of militarization will appear in Russian and Ukrainian literature, because what happened is a painful subject, but with time everything will return to its predecessor, because nothing is more valuable than life, love and beauty.

  • How do you see the contemporary literary movement in Russia?

    Is there a departure for poetry from its old phase, or is it still following its old path and has not kept pace with the poetic change movement in the world?

The literary movement in Russia is now very diverse and strong, as it is not necessary for writers to search for a publisher to communicate their creations to the reader, due to the spread of many services that made the writer almost replace the publisher, as the author has reached the reader directly.

Any author can express himself as he wants and whatever he wants, all the ways are now available to him, there are many courses that will develop one's talent, as the writer must develop and develop his talent and it is not enough that the talent is from God, but must work them, refined, improved, and developed relentlessly.

On a personal level, I had completed a course in poetry and 3 courses in romantic studies in literature.

There is no doubt that there is a noticeable departure from classical literature in Russia, because it is a different time, different problems, and a different reader. It becomes easy for the reader to find any book that satisfies his taste, whether it is science fiction, romance or police novels, or a mixture of different genres and topics. .

But only time can perpetuate and preserve the most important literary works for later generations.

  • Is it necessary for the intellectual to have an opinion on major humanitarian issues?

    Can intellectuals influence their societies?

The intellectual is part of his age, and it is a harbinger of his time. Words are the most powerful and influential in people. Writers and poets often enjoy the gift of insight, as they feel all the changes that occur in society.

They have always been at the forefront of societies.

And through their actions, the descendants will judge the bygone era.

Poetry is the food of the human soul, as it makes a person more sublime and more perfect, and that evil cannot penetrate to live in a beautiful soul.

  • Have you read foreign literature, and Arabic literature in particular?

    Did these readings affect your poetic experience?

I grew up in a small mining village, literature became my window to the big world, friendship taught me Alexandre Dumas's Three Musketeers, and the nobility of Fenimore Cooper's novels, while Jack London remains one of my best writers to this day.

I will not list my favorite writers, they are many.

Well, who among us does not know Scheherazade and Aladdin or Ali Baba?

Pictures of these wonderful heroes from the Arab fairy tales, The Thousand and One Nights, accompany us from childhood to later life.

I have poems with oriental themes, including: “Dance Scheherazade,” “Muslim,” and “Do you hear? The dumb desert cries.”

I've been to Egypt more than once, the Emirates, and on one of my visits, I suddenly realized that I had fallen in love with the desert.

I have a great interest in the eastern world.

So far, it is mainly about travel, tourism and cinema, but I also hope to get to know contemporary Arab writers more closely.

The fictional book "Love Cannot Bear Noise", whose stories dealt with different aspects of love and passion, was published in 2019 (Al-Jazeera)

  • As a poet, tell us about poetic forms in Russia, what are they, and what is modern Russian poetry called?

Our poetic world today is very diverse.

There are many important windows or electronic portals through which each poet can publish his poems and communicate with colleagues and readers. There are also many creative associations and unions.

Nowadays, stevia, meaning the poetry of the network or the poetry of the Internet, prevails in Russia.

As for the new trends, such as free poetry, as pronounced in Russian “verlibre” which is called in French “vers libre” and white poetry, pronounced in Russian as “billy stich,” in my opinion, they are more amateurs than professionals, and have not yet won the spirit of readers.

  • With regard to the Russian novel, is it also heading towards modernity?

    Do you interest the Russian reader, or is he more interested in poetry than in prose?

The new age, the new life, the new relations, which are increasingly being born and developed, in the virtual space, provide a basis and a ground for new and different literary forms that have nothing in common with classical literary forms.

The Russian reader loves poetry, but is more willing to give money for a good book of prose, and there is still greater demand for novels than for poetry.

As a narrator or prose writer also interested in modern forms, in 2021 my book trilogy “Henry Flefel’s Russian Woman” completely broke all the images and stereotypes of classical literature.

The novel includes a hypothetical dialogue between a man and a woman, as a result of which a large world of crazy love is born, which spirals out of control, and begins to dictate its own rules.

  • How do you see literary criticism in Russia?

In the era of social communication, it became permissible for every reader to express his opinion about this or that literary work.

I think that today we almost no longer have professional or specialized critics, because their opinions have no weight or value.

Basically their work is limited to major literary competitions, now that promoting creativity on the Internet is more valuable, and of course, only the reader, who wants to buy a book, decides whether it interests him or not.