Ukraine-Russia, boom in bookstores for Dostoevsky and titles on the subject

Essays on geopolitics, history books, Putin’s biographies. But with the war in Ukraine, the real protagonist in bookstores is undoubtedly Dostoevsky, with his timeless “Crime and Punishment” at the top of the requests of the Italians who try to understand the roots of the conflict and the history of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples through literature. . Because, as the clerk of a large chain of bookstores explains to AdnKronos, “in a world of fake news, it is as if people were looking for certified information in the classics of literature, able to make them understand the traditions, the history and culture of these peoples “. From large bookstores to smaller ones, from historic downtown stores to suburban outlets, all confirm how the ongoing conflict has changed and addressed the demands of readers, and all have seen a sharp increase in requests for titles and authors in some way. linked to the current situation. Italians therefore look for the key to deepening and understanding the war among the pages of books and this, according to what the salesmen and owners of the bookstores visited explain, has made the sales of Dostoevsky’s novels ‘fly’, thus rediscovered by Italian readers and, in many cases, chosen for the first time by the many who have decided to read at least one of his novels for the first time right now. Starting, we are told, from “Crime and punishment”. Dostoevskij but not only. The second most requested author is Lev Tolstoy, and then Anton Chekhov, Ivan Aleksandrovič Gončarov, Vladimir Nabogov, Aleksandr Pushkin. From Gogol to Bulgakov, many great ‘Russian’ authors are Ukrainians And the Ukrainians? “Many of those we know as great Russian authors are actually of Ukrainian origin – explains the owner of another bookshop – many classics are theirs. We know them as Russian authors or even of other nationalities but they are Ukrainians”. A few examples? Nikolaj Vasil’evič Gogol ‘, one of the great names in Russian literature, is Ukrainian, born in Velyki Soročynci, a village in the Poltava oblast, a Russian governorate in present-day Ukraine; Mikhail Afanas’evič Bulgàkov, one of the greatest Russian novelists of the twentieth century, was born in Kiev, as is the French writer Irène Némirovsky (victim of the Holocaust) from Kiev, and the Ukrainian writer and journalist Joseph Roth, who was born to Brody. Not just novels. Strong demand for Putin’s biographies and Ukrainian history Bookstores are equipping themselves and in response to the growing demand for titles on the subject, dedicated corners are multiplying, offering essays, historical texts and geopolitical analysis, biographies. Even these, the owners of the libraries tell us, are in great demand. Putin’s biographies are everywhere: the controversial president must arouse no little curiosity given the readers’ request. Among the titles most present in the dedicated corners, “Putin” by Sergio Romano, “Putin secret” by Vladimir Fédorovski, “Putin, the life of a tsar” by Gennaro Sangiuliano, “Kremlin: from the origins to the rise of Putin” by Catherine Merridale , “Putin’s men” by Catherine Belton, “Putin’s Russia” by Mara Morini. Strong demand for texts on Ukraine, its history, conflicts: from “History of Ukraine from ancient times to today “by Massimo Vassallo to” The Russian-Ukrainian conflict “by Eugenio di Rienzo passing through” Donbass, the ghost war in the heart of Europe “by Sara Reginella. And then many texts that enter into the heart of more specific themes and whose titles reflect the reasons and consequences of the ongoing conflict and that readers obviously want to deepen through the pages of a book. Like “War and Peace of Energy” by Demostenes Floros, “Oligarchi” by Jacopo Iacoboni and Gianluca Paolucci, “When there was the USSR” by Gian Piero Piretto, “Sovietistan” by Erika Fatland. (By Stefania Marignetti)