Thin Silver Thread
 | |
| Author | Polina Zherebtsova |
|---|---|
| Country | Russia |
| Language | Russian |
| Subject | First Chechen War, Second Chechen War |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | АСТ |
Publication date | 2015 |
| Pages | 320 |
| ISBN | 978-5-17-092586-5 |
Thin Silver Thread (Russian: "Тонкая серебристая нить") is a 2015 collection of stories by Polina Zherebtsova, which portray the lives of civilians in Grozny during the Chechen wars. The collection was created by the author from 2005 to 2015. These stories acquaint the reader with the life during the war and are an artistic reflection of what Polina Zherebtsova saw and experienced in the Chechen Republic.[1] Presentation of the book took place in the center of the Andrei Sakharov 13.11.2015
According to Fontanka.ru, the book was included in the "Top 10 Books of Autumn 2015"[2]
Peculiarities of the genre and the problems
The documentary evidence is the cornerstone in the stories of Polina Zherebtsova. A combination of documentary and artistic merit is at such a high level that, critics say, it achieves the goal of educating the next generation. In addition to the historical chronicles, there is mysticism, unexplained phenomena and travels in dreams in the stories.
Each of the stories is a continuation of the previous one and combines all the stories into a single continuous text. Heroes wander from one war story to another, as their real prototypes did on the ashes of streets of Grozny. Author admitted that has never changed the names of those who died to preserve memory of them in people's hearts.[3]
Reviews
There is a change in the style of the text. Instead of existential testimony – smooth language, like from a sample of the Soviet children's prose. No one before Polina Zherebtsova wrote about the Chechen war this way; we have always seen some carnage and immanent violence that was filtered out by our brains. "Thin Silver Thread" is a children's noir nonfiction; we experience a subconscious fear from hair, sprouting through the grass on the site of the group burial in the garden, much more than from any reports by Andrei Babitsky.
Peter Silaev[4]
Many parts of the texts are deliberately mystified, there are even parallel universes, and some of the action takes place in a dream. But in each of these texts the reader will see very strong emotions and a new attempt to understand what happened in Chechnya during the childhood of the author. Stories of Polina Zherebtsova are a strong adult prose. I want to add the phrase "based on real events" to each story published in "A Thin Silver Thread".
Sergei Shpakovsky[5]
Author is present in each story: as one of the heroes or as the narrator; she is not hiding under fictitious names and is not trying to pass off something as fiction that is not. This is a literature, which grew out of personal factual experiences; and is clear of the notorious writer's inventing, genre impurities and stylistic flourishes.The war is described with childlike spontaneity and same childlike ruthlessness and high-grade creative writing. Despite the lightness of the style, the reading of this prose requires certain and considerable inner strength. The fact that the stories are short says a lot about the generosity of the author, who understands that the reader will need frequent breaks. If you remove the boundaries between texts – all of them will turn into a unified and cohesive impulse. This is exactly what distinguishes the real literature from its multifaceted twins.
Sergei Kumysh [6]
Details of publication
The story "Little Angel" won the international competition named after Janusz Korczak in Jerusalem in 2006, which was attended by writers from 37 countries.[7]
Stories "Zayna" and '"Two meters squared" published in Moscow's magazine "Medvedj" in 2014.
The collection a"Thin Silver Thread" includes 33 stories of the writer.
Characters
A girl named Polina.
Her mother Elena.
Their neighbours during the war: Sultan, Maryam, Idris, Nina, Nastasia, Rumisa, Ramzan, Zayna, Fatima, Vera, Medina and others.