Culture: 426 posts

Last year held a few memorable reads for me, even though I finished fewer books than I normally would have. When I looked through my diary, I noticed that my favorite titles ran the gamut from travelogues to novels, with short stories and poetry in between. Putting together the list of my favorites below was a pleasure, as I recalled what I read and why I was inspired to pick up these books. I hope that you will find my selection compelling, and in turn I look forward to hearing about the books you read and liked.

Elisa Shua Dusapin, Winter in Sokcho (French: Hiver à Sokcho)

A winner of the Prix Robert Walser, Winter in Sokcho is a debut novel from the French-Korean author Elisa Shua Dusapin. It’s the story of a meeting between a young French-Korean woman who works as a hotel receptionist and a comic strip artist who arrives looking for inspiration. The emotional gap between the characters in the novel, the alienation, and the unsaid words leave a lasting impression after reading this book. The writing exquisitely evokes the wintery atmosphere of a small port town with its neon lights, fish market and endless snow.

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A few years ago I made a memorable journey to Petrykivka in Ukraine. Located near the city of Dnipro in the eastern-central part of the country, the town is famous for its folk painting style, Petrykivsky painting or “petrykivka.” It depicts flowers, leaves, and birds in a variety of baroque forms. The colors are vivid, with red, blue, yellow, and green hues being most traditional. Everywhere I went in the town, I saw bright designs covering walls, fences and street signs, but petrykivka is also used for paintings and decorating everyday objects.

Petrykivka painting has been included in the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and many artists operate studios in town. Before the war their situation was already precarious, as it is for many artists, but these days it is even more so. Nevertheless, despite the electricity blackouts and other tragic realities of war, they continue to work and produce beautiful artworks.

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The neighborhood where I used to live in Kyiv got bombarded several times over the past couple of days. Now every night I dream of walking through it as it once were. I then wake up in the middle of the night and lie conjuring up the familiar images. Ukraine lives in me, even as I am far away from Ukraine.

I recently gave an interview to a Spanish newspaper ABC about my book The Rooster House (Mi Ucrania in Spanish) and said that to understand Ukraine, it’s important to know that its identity made up of beauty and tragedy. And so I will share this painting by Dmytro Perepelytsya (1903–1981), a Ukrainian artist from Poltava, who captured everyday life in moving, poignant images like these. His Still life with watermelon was painted in 1937, the height of Stalinist terror, but it’s a tender depiction of summer bounty in vivid colors.

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Inspiration sometimes seems like a mysterious thing that appears out of the blue and illuminates your being. However, as most writers and artists know, inspiration is about work and being proactive. In the words of Jack London, “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” Sometimes it takes more effort, but in all cases, there are ways to cultivate inspiration, and I would like to share mine with you.

Go to sleep, thinking of things you want to try or learn the next day

Before I go to sleep, I run in my mind over things that I would like to do the next day. I imagine which books I would like to read or what I would like to discover. I usually read based on my current interests or planned travels, and it fills me with pleasant anticipation and when I wake up, I already feel inspired. These days I’m reading a lot of travelogues to satisfy my wanderlust and before I fall asleep, I imagine the places described in the books and plan imaginary journeys.

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Master, ‘ostad,’ is a nickname the Persian poet Sa’di of Shiraz (1210-1291/92) rightfully deserves. His verses are elegant and his prose contains many thoughtful observations on morals, love, and life in general. Sa’di’s Gulistan, Rose Garden, written in 1258 was once a book of instruction and it remains one of the marvels of Persian literature. I recommend the translation by W.M. Thackston. You can open the book at random and find marvelous passages on different topics: The Art of Conversation, on Love, on the Conduct of Kings, on Dervishes.

I’m reading the Persian section out loud to savor the beautiful language of Sa’di. You can also find it recorded online in Persian, and even if you don’t understand the language, you will still enjoy Sa’di’s musicality.

Here is one favorite passage:
“Are you musk or ambergris?” I asked, “for I am intoxicated by your enchanting fragrance.”
“I used to be just mud,” it said. “A mere nothing, but I sat for a time with the roses,
And the perfection of my companions had an effect on me. Otherwise I am nothing but dust.”

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