I’m being interviewed for a Ukrainian magazine about my book. The interviewer sent a list of questions and I’m trying to answer them. And God, it’s hard. I’ve lucked out with an interviewer who is a writer published in two dozen languages and a very profound person. She read the book carefully and probably twice, judging by the depth of the understanding of what I say in it. So the questions aren’t the problem. I am.
I discovered that I don’t have a voice in Ukrainian. I developed as a person and an intellectual in English-speaking countries. When I try to answer questions in Ukrainian, I revert to who I was at 22 when I left. And I wasn’t anything special back then. I was very immature and not deeply interesting. In the book, I mostly managed to avoid sounding like a kid, especially in the parts about the nation-state and neoliberalism. But when I talk to an actual person, even in writing, I revert to childishness, and it feels weird.
I’ll probably also have another interview in person, and I need to figure this out before I scare people off with this personal drama.
Clarissa's Blog 
Leave a comment