The big ear: what Svetlana Alexievich’s documentary novels have to teach us about writing

Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay considers what Svetlana Alexievich's documentary novels, which are collages of witness testimony might have to teach us about writing. It argues that the documentary novels of Svetlana Alexievich demonstrate some of the aesthetic similarities between the language of literature and the language of testimony. It argues that certain rhetorical and formal devices that otherwise belong to the realm of literature, such as metaphor, repetition, parataxis and parallelisms, can be seen in Alexievich's testimonies. It considers the nature of Alexievich's role as a writer in curating the testimonies, and the performative nature of testimony as influencing the language used by her witnesses. The traumatic nature of the events being recounted and the fact that the text reflects her witnesses' speech acts contribute to the linguistic peculiarities of Alexievich's work. The essay concludes that Alexievich's work can offer the writer insights into how language marshals emotion and creates a sense of urgency by paying attention to the formal properties of language; as writers we might listen to our own words in much the same way as Alexievich receives the testimony of her witnesses.