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Long is the Path to the
Gospel According to Vasilisa
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Larisa Vasilyeva is well-known as the author of best-selling titles,
Kremlin Wifes and Offsprings of the Kremlin. Her books also include a number
of short story collections, of which the most popular is Albion: The Mystery
of Time — somewhat sarcastic and both philosophic sketches of England.
Her books are translated and published worldwide. Mrs Vasilyeva is the
president of Female Writers’ League and Atlantida Information Community.
In this interview, Larisa Vasilyeva speaks about the core matters
of her life; and she frankly states her concerns as an individual, a citizen,
and, of course, an artist...
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L.V. I always gave many thoughts to the idea of harmony
between male and female in this world. Or rather disharmony. All I wanted
was to understand where all this cruelty and discord come from. Why men
are masters of this life, and women are deemed to be something of B-class.
How could it happen? And I found the source misreading in the Bible...
It says in Chapter One of Genesis that ‘God created man in his own
image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.’
And he blessed them, male and female to rule over this earth. Then it means
that man and woman are born equal, and they both are equally entitled to
this world, though their functions may differ. And then, in the second
chapter, after some incomprehensible verses, there goes a later version:
God decided that the man should not be alone, and made him a helper, woman,
out of man’s rib. Why! Isn’t it clear that the version of the Chapter Two
was added later, that it is a rough patriarchal attempt to abate woman
to her secondary position? Yes, it must have happened long time ago, and
trying to find guilty would be a useless and wasteful attempt. What we
must do today is to try somehow correct this mistake which may prove fatal
to the human civilization!
All the masculine ideas had expired by the end of the 20th century.
They never lead to anything other than war and confrontation. And the gain
was: drunk winners, dead losers, widows and orphans in tears — and disabled
veterans of no male potency...
Women’s mission is to give this world a soul. Unlike the spirit which
is a product of thinking, the soul is of feminine origin. Some time ago,
I was invited to a ‘blue’ meeting; ‘Female spirit will save the world!’
was their slogan. They could not understand that the idea was misconceived,
just like the ‘Workers of the world, unite!’ one. It will take female heart
— not spirit — to save the world! Women shall come into power as carriers
of non-authoritative idea. I used to promote the concept of a female parliament,
though the term might be slightly different.
Q. Must it be complementary to a regular parliament?
L.V. Yes, and it must assume specific functions: economy
planning, issues of ethics and environment protection. And, of course,
it must be in position to ban wars.
Woman has four inborn gifts: ethical, ecological, economic, and ethnic.
And for all four she finds applications in her family life: she manages
family ethics; she solves environmental problems through promoting tidiness
and order among members of her family; she is capable of finding economic
solutions, however small her family budget may be; and, finally, when she
is in love, she is unaware of ethnic and racial barriers: she simply gives
birth to her children, whether it implies ‘mixing bloods’ or not. However,
in social life, a woman has no opportunity to apply her gifts, and such
a situation need be eradicated. Co-existence of manhood and womanhood at
the social level is, to my opinion, the only option that leaves humanity
a chance to survive.
* * *
Back in Soviet times, Larisa Vasilyeva came up with a project of
Female Writers’ Federation. The idea came to her as the result of an event
seemingly insignificant: at Soviet writers plenary meeting, all women candidates
were excluded from the Editorial Board nomination list. The procedure was
accompanied by men’s laughter. Male writers would not acknowledge women
as equal despite quality of their writings. However, Larisa Vasilyeva believes
that men’s and women’s writings are not to be compared. ‘Male literature
heights are presumably higher then any female author eve achieved,’ she
said. ‘And the reason is that we live in masculine society with masculine
history of masculine literature.’
* * *
Q. So, is the lack of female history the reason for which female
writers fail to achieve the level of the men’s best?
L.V. Exactly! Can you name any? Akhmatova? Zvetayeva?
They were great women. Now re-spell their names: Akhmatov, Zvetayev. See
the difference? Their level deteriorates at once! Even the greatest of
female writers do not meet the highest male standards.
On the other hand, even greatest male authors failed to understand
women. Completely failed. Take Anna Karenina. If you read it in such a
manner as not to follow the conflict and admire Tolstoy’s daring thought,
you will be surprised to find out that Leo Tolstoy, ‘the great psychologist’,
completely failed to understand his Anna’s intrinsic motives.
Just a minor example: Anna arrives to Petersburg from Moscow. Her husband
meets her at the terminal, but all her thoughts are about Vronsky. And
then, all at once, Anna is stricken by unseemly shape of her husband’s
ears. It’s a lie! No woman in such a position would ever notice anything
like that! It is absolutely masculine characteristic: to see flaws in his
partner once his affection for her is gone. And for a woman at such a moment,
the only thing would exist in the world: to say or not to say. She would
feel like a criminal, for she was not to love other man... And yet she
loves! Woman lives sensually. And her feelings, her thoughts, her motives
are completely different from those of man...
Q. What do you work on these days?
L.V. I have almost finished a book A Woman at the Russian
Throne. It is my attempt to visualize Russian history, beginning with Duchess
Olga times, from the viewpoint of women.
Q. Women at power are usually forced to perform male functions.
L.V. Duchess Olga excellently performed her male function,
first, when she revenged for her husband’s death, and then she was equally
brilliant in her female role. On her way back to Kiev after she had burnt
down rebel Drevlyansk, she divided her army in two. One part was headed
by her young son, and she lead the other. And both parties went off to
widen and settle Russian boundaries. Duchess Olga, being both a regent
and loving mother, managed to save and consolidate the state. And are not
these female functions: to consolidate and to save?
There are many other women actors in my new book. Some of them are
famous, some not, but they all made Russian history... I started this book
back in 80s, but my witty husband stopped me. ‘While you spend your time
writing about duchesses long dead’, he told me, ‘they may restore censorship.
And Kremlin wives die out, non-described.’ And I left Woman at the Russian
Throne for better times, and went out with my taperecorder hunting for
Kremlin families which were not all extinct then. So it happened that first
I wrote and published Kremlin Wives, then Offsprings of the Kremlin, then
The Soul of Moscow popped up...
Q. Why did you write it?
L.V. The principal idea came unexpectedly and in quite
a bizarre manner. At some presentation, Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov asked
me, ‘Is there anything in Moscow that has not been written about yet?’
And I readily answered, ‘No one has ever looked deep down in its soul.’
And next moment I thought, why not write a book, ‘The Soul of Moscow’?
It took me a year to write it. I worked day and night, and sometimes
it seemed to me that the soul of Moscow dwelled in my own apartment. Odd
things used to happen. Once, I suddenly woke up in the dead of night as
if someone had gave me a heavy push, and then that someone lead me to my
bookcase and handed me the material I needed... All that year I had a feeling
that the soul of Moscow was ruling my life...
Finally, I completed the book and it was very large: 850 pages. It
has four parts: ‘Destiny’, ‘Love’, ‘Character’, and ‘Time’. The ‘Destiny’
part is about Moscow history. ‘Love’ is what made the city full: poets,
writers. artists... ‘Character’ is about the uneasy character of Moscow.
And ‘Time’ is about all the epoches brought together at this queer place.
Moscow is riotous, terrible, grand. Not once they conquered her, they burnt
her down to ashes, and she is alive.
Q. There was a period, after Peter had moved the capital to Petersburg,
when Moscow fell short of grace, and it was the city where they used to
send unfavoured aristocracy.
L.V. Peter, I quote, ‘left Moscow. And the trouble
came, and this trouble was much worse for Moscow even if compared to enemy
onsets, as against those onsets it had always found ways to protect itself.
And this time it was not enemies coming; it was her own leaving. The entire
native land went out of obedience to Moscow. And Moscow lost her face.
For no visible reason. Just because some fussy Pete had visited Europe,
and washed there with aromatic soaps, and decided to make it here the way
he saw it there. Moscow could disapprove him and grumble at him; she could
turn up against him, flare up in violent riot or plan a silent plot, just
the way it used to be in the Time of Tumult; the only thing she could not:
she could not stay untouched by offense this profound. But this time the
fabulous strength of Moscow found its manifestation in her magnificent
calmness, in her detached attitude towards temporary changes in her life,
in complete lack of jealousy of Petersburg.’
Instead, Moscow made itself a cultural center. And it kept the position.
So, it was not a game of chance, when Lenin finally restored its status
of the capital city...
Q. However, ‘The Soul of Moscow’ is the only book of yours outside
the mainstream of your women-related series.
L.V. By the way, the next book I plan shall conclude
my women series. I have already collected enough material for it. The title
of the book is the Wife and Muse. It will be about the two facets of woman’s
nature which do not have practically nothing in common. The muse is Dante’s
Beatrice... And wife’s role is washing, cleaning up, cooking, bearing babies,
etc. And, finally, I haven’t told you anything about the work of my life.
It will be about the past, the present and the future of male and female
interaction in this world, and the title of the book is The Gospel According
to Vasilisa.
The Gospel According to Vasilisa will be something different from male
gospels. I only have to find the right form of it. The form is determinant
of everything! It’s like an explosion: once you’ve found it, your book
ignites! For instance, my novel, A Tale of Love, had a long pre-history
of existence in a form of short stories collection. And every story was
about particular persons acting in particular times and settings. And the
last thing I knew was how could I bring this all together. And then, I
happened to take a subway, and the train suddenly stopped in between the
stations, Mayakovskaya and Belorusskaya. Lights went off, passengers were
more and more nervous. And next it struck me like a lightning! Here’s the
way to bound them all together! All my characters are but chance passengers
of the same subway train! And here was the concept of the novel. And, somehow,
I am confident, that a form for The Gospel According to Vasilisa will come
to me in a similar way.
Interview by Elena Chernomazova