Alisa Ganieva - On the Side of Evil

The Russian cultural scene and its perception abroad is undergoing a massive change after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Why do artists go into exile or stay in Russia? Who opts for internal emigration and why? What options for action determine conformism or resistance - and is there anything in between? What role does historical memory play in Russia and how is it linked to the question of collective responsibility? What role do regionalism and post-colonialism currently play in Russia’s cultural scene? And how does all this affect artistic work?
The novelist Alisa Ganieva will discuss these and other questions in conversation with the editor Katharina Raabe. The author will also read an excerpt from her recent short story.
Alisa Ganieva, a Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin in 2023/2024, is an award-winning author of fiction and essays from the Caucasian republic of Daghestan (Russia) who has been living outside her country since February 2022. She has published three novels translated into more than ten languages (in German: Die russische Mauer. Suhrkamp, 2014; Eine Liebe im Kaukasus. Suhrkamp, 2016; Verletzte Gefühle. Wieser, 2021. In English: The Mountain and the Wall. Deep Vellum, 2015; Bride and Groom. Deep Vellum, 2018; Offended Sensibilities. Deep Vellum, 2022). During her stay at the Wissenschaftskolleg, she is working on her fourth novel.
Katharina Raabe is the publishing editor at Suhrkamp Verlag for Eastern European authors and topics. She received the Federal Cross of Merit in 2007 for her committed promotion and dissemination of Eastern European literature in Germany.
Einführung: Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger, Rektorin des Wissenschaftskollegs
Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, 2024