EUROPE’S CULTURE TRAIN

about what you will write, do you prepare somehow? And I answered: “No, it’s just like in speaking, I do not plan at all.” JP: I get this feeling when you speak about these language cliques that there was a kind of rift within the group: Russians against the “other” Europeans. Was it like this?

AK: It was more like those Europeans who had never visited Russia or the Soviet Union, experienced a culture shock and were very open about it. Already in Kaliningrad for the first time. But St Petersburg was very European, well apart from that one thing in the Smolny Institute, where there was a little museum in Lenin’s old office. I asked the guide whether they could tell me where concentration camp number 2 was located because my grandmother was there for a time in 1919. And the guide was flabbergasted and said, “we did not have anything like this”. And yeah, there were always journalists around us, making stories, asking questions. This one television journalist came up to me immediately afterwards and asked me about what I had said. So, I told her the story of my grandmother and I made an appearance on television that night, but I missed it. Afterwards, this young Belarusian writer who spoke Russian and also Swedish came up to me and told me: Listen, you were on the television last night.” So, I asked what I had said, and she responded: “Well you were praising St Petersburg and saying how great a city it is”. [laughs] So I don’t really know what happened there or how they interpreted what I said. JP. After St Petersburg you went to Moscow. What happened there?

AK: Yes, that is when we sent this petition to Putin where we demanded the end of the Chechen War. I just checked: 84 authors signed it. We were 107 so there were many that did not sign it. It was a political thing, the others... there was even one who signed it but afterwards crossed his name out. And then there was this extremely active political influencer who also spoke Russian (who, by the way, opposed everything internet related as well) campaigning against this petition, saying how these Chechens were blowing up our buildings, that they had to be brought to heel and so on...like saying “do you not understand our situation here?” Many Russians are a bit like that; they like to play the victim and then blame others. The same thing...And now this Ukraine situation is difficult...it was already like that back then. This Ukrainian woman writer (whose name I can’t remember) started the petition and got the Russians mad at her. So, they don’t get along at all, even though they share so much. Ukraine has been so important...it was part of Old Russia, where the [Russian] culture began and grew. They had good writers there, even during the Soviet times, very good writers, especially in Odessa, but also in Kiev.

JP: Did the Russians have anything to say about Finns? AK: Well, there was a guy from Azerbaijan, who had visited Finland and knew some three words in Finnish and four in English. He was a big fan of Finland for some reason. He always offered this very strong...whatever he had. He was in the Russian speaking group, a very joyous man. He wrote these crime novels, and he was very popular over there, selling millions of copies. He did not live with us in the decent hotels we were offered. He always had these – Europeiska in St Petersburg and… well, all the best hotels. He had a secretary who organised all his stays from Moscow. He was the only rich author [laughs]. But he was pretty generous, always sharing whatever he had.

JP: I remember you mentioned there was some Russian author who said Western culture is worthless...can you tell me about him? AK: It is this same Muscovite who was so negative about everything, let’s not speak about him too much. I do recall this one Ukrainian writer, who had been to America on a Fulbright scholarship who said it was so great over there [in the US] as they only had one language, not like in Europe where there is a cacophony of languages – he enjoyed his stay over there.

He was a poet and he said that once the Soviet Union collapsed, against which he had campaigned and wrote this Samizdat poetry [underground publishing] – there was nothing to fight against anymore, so he became a linguist. He had not written after that. He was a pretty great guy, but even he had this anti-Russian sentiment.

JP: And you wrote something in collaboration with this French author. Can you tell me about that?

AK: Yes! This was also a sort of attempt to unite European languages and cultures, and also inventing ways to communicate. The whole train trip was about finding ways to communicate with each other. And then, this French writer. He belongs to a group of experimental writers called Oulipo. He is called Jacques Jouet. We had to write some kind of travel text: an essay, a diary, a poem, max 15 pages, right after the trip. So, we decided to write a dialogue. He would write in French and I in English. I understood a little French, I had studied it for three years in school. It became quite a funny dialogue. It was then translated into German, published in this 700page book where nearly all participants had written something about their experience of the Literature Express. That book was supposed to be published in every European language but that never happened: Publishers can’t afford every kind of experiment... So yes, we wrote in French and English, and it was translated to German, that’s how it went. But it was also published in the US, in this magazine called Context. It was the magazine of a publishing house that brought a lot of European literature over there. So, I could read it in English, but they had unfortunately shortened it quite a bit. But this was my experience. It was interesting for sure. JP: Let’s talk about trains for a moment. Do you know why that route was chosen?

AK: Yes, so this route, starting in Portugal and going to St Petersburg. It was important because Petersburgian nobles, writers, and others...Dostoevsky included, travelled many times to Europe on this line...all the way to Paris and then on to Portugal. Also, another reason: during and before World War Two, those Jews who decided, and could afford to leave, took this same track to Portugal and from there took ships to the US, saving their lives like this. So, it was like this; a culturally and historically significant route. And every country’s train company gave us a special train with a few wagons: outsiders were not welcome. Portugal offered us a fantastic dinner on the train with many entrees and desserts and cheeses and fancy drinks for each part of the meal...white tablecloths and everything. I felt like a fancy Russian writer on the way to Europe [laughs]. Germany had found some ancient, really small train that they had painted yellow and written on the side in many languages – “literature train”. JP: From all this I get the feeling this trip represents a kind of lost future: trains going across borders, people from many languages getting along, literature is funded etc etc. There is a kind of interaction between people that is really positive. Have you seen anything similar lately? AK: No, nothing like this. But, of course, it was a special time, Europe wanted to celebrate the new millennium. And every EU institution, as well as UNESCO, national governments and others were funding it JP: But not much was born of it?

AK: No not really...other than that book that is only published in German. And now the organiser wants to put together an essay collection or something. But it was so long ago...I think he just liked the train trip so much he wants to relive it again. Although we are again building tracks everywhere, including Finland, and even across borders. Is it [train travel] not reviving again? And there is an extra incentive because trains are a more sustainable way to travel. I think there might be a return to the old ways. But they must be fast, like the TGV.

JP: Do you think as positively of European political integration as you do of this train integration? AK: It is so difficult these days because of populism...it advocates this national isolationism. No more windows open towards Europe, like it was already in the 1920s, among leftist artists, who hoped and challenged others. But that ended and Europe closed itself in a really bad way in the 1930s. Populism is so strong these days and I am wondering about ways to get through this. And if there is a post-pandemic recession in Europe then we are really in bad trouble – Populism will for sure gain even more momentum.

JP: Do you see this kind of populism and nationalism in literary circles?

AK: Not in Finland at least. There is one “True Finn” affiliated writer but apart from him...writers are not populists, no. And I think it’s similar in the rest of Europe, writers are generally more open. In Russia, some of the old guard are a bit nationalistic, but the younger writers are again more open. It is important that young people do not become populists. Writers have to think about things, I think they are not so susceptible to becoming populists. At least in Finland, populists are generally less educated, it is difficult to speak with them as they do not back their arguments with logic [word]. They do have smart women in that party [the True Finns] and I wonder what they are doing there, how did they end up there? JP: Their leaders are usually pretty well educated at least, no? AK: Yes, that’s true. Even Halla-aho [leader of the True Finns party] is an expert in Old East Slavic and Church Slavonic.

JP: So, do you see art and cross-border collaboration between artists as a weapon against populism? AK: It would be really important if we could do it more, yes. To see how things are in other countries...these kinds of common train trips...for the people too! And for sure we left some kind of impression on people. The audiences were so big, and we read these short texts that we had translated for each other. I am sure at least some people got something out of it. But yes, I think it is really important that artists and others in the cultural sector would integrate across Europe, but I do not know how this would be done in practice. It is again a question of funding.

Rewilding Europe

From the cultural construction of nature to the natural destruction of culture Frederique de Ridder

With its characteristic mix of cosmopolitism and nationalism, Europe truly is a continent united in diversity. This is apparent in the different national approaches concerning the common natural environment. It is no news that wildlife has its prominent presence in European culture. Neither is it news that wildlife species in Europe are in strong decline. Consensus, however, about taking care of European wild animals remains far from being reached. The largest land mammal of Europe is not busy minding national borders. The European bison, whose population stretches from the ‘Kraansvlak’ in the Netherlands to the ‘Rhodopes’ located in Greece and Bulgaria, does not belong to a fixed territory. This particular case of European wildlife may be one of the most outstanding examples proving that nature can not comply to the limitation of man-made bounds.

The naturally occurring population of the European bison, also known as the lowland bison or wisent, mainly persisted its existence initially in the ‘Bialowieza’ Forest, which was a forest that once stretched across the European Plain, a patch of nature entailing the largest mountain-free landform in Europe. The importance of the nowadays wisents’ reintroduction, reveals the fact that the wisent being a target during the late 19th century hunts of the Russian Tsars and Polish kings, is still a bitter pill to swallow. The transfer of the bison all around the globe in groups of four (one male and three females) back then, was meant to function as an imperial gift. Unsurprisingly did the killing continue in the 20th century, when occupying German troops during World War l recognized the bisons’ high value for its meat, hides and horns. The last time a European bison was killed due to traditional hunting purposes in the ‘Bialowieza Forest’ was in 1919. The population of the gastronomic giant was namely never meant to shrink. On the contrary, the wisent has rather always functioned as a keystone specie on the European land, taking part in maintaining the ecosystem for the continent. Consuming over 200 different types of plants, dispersing their seeds across their natural habitat, they increase the biodiversity of the whole area. Even bark of trees is included in their diet. Hence, the wisent accidentally carried out the role of being a European natural firefighter.

“...globalisation fuels mankind’s disconnection from nature in growing cities of concrete,...”

The amount of effort Europeans invested in breaking down their natural environment is depressing, taken into consideration that the capability of restoring it structurally, is strikingly absent. Consequently, the protection of wildlife demands supranational recognition. Especially in post-socialist Central Europe, where protecting the environment has been interpreted as prospectless due to its densely populated areas and industrial aims. Understanding the driving forces behind the slightest changes is now more crucial than ever. In order to enforce rewilding in Europe, it requires series of measures which concerns the implementation of nature based economies, to preventing or supporting the spread of the smallest insects (new measures – ranging from the implementation of nature based economies to nurturing insect populations – are required.). The European natural habitat is damaged. Awareness should be created to promote human intervention, in order to repair it. When it comes down to signifying natural borders, there is obviously something to learn from the wisent’s interpretation. The European political patchwork is something Europeans’ fellow residents have never given consent for. Already for centuries, fragmentation imposed onto a general natural habitat is burdening creatures that can not articulate the captivity of going extinct. There are enough reasons to stand up for those that do not possess a voice and therefore should subjects of special care and attention. In other words, the limits that are natural should be prioritised over the limits that are invented by people. While globalisation fuels mankind’s disconnection from nature in growing cities of concrete, people tend to forget that there is a natural habitat to share with all other organisms that all play an individual role in maintaining ecosystems. What is the use of damaging the environment being a part of European cultures’ identification, if territory appears to play such an important role? When Europe’s natural environments can not be maintained, a fundamental reality of the European culture will drift off to an unverifiable history. Rewilding Europe brings hope for Europe’s nature to recover from being undervalued. A recovered nature brings the opportunity for Europe to benefit from sharing a habitat.