[video=youtube;rmyoboDkWjI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmyoboDkWjI[/video] A Russian literature scholar says it will be interesting to see how Russian President Vladimir Putin reacts to the awarding of the Nobel Prize in literature to Belarusian journalist Svetlana Alexievich. "Her message is very much at odds with a lot of what Putin stands for," said Andrew Kaufman of the University of Virginia, author of "Give War and Peace a Chance: Tolstoyan Wisdom for Troubled Times." Kaufman added that the fact that it is hard to categorize Alexievich's work is part of what makes it great. "Her goal as a writer, as a journalist, as a historian, was to tell the truth about history. Her goal is to communicate the history of human feeling," he said, noting that this was very much in the mold of the great Russian writers like Tolstoy. "What we need to focus on is the universal human message in her works," he said. "She tells universal human stories that anyone from any culture can relate to." "The message of her works — it's really a message of humanity and a celebration of those forgotten in history...it's a powerful message that transcends politics," he said. http://www.usnews.com/news/entertainment/articles/2015/10/08/the-latest-nobel-literature-award-to-be-announced For her book, Voices From Chernobyl, Alexievich interviewed hundreds of people who were victimised by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. She is the first writer from Belarus to win the prize and she may have won the Nobel Prize in literature because she's an investigative journalist who is at odds with President Putin. In a way, the Nobel Committee for Literature at the Swedish Academy made a political statement, reflecting the political situations in Ukraine and Syria.
