Homeland
Essay by Oxana Timofeeva
Essay by Oxana Timofeeva
ORIGINAL TITLE: Родина
ORIGINAL PUBLISHER: Kayfa ta, 2020
94 PAGES
RIGHTS SOLD: Arabic (Kayfa ta), German (Matthes & Seitz), Hebrew (Nemala), Italian (Pulp libri), Russian (syg.ma)
ORIGINAL PUBLISHER: Kayfa ta, 2020
94 PAGES
RIGHTS SOLD: Arabic (Kayfa ta), German (Matthes & Seitz), Hebrew (Nemala), Italian (Pulp libri), Russian (syg.ma)
ENGLISH SAMPLE AVAILABLE
“Russians could say: If you tie yourself to a tree, they will simply cut you down together with the tree. At this struggle, all means are good enough: if you cannot love your homeland as a human being, if the enemy pushes you out, love it like a plant – stay, resist; or love it like a beast – run, attack, or escape, but don’t leave them your homeland; just pack it in your heart and take it with you wherever you go.”
A powerful reflection on a possibility of a home in authoritarian states from one of Russia’s most prominent female philosophers.
In this short essay the renowned Russian philosopher Oxana Timofeeva explores the difficulty of reducing one’s sense of homeland to one’s country alone, the interconnectedness of movement and rootedness, our plant and animal souls, and how we need to reimagine our desired, fictional if need be, homelands.
An intimate exploration of the multiple regions where the author grew up during the USSR period intertwines with a philosophical discussion of ideas on homeland in the thought of Brecht, Deleuze and Guattari, and other key figures of European literature and philosophy.
In this short essay the renowned Russian philosopher Oxana Timofeeva explores the difficulty of reducing one’s sense of homeland to one’s country alone, the interconnectedness of movement and rootedness, our plant and animal souls, and how we need to reimagine our desired, fictional if need be, homelands.
An intimate exploration of the multiple regions where the author grew up during the USSR period intertwines with a philosophical discussion of ideas on homeland in the thought of Brecht, Deleuze and Guattari, and other key figures of European literature and philosophy.
A gem of minimalist storytelling from a world that in the West is still hardly known by anyone.
—
DIE ZEIT
Through the insurmountable gap between past and present, Timofeeva manages to redefine the concept of Homeland, using it in the struggle for a better future.
—
Literaturkritik
A wonderfully written book about childhood happiness and rootedness, not bound to a single place and certainly not confined by national borders.
—
Buchkultur
Oxana Timofeeva, whose deeply dialectical work moves between posthumanism, feminism, and Marxism, is one of the most original voices in contemporary philosophy.
— Alenka Zupančič, author of Ethics of the Real: Kant & Lacan