taz: Ms. Stepanova, can you flee from your country, your national identity?
Maria Stepanova: I believe that you cannot escape your origins or your identity. But in some historical situations the idea is very tempting.
taz: You fled Russia in 2022 primarily for political reasons.
Stepanova: It wasn’t an escape, but a conscious decision. It would be immoral to compare my situation with that of all those who had to flee from bombings and lost their homes. For me it was a question of ethics. I realized that I could not function as a journalist, author or publisher in current Russia. I am unable to publish under censorship.
Critical voices have fallen silent, people are being arrested or forced into exile. The only uncensored voices come from exile
taz: Were you threatened in Russia?
Stepanova: No. But colta.ru, the largest cultural online daily newspaper in Russia, which I edited, was published two weeks after Ukraine-Invasion closed by the government. This was not just a symbolic act, but the end of our journalistic activities.
Maria Stepanova talks to Natascha Freundel about the exiled existence of a Russian author in the novel “Der Absprung” (Suhrkamp Verlag, 141 pages, 23 euros. eBook 19.99 euros): January 22nd, 7:30 p.m., Literaturhaus Hamburg, Schwanenwik 38
taz: What did you expect from exile in Germany?
Stepanova: I had no expectations because I had never wanted to emigrate. Despite everything, I hoped for a change for the better. But the exile situation wasn’t entirely new, because I had already lived abroad a lot. I taught at universities, published, made friends here. However, I had to get used to the idea that I couldn’t go back.
taz: How did the mood change after the attack on Ukraine?
Stepanova: The invasion began with the Annexation of Crimea in 2014the full invasion followed in February 2022. After that, the political climate in Russia changed. Critical voices have fallen silent, people are being arrested or forced into exile. The only uncensored voices come from exile.
Im Interview: Marija Michailowna Stepanova
Born in 1972, headed the online magazine Colta.ru until 2022. She wrote essays and poems as well as the award-winning debut novel “After Memory” in 2018 about a family search for traces. She has been working at the Berlin Science College since 2022.
taz: The protagonist of your book “Der Absprung”, an author in exile, feels responsible.
Stepanova: Yes, that is one of their problems. Another is the subjectively felt burden of guilt. Because apart from the fact that she is seen as a representative of the state from which she fled, she feels guilty herself. She wonders to what extent she was part of the attacking country’s society. Is there something inside her that makes her brutal in an unconscious way? This is also why she reacts sensitively to the question “Where are you from?” It is not the attribution from outside that is their problem, but rather their self-perception.
taz: She also fights with a bizarre, murderous animal. What does it stand for?
Stepanova: It is not Putin or the Russian nation as a whole. I would say it is the brutality that permeates their homeland. That changes people in irreparable ways.
taz: What role does language play in this process?
Stepanova: I am against blaming language or viewing certain nations or languages as particularly vulnerable to cruelty. History shows that every country is capable of brutality under certain circumstances. That’s why my novel – designed like a fable – is also a universal story. Language is more of a sacrifice. The official press in Russia, for example, is currently practicing an act of brutality towards the language.
taz: Your book was published abroad and also in Russia, although you mention the war in it. How was that possible?
Stepanova: The Moscow version was censored. The book only says “one country for war against another country,” but that too is too direct. The publisher wanted to delete the passage, but I refused. So we blacked out these sentences and made the censorship transparent.