Decolonization to the sound of sirens: an American writer visited Odesa

In its new issue, Granta magazine has published an extensive report by the renowned American writer William T. Vollmann on Ukraine, with a special focus on Odesa. In particular, its history, decolonization, and cultural struggle, which continues in the face of war.

This was reported by Ukrainian Week.

The text begins with Wallmann's visit to Odesa, the city of Isak Babel, one of the main characters in his story. The writer talks to local activist Artak Hryhorian, whom he calls "Odesa's decolonizer," and it is he who becomes a guide to the complex topic of Ukrainian attitudes toward the imperial past. Hryhorian talks about the demolition of the monument to Catherine II, the struggle against Soviet symbols, and the changes that are gradually taking place in the urban space.

His quote - "We have other heroes now" - is included by Vollmann in the epigraph to the entire article.

The author of the report observes how the multilayered identity of Odesa, which has long been formed in a multicultural context, is changing under the pressure of decolonization processes. He ironically notes that "poor Grigoryan" has not yet had time to visit all the cities in southern Ukraine where Soviet monuments still stand.

In the chapter on Odesa, Wollmann touches on a painful topic for many: whether a Russian-language author like Babel can be part of the Ukrainian cultural canon. He expresses concern that as a result of radical decolonization, the country may lose artists who did not fit into the "new order," and asks a rhetorical question: "How can the thoughts of a dead author be a threat to Ukraine, at least compared to a Russian drone?"

Wallmann's reflections on Ukraine are not limited to Odesa. He travels to Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, talks to the military, analyzes the language issue, and even asks himself: "How much dynamite will it take to decolonize this town where a nice old lady greeted me in Russian?"

Finally, the author emphasized that for him Odesa is not just a city in a frontline country, but a place where memory and future, culture and politics collide, where a new Ukrainian identity is being formed - painfully but confidently. That is why Odesa remains in the focus not only of Ukrainian changes, but also of the global intellectual discourse.

Ірина Глухова