WHO, WHAT, AND HOW: WRITING AND NOT WRITING ABOUT THE WAR

The paper explores the moral and ethical considerations of writing about war —specifically about the experiences, sufferings, and losses of combatants, their families, and both internal and external migrants — from the perspective of those who have not personally endured these trials remaining only passive witnesses or listeners. During the intense phase of the war, both domestic and foreign readers require the most accurate records of reality, free from any hint of fake or manipulation of their consciousness. It is a false thesis that “in the context of modern information reality, the value of personal presence is somewhat undermined.” On the contrary, the experience of the ‘eyewitness’ is of utmost importance for an author. It forms the foundation of their ethical right to speak about the war and the people involved, although this is not an imperative. Therefore, a significant portion of military literature is nonfiction. However, fiction also tends to depict real events, emotions, and states. For a long time, literary discourse was dominated by the idea that in fine literature, the ‘how’ (form) of depiction was more important than the ‘what’ (content). However, in wartime writings, ‘what’ becomes more important than ‘how’. Currently, there is a great public demand for such works, which play an important role in the consolidation of society and motivate it to act. It is regrettable that publishers do not adequately fill the book market with such literature or promote it to readers. The extreme experiences of military personnel, paramedics, volunteers, etc., correlate with the creation of extraordinary texts. However, due to understandable limitations, these authors cannot independently promote their works to the book market, submit them to competitions, or apply for awards. This creates moral obligations for publishing houses, the management of the National Writers’ Union of Ukraine, the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine, literary magazines, and other relevant public subjects.