Interview by Oleg Kusov. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
Interesting guests are always welcome at Vestnik Kavkaza. Oleg Kusov gives all guests in the studio an opportunity to speak. These conversations are not only about the Caucasus. A half-hour conversation over tea passes quickly. The section "Take My Word" records conversations in video, audio and text formats. The guest of Vestnik Kavkaza today is writer Peter Lyukimson.
- Peter, according to my information, you have published 9 books.
- Actually more than that.
- Let's clarify
- Maybe 17.
- 17. Concerning the latest books published this year. Let’s talk about them.
- Only “Sigmund Freud” in the “LGP” [“Lives of Great People”] cycle has been published this year. A biography of Freud. In general, personally for me, it is a continuation of the work I have been doing. In other words, what I write is one way or another associated with Jews. I am interested in Jewish civilization as such. In the “LGP,” I published “Moses,” “King David,” “King Solomon.” That is to say, in general, all I write, all my books, are associated with Jews. It is an attempt to tell the world, mainly the Russian-speaking reader, - because the Russian language is my main language – about Jewish civilization. Now, I hope that in the future I will start working on Salah ad-Din, because I need to describe the Islamic civilization, which is just as great, and its contacts with Jewish civilization, the Christian one, how it correlates. Because people have a lot of confusion about it in their head. They do not correlate radical Islam, do not understand what is Islam.
- When an author picks such a topic as “King David” in the “LGP,” it is clear that you have quite a deep understanding of that section of history. But you have such books as, let’s say, “Business in Aramaic.”
- No, it is a “Business in Aramaic” series, the book is called “Jews and Money.”
- There is also “Jews and Sex.”
- That is the name of a book.
- And what is “Jewish Dietology” then?
- It is a poorly-chosen name for a book about kashrut, given by the publishing company.
- “The Jewish Cookbook.”
- Yes, of course. It is called “In the Kitchen of My Grandmother.”
- “Exploration in Aramaic.”
- “Exploration in Aramaic” is again an absolutely idiotic name, in my opinion, given by the publishing company because it was named very dully in general. They were secret pages of the history of Shabak and Mossad. Many books have been published about them in Russian; to be precise, very many books were published about Mossad, the foreign intelligence of Israel. Few people know what Shabak is, yet it is the domestic intelligence of Israel, just as powerful, fighting against foreign intelligence of other countries, it plays an enormous role in our conflict with the Palestinians. It is important for me to describe the pages no one knows, and even Israelis, to be honest, knew little about. I opened a lot of new things for them, absolutely astonishing people gave me an enormous impression. I was lucky to write such a book.
- So you are familiar not only with the secrets of the Ancient World, but the secrets of modern intelligence as well.
- A little. Those people practically hate to say anything, you have to pull every word out of them with pliers. And as they say themselves, there are many secrets that will die with them, that they will not tell anyone, obviously not write about it in memoires.
- I am just interested, your topics are diverse.
- It is the very same topic. The topic is called “The Jewish Civilization.”
- The name “Secrets of Jewish Sex” does not seem like a very good one.
- It is the expanded republished “Jews and Sex” book. Generally, actually “Jews and Sex” is not a good name. The book was supposed to be called “Jews and Love.” But the publishers said: “You know, you cannot sell love to anyone, no one is interested in it. But sex is interesting, so the books will be called “Jews and Sex.” That is how it happened. Unfortunately, the peculiarity of our time is that the word “love” has become unpopular and was displaced by a different word that undeniably reflects it to a certain extent, but a very small one, in my opinion.
- So which of the works is the dearest for you? It is understandable that all books are like children you love almost equally. But if you were asked to present one book at some exhibition, what would you offer the readers?
- I have not written it yet.
- That is a very interesting answer for a writer. This inspires the next question about plans.
- First of all, I am writing several books for the “LGP” series, they have been commissioned. I am finishing one, another one has been started, it bothers me the most. It is a book about Salah ad-Din, about the man who liberated Jerusalem from the crusaders, about the man who is the symbol of Islam for me, the real Islam. Because many do not know that, for example, all our beliefs about chivalry, all European beliefs about chivalry, are all beliefs about Salah ad-Din. It is nobility, the ability to spare the enemy, humane methods of war, lots and lots more. That is what real Islam is for me, not the Islam worshipped by animals, forgive me my words, from the fictional Islamic Caliphate. The atrocities we see, all the beheading are not Islam. Islam is Salah ad-Din.
- Especially when terrorists… We talk about the tragic anniversary of the Beslan tragedy, when terrorists took children hostage in a school under these symbols.
- It is not Islam, it is use of Islam for political purposes.
- Muslim children were in fact taken hostage.
- Using Islam for political purposes is a blow to Islam and provokes Islamophobia to a certain extent in the world. It is absolutely unjustified, because people do not know what Islam is. I, as a man who grew up in a Muslim state, in Azerbaijan, know it well. I had Muslim neighbours, Azerbaijanis, Muslim friends, my closest friends actually. I know what Islam is, so I cannot be tricked.
- You know from the Azerbaijani example how Islam co-exists peacefully with Christianity, Judaism and other religions.
- Absolutely. It can be read in the Quran. Jews and Christians, in terms of the Quran, are people from the Book who should not be touched, they should be cohabited with. It is the Quran, the ABC book of Islam.
- Your books are published in the Russian language. Are they sold in Israel?
- Yes, they are sold in Israel but I will tell you that there is a big problem. Your books in Russia are very expensive, as a lot has already been said many times at a book fair, that ways to lower the book prices should be found, it would increase sales. Here in Israel, when books from Russia arrive, they cost absolutely insane money that many cannot afford.
- But do people read?
- People read on the internet from pirated downloads, there are very many of them. I think people from Russia and from Israel read. The pirate internet has doubtlessly been a blow to writers, a blow to book copies, to income, consequently, for the ability of a writer to make a profit from writing. It is one of the problems, but Israel is certainly aware of it. In Israel, sadly, most Russian stores have been closed down. There used to be very many of them. Stores of Russian books. And again, they were not closed because people started reading less in Russian, people read a lot in the Russian language, but they all read using electronic books, using the internet.
- So the problem for a writer in Israel is the same as for a Russian – making a living from professional work is almost impossible.
- This problem is everywhere. It should be a professional job, I am sure that a writer should make a living from his own works. If it is a real writer, he should do writing. But it is in fact an eternal problem. We can discuss it for a very long time. Writers have always been underpaid at all times, in all countries. Publishers have been tricking them, tricking them badly. Read Pushkin, Lermontov. Nothing is new under the sun.
- Many writers made a living from honorariums, even in Soviet times.
- In Soviet times, of course. In Soviet times, there were enormous honorariums, there was no internet. It was clear that a man whose book was published in 200,000 copies, I do not mention big pressruns, there were authors making 500,000, there were republications then. It was all bringing income to a writer. In the Soviet times, a writer could easily make a living, even a secondary one, not to mention a primary one.
- So the internet was indeed a blow.
- The internet is one of the culprits. I think people started reading less, people started reading fewer paper books, this media is disappearing, we are simply switching to a different media. Also, just as parchment scrolls were replaced with paper books and disappeared, the paper book is disappearing.
- The flipside of high tech!
To be continued
Writer Peter Lyukimson visits Vestnik KavkazaInteresting guests are always welcome at Vestnik Kavkaza. Oleg Kusov gives all guests in the studio an opportunity to speak. These conversations are not only about the Caucasus. A half-hour conversation over tea passes quickly. The section "Take My Word" records conversations in video, audio and text formats. The guest of Vestnik Kavkaza today is writer Peter Lyukimson.- Peter, according to my information, you have published 9 books.- Actually more than that.- Maybe 17.- 17. Concerning the latest books published this year. Let’s talk about them.- Only “Sigmund Freud” in the “LGP” [“Lives of Great People”] cycle has been published this year. A biography of Freud. In general, personally for me, it is a continuation of the work I have been doing. In other words, what I write is one way or another associated with Jews. I am interested in Jewish civilization as such. In the “LGP,” I published “Moses,” “King David,” “King Solomon.” That is to say, in general, all I write, all my books, are associated with Jews. It is an attempt to tell the world, mainly the Russian-speaking reader, - because the Russian language is my main language – about Jewish civilization. Now, I hope that in the future I will start working on Salah ad-Din, because I need to describe the Islamic civilization, which is just as great, and its contacts with Jewish civilization, the Christian one, how it correlates. Because people have a lot of confusion about it in their head. They do not correlate radical Islam, do not understand what is Islam.- When an author picks such a topic as “King David” in the “LGP,” it is clear that you have quite a deep understanding of that section of history. But you have such books as, let’s say, “Business in Aramaic.”- No, it is a “Business in Aramaic” series, the book is called “Jews and Money.”- There is also “Jews and Sex.”- That is the name of a book.- And what is “Jewish Dietology” then?- It is a poorly-chosen name for a book about kashrut, given by the publishing company.- “The Jewish Cookbook.”Yes, of course. It is called “In the Kitchen of My Grandmother.”- “Exploration in Aramaic.”- “Exploration in Aramaic” is again an absolutely idiotic name, in my opinion, given by the publishing company because it was named very dully in general. They were secret pages of the history of Shabak and Mossad. Many books have been published about them in Russian; to be precise, very many books were published about Mossad, the foreign intelligence of Israel. Few people know what Shabak is, yet it is the domestic intelligence of Israel, just as powerful, fighting against foreign intelligence of other countries, it plays an enormous role in our conflict with the Palestinians. It is important for me to describe the pages no one knows, and even Israelis, to be honest, knew little about. I opened a lot of new things for them, absolutely astonishing people gave me an enormous impression. I was lucky to write such a book.- So you are familiar not only with the secrets of the Ancient World, but the secrets of modern intelligence as well.- A little. Those people practically hate to say anything, you have to pull every word out of them with pliers. And as they say themselves, there are many secrets that will die with them, that they will not tell anyone, obviously not write about it in memoires.- I am just interested, your topics are diverse.- It is the very same topic. The topic is called “The Jewish Civilization.”- The name “Secrets of Jewish Sex” does not seem like a very good one.- It is the expanded republished “Jews and Sex” book. Generally, actually “Jews and Sex” is not a good name. The book was supposed to be called “Jews and Love.” But the publishers said: “You know, you cannot sell love to anyone, no one is interested in it. But sex is interesting, so the books will be called “Jews and Sex.” That is how it happened. Unfortunately, the peculiarity of our time is that the word “love” has become unpopular and was displaced by a different word that undeniably reflects it to a certain extent, but a very small one, in my opinion.- So which of the works is the dearest for you? It is understandable that all books are like children you love almost equally. But if you were asked to present one book at some exhibition, what would you offer the readers?- I have not written it yet.- That is a very interesting answer for a writer. This inspires the next question about plans.- First of all, I am writing several books for the “LGP” series, they have been commissioned. I am finishing one, another one has been started, it bothers me the most. It is a book about Salah ad-Din, about the man who liberated Jerusalem from the crusaders, about the man who is the symbol of Islam for me, the real Islam. Because many do not know that, for example, all our beliefs about chivalry, all European beliefs about chivalry, are all beliefs about Salah ad-Din. It is nobility, the ability to spare the enemy, humane methods of war, lots and lots more. That is what real Islam is for me, not the Islam worshipped by animals, forgive me my words, from the fictional Islamic Caliphate. The atrocities we see, all the beheading are not Islam. Islam is Salah ad-Din.- Especially when terrorists… We talk about the tragic anniversary of the Beslan tragedy, when terrorists took children hostage in a school under these symbols.- It is not Islam, it is use of Islam for political purposes.- Muslim children were in fact taken hostage.- Using Islam for political purposes is a blow to Islam and provokes Islamophobia to a certain extent in the world. It is absolutely unjustified, because people do not know what Islam is. I, as a man who grew up in a Muslim state, in Azerbaijan, know it well. I had Muslim neighbours, Azerbaijanis, Muslim friends, my closest friends actually. I know what Islam is, so I cannot be tricked.- You know from the Azerbaijani example how Islam co-exists peacefully with Christianity, Judaism and other religions.- Absolutely. It can be read in the Quran. Jews and Christians, in terms of the Quran, are people from the Book who should not be touched, they should be cohabited with. It is the Quran, the ABC book of Islam.- Your books are published in the Russian language. Are they sold in Israel?- Yes, they are sold in Israel but I will tell you that there is a big problem. Your books in Russia are very expensive, as a lot has already been said many times at a book fair, that ways to lower the book prices should be found, it would increase sales. Here in Israel, when books from Russia arrive, they cost absolutely insane money that many cannot afford.- But do people read?- People read on the internet from pirated downloads, there are very many of them. I think people from Russia and from Israel read. The pirate internet has doubtlessly been a blow to writers, a blow to book copies, to income, consequently, for the ability of a writer to make a profit from writing. It is one of the problems, but Israel is certainly aware of it. In Israel, sadly, most Russian stores have been closed down. There used to be very many of them. Stores of Russian books. And again, they were not closed because people started reading less in Russian, people read a lot in the Russian language, but they all read using electronic books, using the internet.- So the problem for a writer in Israel is the same as for a Russian – making a living from professional work is almost impossible.- This problem is everywhere. It should be a professional job, I am sure that a writer should make a living from his own works. If it is a real writer, he should do writing. But it is in fact an eternal problem. We can discuss it for a very long time. Writers have always been underpaid at all times, in all countries. Publishers have been tricking them, tricking them badly. Read Pushkin, Lermontov. Nothing is new under the sun.- Many writers made a living from honorariums, even in Soviet times.- In Soviet times, of course. In Soviet times, there were enormous honorariums, there was no internet. It was clear that a man whose book was published in 200,000 copies, I do not mention big pressruns, there were authors making 500,000, there were republications then. It was all bringing income to a writer. In the Soviet times, a writer could easily make a living, even a secondary one, not to mention a primary one.- So the internet was indeed a blow.- The internet is one of the culprits. I think people started reading less, people started reading fewer paper books, this media is disappearing, we are simply switching to a different media. Also, just as parchment scrolls were replaced with paper books and disappeared, the paper book is disappearing.- The flipside of high tech!To be conti
