Sofia Andruhovych publishes a new book “Catananhe”

Sofia Andruhovych according to the recording of the radio interview.

Iryna Slavinska

Writer Sofia Andruhovych announced the release of a new novel “Catananhe“. The book will be published near the end of spring. There is no abstract of the book yet, but the author shared some plot details of the book in an interview with Radio Kultura.

From the beginning, Sofia Andruhovych created a collection of “light-hearted”, even erotic stories, but over time, the story took on new meanings. As a result, the writer created a full-fledged novel, which she connected with love stories and the experience of war.

“When I took up the second story and started working on it, I realized that it was just growing before my eyes. And it turns into something completely different, ceases to be so frivolous. And more and more other meanings appeared, which I did not plan from the beginning. In the end, I saw that this is no longer a story, but a novel“, – said Sofia Andruhovych.

The name “Catananhe” refers to the flower of the same name, which one of the main characters takes care of in the flower bed. Another name of the plant is “Cupid’s arrow”, and as Andruhovych explained, it is also metaphorically related to the plot. The details have not been revealed, but something unexpected and compulsive happens in the work with the main characters, to which no one can obey

The actions of “Catananhe” take place shortly after the end of the war. Ukraine won and returned all its territories and is now struggling with the consequences. The main characters do not directly talk about the war, this problem runs through their actions, decisions and life in general.

“What I could not very consciously regulate was the degree to which the war appeared and was present, and its consequences […] I wanted to just hint, just outline the situation, the feelings of the characters, their reactions in such a way that the reader could read somewhere between the lines why this person behaves in this way“, the writer added.

Iryna Slavinska, the presenter of Radio Kultura, also added that in “Katanankha” the writer portrayed the characters of teenagers. For Sofia Andruhovych, this topic is directly related to her teenage daughter: “Since she began to enter the teenage years, a lot has opened up for me, not that it is new, but precisely that it is a thing that is very well known things related to my own growing up, with some moments forgotten or repressed“.