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A review by ellephuonglinhnguyen
Soul and Other Stories by John Berger, Andrei Platonov
4.0
"What was this name?"
"Dzhan. It means soul, or dear life. The nation possessed nothing except the soul and dear life given to it by mothers, because it's mothers who give birth to the nation."
The secretary frowned, and looked sad. "So there's nothing they can call their own except the hearts in their chests—and even that's only for as long as the hearts keep on beating."
"Only their hearts," Chagataev agreed. "Only life itself. Nothing belonged to them beyond the confines of their bodies. But even life wasn't really their own—it was just something they dreamed."
"Dzhan. It means soul, or dear life. The nation possessed nothing except the soul and dear life given to it by mothers, because it's mothers who give birth to the nation."
The secretary frowned, and looked sad. "So there's nothing they can call their own except the hearts in their chests—and even that's only for as long as the hearts keep on beating."
"Only their hearts," Chagataev agreed. "Only life itself. Nothing belonged to them beyond the confines of their bodies. But even life wasn't really their own—it was just something they dreamed."