Être apiculteur dans le Donbass : Les Abeilles grises d’Andreï Kourkov

Abstract

In Les Abeilles grises (The Grey Bees), a novel published at the beginning of February 2022 by Liana Levi, Kourkov paints the portrait of an ordinary man, Sergueï Sergeyich, a disabled retired civil servant, left by his wife and entirely devoted to his bees, which give meaning to his life: to look after his hives, he stays in the "grey zone", a no-man’s-land between the Ukrainian army and the pro-Russian separatists, where he leads a precarious life, without electricity, punctuated by bombardments. The novel unfolds in two main parts, from February to August, to the rhythm of the war and the activity of the bees: first they hibernate in the grey zone and then, when the summer comes, in Crimea, where the protagonist moves them in with a fellow Tatar beekeeper. While it is not unusual to depict a beekeeper in wartime, to highlight the contrast between the life of the beehive and the madness of man, the character of Sergeyich deserves attention. A simpleton confronted with violence and absurdity, this tender, solitary hero is a pure heart who gets through events without losing his humanity. The novel takes his point of view, sharing his memories, his dreams, his questions and his empathy for the weakest in the events along the way, sometimes tragicomic. The thoughts of the man who is most often referred to as the beekeeper bear witness to the recurring relationship between bees and humans, to the benefit of the former.