Beyond the Book: Background information when reading Strawberry Fields (Two Caravans)

Beyond the Book

This article relates to Strawberry Fields (Two Caravans)

Europe and the European Union

The dynamics between and the characters in Strawberry Fields stems from their perceived social class in their own country but also from the standing of their country in Europe, or more specifically, within the European Union.

Europe has changed beyond recognition in the past 30 years, as this series of maps illustrates: 1914, 1937, 1970, Current. Today, Europe consists of 48 countries (Russia's the largest, Vatican City the smallest) of which 27 are members of the European Union representing over 490 million citizens (watch the EU grow from 1952 to 2007). A further seven countries are waiting to join.

Citizens of countries that are EU members, such as Poland, can, in principle, travel and work freely between countries. Citizens of countries that are not, such as the Ukraine, cannot, leaving many workers at the mercy of temporary visas and often dubious employment opportunities.


A Short History of Ukraine
Although many voices from many nations are heard in Strawberry Fields, the story hinges on two young Ukrainians .....

During the 10th and 11th centuries Ukraine (capital city: Kiev) was the center of the first eastern Slavic state, Kyivan Rus, which was one of, if not the, most powerful state in Europe.

Weakened by internal quarrelling and Mongol invasions, it was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 12th century. Over the following centuries, Ukraine was sometimes part of another state, and sometimes independent, or at least autonomous.

In the 18th century it was absorbed into the Russian Empire. After a few short years of independence following the collapse of czarist Russia, it was conquered by the Soviet Union and endured a brutal period of artificial famines which killed more than 8 million. A further 8 million died in World War II.

It emerged from the rubble of the Soviet Union in 1991 but democracy remained elusive and economic reforms were slow in coming. The "Orange Revolution", frequently referenced in Strawberry Fields/Two Caravans, was a peaceful mass protest in late 2004, which forced the authorities to overturn a rigged presidential election so that reformist Viktor Yushchenko became prime minister. But just two years later internal squabbling led to his rival Viktor Yanukovych becoming prime minister.

Slightly smaller than Texas, Ukraine is bordered by Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, the Blac Sea and the Sea of Azov (map showing Ukraine's location in Europe; map of Ukraine).

Note: Some readers may still think of Ukraine as "The Ukraine". However, shortly after it gained independence from the Soviet Union, the country declared its preference for dropping the article, so it is now properly known as "Ukraine".

Marina Lewycka, the daughter of two Ukrainians who were taken to Germany as forced laborers by the Nazis, was born in a British-run refugee camp in Kiel, Germany, in 1946. Her family settled in the UK shortly after. She studied at Keele University in Staffordshire, and has written a number of books of practical advice for carers of the elderly which have been published by Age Concern. Described as funny, open and energized, she is a longtime resident of Sheffield, England where she used to lecture in media studies at Sheffield Hallam University. She is still attached to the University, but on a part-time basis.

Her first novel, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (2005) was published when she was 58. It tells of the exploits of two feuding sisters trying to save their elderly father from a Ukrainian divorcee, Valentina. It was shortlisted for the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction, and won the 2005 Saga Award for Wit, and the 2005 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize (Lewycka was the first female winner of the prize which is awarded at the Hay literary festival and includes having a pig named after the winning novel!)

Lewycka found the key to unlocking her creative skills in the realization that she could express serious issues through humor. "You get funnier as you get older, but I hadn't connected with my sense of humour. I did for everyday purposes, but [before Tractors] I didn't have the confidence to do it with what I wrote. Tractors felt like a last fling really. I thought, 'What the hell? It doesn't matter what I write. I'll have a laugh and stick it on the internet.'"

She is currently at work on her third book in which there will be "no Ukrainians and no vehicles". She is reticent about the subject matter except to say that, "It's about anger and hate, and I'm looking at Israel and Palestine quite a lot." (more at BookBrowse).

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This "beyond the book article" relates to Strawberry Fields (Two Caravans). It originally ran in October 2007 and has been updated for the April 2008 paperback edition. Go to magazine.

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