A Darkness of Interest

The 2022 Russian invasion seemingly brought an end to bestselling author Illarion Pavliuk’s literary career. The writer re-enlisted in the armed forces and, over the past two years, moved from the battlefield to senior positions in the Ministry of Defense.  More recently, he became the leader of the Main Intelligence Directorate‘s Press and Information Department. 

Lviv’s Old Lion Publishing House released Illarion Pavliuk’s I See You Are Interested in Darkness (Ia Bachu, Vas Tsikavit’ Pit’ma) in 2020. When his novel came out, many reviewers immediately drew parallels between Pavliuk’s work and the novels of American Stephen King. Both reveal evil’s continuously grinding assault on human kindness in ways which transgress the boundaries of reality. The darkness described in Pavliuk’s 639-page noir detective story seems ever present during Ukraine’s wartime struggles. These connections between fiction and reality probably explain the novel’s continuing bestseller status.

The novel is both deeply embedded in Ukraine and reminiscent of stories found elsewhere. Pavliuk’s detective hero Andri Gaister arrives in a small village, Buskiv Sad, to help local authorities find a missing girl, Nadya. Gaister quickly realizes that there is much more happening in what seems to be an idyllic village. As he asks around, he learns that a serial killer—the Beast—has been mutilating women’s bodies. Moreover, he realizes that “the Beast” might not even exist. But if not, who is perpetrating this bloodshed? The more he looks for the culprit behind these mysterious brutalities, the more he comes to see fear and impenetrable indifference at the heart of human darkness. Evil thrives in the dark spaces left.

War leaves little room for indifference and ignorance. The 2022 Russian invasion has forced all Ukrainians to examine what matters to them, and to determine how they will respond. Unlike the denizens of Pavliuk’s Buskiv Sad, contemporary real-life Ukrainians have brought as much light to bear on the evil attacking them as they can. I See You Are Interested in Darkness offers a guide to how to engage one’s personal sins, and society’s failings and capabilities.

Ukrainian readers knew Pavliuk before his current position and his latest bestseller. Born in the Kherson region a decade before Ukrainian independence, he and his parents moved to Sakhalin in the Russian Far East for most of his teenage years. He returned to Ukraine and settled in Luhansk, where he earned a university degree in journalism. He moved to Kyiv and started a successful television career, initially as an international journalist covering the Arab-Israeli conflict. He later became editor in chief at TV channel K1 and moved on to direct the 2007 Documentary Film Studio. In 2015, he volunteered to fight against Russian aggression in the Donbas.

Pavliuk eventually settled with his family in Ivano-Frankivsk, where he launched a documentary film studio as well as a community-oriented Non-Governmental Organization. He published his first novel, White Ashes, in 2018, followed by a Christmas anthology, and a space adventure novel. The appearance of ISee You Are Interested in Darkness in 2020 took his writing career to new heights.

Darkness pervades Pavliuk’s writing, television recording, and documentary films. Spending time in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank ended any illusions about human nature. The experiences in an independent Ukraine struggling to secure its place in the world amplified his sense of the shadows within the human spirit. His opposition to Russia’s claims to Ukraine demolished whatever connections he had to the country of his adolescence. The Devil has always been a local call away, throughout each chapter of his biography. His acute appreciation of the destructiveness of indifference became further refined until it spilled out on the pages of his massive novel.

Pavliuk captures widespread contradictions and ambiguities in Ukrainian life and human existence, opacities which mark the uncertainties of post-independence Ukraine. The continuing popularity of his novel reveals how many Ukrainians share his own interest in darkness. After 2022, indifference was no longer an option for its readers. 

The opinions expressed in this article are those solely of the author and do not reflect the views of the Kennan Institute.