"Here is dust, war, unita and nightmares...": the image of Angola in the poetry of the Soviet military, participants in the Angolan civil war (1975-2002)

The article is devoted to a socio-historical and cultural phenomenon, designated by the author as «amateur poetry of the Soviet military, participants in the civil war in Angola (1975-2002)». The author reveals the political and psychological reasons for the appeal of soldiers-internationalists to poetic creativity and proves the possibility of using these works as historical sources. A comprehensive analysis of the literary heritage of 17 Soviet military men who served in Angola in the 1970s-1990s was carried out in order to characterize the image of Angola. The author argues that the stereotypes imposed by the literature of the 20th century were continued in the poetry of the Soviet military, for whom the People’s Republic of Angola appeared as a «distant» unknown African country. The dominant feature in creating the image of the country was a landscape built on recognizable memes: red earth, life-giving ocean, savannah, palm trees, papaya, heat. Another traditional motive for Soviet literature was the idea of Angola as «a place of confrontation between the forces of good and evil, socialism and imperialism», therefore, the fulfillment of international duty, cooperation with the «progressive forces of Angola» for these people was considered natural and fully justified. The third myth, reflected in amateur poetry, concerned the «poverty and backwardness» of Angola, and, therefore, its inability to defend its freedom and independence without outside help. The author proves that the stereotypes imposed by Soviet propaganda were refracted in amateur poetry under the influence of reality and time. Angola during the years of the civil war turned out to be not Gumilyov’s «lost paradise», but a «terrible hell», from which not everyone managed to get out; «angolans» turned out to be not a single people dreaming of a «bright socialist future», but a multitude of warring tribes. The secrecy of the participation of the USSR in the conflict in Angola and the unwillingness of the authorities to recognize Soviet military as combatants entitled to appropriate benefits formed the idea of Angola as a country «where Soviet military personnel could not be».