Who Gets to Write About Ordinary Life?
Sergey Davydov and other migrant writers challenge the demand to be political symbols.
1The Right to Ordinary
Sergey Davydov’s latest work, Midwest, challenges the expectation that queer migrant writers must produce political manifestos. Alongside authors like Abdellah Taïa and Bobuq Sayed, Davydov asserts a bold demand for the freedom to be ordinary. These writers resist being reduced to symbols, aiming instead to rescue a shared, increasingly endangered human experience.
2From Playwright to Exile
Before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Davydov was a celebrated Russian playwright, winning national awards for his work. His life changed when he publicly opposed the war and came out as gay. Facing state persecution in a country where queer identity is labeled extremist, he was forced to flee to Germany.
3Genre-Defying Autofiction
Midwest is a hybrid work of autofiction that eschews the commercialized 'truth-telling' common in modern memoirs. Davydov incorporates poetry, WhatsApp screenshots, and sparse, direct prose to document his life over the past four years. He deliberately avoids turning his traumatic displacement into an ideological object lesson for the reader’s consumption.
4Love as Organizing Principle
While history provides ample material for political drama, Davydov refuses to make hatred the center of his narrative. His inner world is organized by his love for his partner, Jasper, and a desire for domestic stability. He explicitly rejects the burden of proving his right to exist as a normal person.
5The Burden of Proof
Davydov’s frustration with the German asylum system highlights the cruelty of his situation. He expresses exhaustion at having to constantly justify his right to a normal life, a struggle he faced in Russia and continues abroad. He simply wants a home, a husband, and the space to continue his creative work.
6Resisting Political Weaponization
In an era where private lives are often weaponized for ideological points, Davydov’s desire for an ordinary life remains stubbornly apolitical. Unlike viral influencers who use domesticity as a billboard, he seeks no political utility in his marriage. He views his relationship as a private bond, not a tool for public discourse.
7The Trap of Activism
Davydov critiques the tendency to treat marginalized people as de facto activists. By forcing every aspect of a queer migrant’s life into the public square for scrutiny, society risks repeating the original violence of dehumanization. He argues that a home and a husband should not require extraordinary courage to pursue.
8Solidarity Without Archetypes
Abdellah Taïa’s novel, Debout dans tes rêves, mirrors this thematic struggle. Set in Paris, it follows Majid, a Moroccan student whose simple act of comforting a crying child is viewed with suspicion by passers-by. The scene illustrates how the world constantly demands that migrant stories explain themselves through a political lens.
9Intellectual Confinement
Taïa’s protagonist faces institutional pressure to abandon his research on the painter Fragonard. His advisor insists he instead write about the prohibition of images in Islam, effectively confining him to his ethnic background. This demand highlights how liberal institutions often limit the intellectual freedom of writers from non-Western or migrant contexts.
10The Cost of Visibility
The irony of Davydov’s work is that his circumstances are extraordinary precisely because his desires are so unremarkable. To read him only as a dissident or a political symbol is to strip him of his individuality. He asks the reader to let him occupy a self rather than a convenient archetype.
11Refusing the Fun-House Mirror
If authoritarianism seeks to destroy individuality by forcing people into rigid categories, our response should not be a mirror version of that same reduction. Davydov and Taïa argue that true liberation involves being recognized as fully human, beyond the reach of political co-option. Their work demands we stop extracting universal meanings.
12A Radical Act
The most radical act of solidarity left is to stop demanding that every human story explain the world. By allowing Davydov and Taïa to simply tell their stories, we acknowledge their right to an ordinary life. Their literature serves as a necessary reminder that humanity exists outside the reach of political conflict.
Original article: Literary Hub — Who Gets to Write About Ordinary Life?