A trilingual reading and conversation about art, literature and an alternative future for Belarus. Thursday, May 30, 6:30 pm.
When in 2014 the 3rd novel of Victor Martinovich Mova appeared in Belarus, it sounded like a dark dystopia. Today, the still remaining copies of Belarusian literary classics have become “illegal” like drugs. What is this all about in a country whose government praised national culture, literature and theater?
In 2016, as Martinovich toured in Germany with Voland und Quist’s translation of Mova, he talked about the upcoming big war. Again, it sounded like a delusion, since Belarus, Russia and Ukraine were “best Slavic friends” with each other forever. In May 2022, the Ukrainian translation of Mova was about to appear in Kiev, but it never happened, because of the war: the biggest war in Europe since 1945.
Victor's debut novel Paranoia foresaw the atmosphere of 2021-2024. His last published novel, Revolution, tells the story of failed uprisings (in the Fall of 2020, when there were still so many illusions in Belarus and about Belarus). It is also a story about the futility of the struggle for power, since Lancelot is always the next Dragon (as in Evgeny Shvarts’ eponymous play).