Сцюжа

In the post-Soviet novella Bitter Cold readers discover Bykau as they know him and as they have never known him as a writer. Vasil Bykau’s deep worry about Belarus’ fate expressed in his works has always been in demand at different time and age. The novella is about Belarusians’ complicated fates before and during World War II. It is also about the fate of the nation. It explores the causes of the spiritual dead-end, in which the nation found itself at the turn of the 20th and 21st century. This is not a book students usually read at school. Bykau is different, he is honest and sincere; he offers an insight into the tragedy of the Belarusian people. He blames the tragedy on spiritless Soviet totalitarianism, exacerbated by the Nazi occupation, not just on the beginning of the war. After the occupation ended Belarus remained under self-occupation as Bykau says in his book. As usual, Bykau’s novella is notable for its open and trustful narrative that makes readers reflect on the Belarusians’ fates in the past and the future. (Z.K.)