Vasi暮 Byka怒 was born in the village By膷ki, not far from Viciebsk in 1924. In 1941 he was in Ukraine when Germany attacked the USSR. At first seventeen-year-old Byka怒 dug trenches 鈥� then he volunteered for the Red Army. For years after the war he continued to serve, returning to the USSR only in the mid-1950s. There he started to work as a journalist for the Hrodna Pravda newspaper. In that same decade his first novellas began to come out, of which the most famous are "Sotnika怒", "The Obelisk", "To Go and Not Return", and "To Live Till Sunrise". During and after the Perestroika, he participated in pro-reform movement (e.g. Popular Front of Belarus). In October 1993, he signed the Letter of Forty-Two.
Byka怒's literary achievement lies in his sternly realistic, albeit touched by lyricism, depictions of World War II battles, typically with a small number of personages. In the ferociousness of encounter they face moral dilemmas both vis-a-vis their enemies and within their own Soviet world burdened by ideological and political constraints. Byka怒's novellas that are available in English translation, such as "The Dead Feel No Pain" (1965), "The Ordeal" (1970), "Wolf Pack" (1975) and "Sign of Misfortune", challenged the official version of the war. This brought upon the writer vicious accusations of "false humanism" from some Red Army generals and the Communist Party press. "Vasil Bykov is a very courageous and uncompromising writer, rather of the Solzhenitsyn stamp," wrote Michael Glenny in Partisan Review in 1972. Byka怒 was one of the most admired writers in the Soviet Union. In 1980 he was awarded the honorific title of People's Writer of the Belarusian SSR.
Outside of his native country, Vasi暮 Byka怒 is the most widely read Belarusian writer. During the Soviet period, his works were translated into most major languages of the world. However, most of the translations were done on the basis of Russian rendering. Byka怒 wrote all of his works in his native Belarusian language, and translated several of them into Russian by himself. Vasi暮 Byka怒's stature in the life of his country remains enormous. An opponent of Alexander Lukashenko's regime and a supporter of the Belarusian People's Front, he lived abroad for several years (first in Finland, then in Germany and the Czech Republic), but returned to his homeland just a month before his death. The memory of his turbulent life and uncompromising stance on the war have only enhanced his reputation at home and abroad ever since.
The Ordeal is a bleak book. You can perhaps understand why the author had difficulty getting his work accepted or published in the USSR. In a way this could be seen as a small and insignificant work when compared to the greats those literary masterpieces dealing with the Great Patriotic War. Rather than being concerned with epic battles or feats of heroism or exemplary suffering The Ordeal takes a very ordinary mission by two partisan fighters to source food for their group. things go from bad to worse. As they do we see things from the perspective of each fighter and how their actions and decisions draw in others and entangle their lives in the same fateful course. This book is very much about ordinary people in extraordinary situations, how will someone act when their life hangs on whether they will sacrifice another to save themselves, or will risk sacrificing themselves to save their fellow human. It makes for uncomfortable reading the ease with which one might be tempted to betray in the right, or wrong circumstances. As such the book goes beyond the immediate subject and is relevant to humanity through the generations, down to the very behaviour that has spurred human evolution. "In fact he was sacrificing himself in order to save the others, but his self-sacrifice was as necessary to him as it was to them. It was no matter of naive illusions - Sotnikov could not accept that his death was a mere ridiculous coincidence carried out at the will of these drunken traitors. Like every death in battle, his death had to affirm some values and reject others, and as far as possible reach a climax that in life he had not been able to achieve. Otherwise what was the point of life? Life is too great a trial for its end to be faced without due consideration."Bleak as it is, this is a worthwhile read and especially interesting as one which provides a very human look at a relatively mundane task leading to existential challenges.
Bykov (1924-2003) is a Belarusian author, who wrote in Belarusian and translated many of his own works into Russian, which were in turn translted into English. The Ordeal depicts a realistic picture of the Great Patriotic War. It gives an inside glimpse (and first-hand account) of German-occupied Russia, and how some men became partisans and others traitors, helping the German militia. A good intro. in the book would have been helpful, as Bykov is relatively unknown (at least in the West). It's a great book by a masterful writer.
The story is set in a rural area of Belarus, shortly after the occupation by Germany in the second world war. Two main characters (Sotnikov and Rybak) are partisans, trying to find some food for their squad. The well-thought-out narrative shows how a single mistake made in the beginning (Sotnikov volunteered for a mission while being ill) plus a period of bad luck completely ruins the characters' lives. And the worst part of it, also ruins lives of totally innocent civilians, which became partisans鈥� accomplices by accident and later are also executed by the police.
The unusual feature of this book is that it covers the story from the perspectives of two very different personalities. I think it helps to avoid usual good vs bad duality.
Sotnikov, raised in a family of war hero, has very strong ethical principles and holds to them till the end, refusing to give away any secret information and taking all the blame on himself.
Rybak acts heroically by saving Sotnikov in the night fight with the police. But afterward, when sitting in a death row, he decides to betray his friend and join the police force.
The story finishes with a very metaphorical moment when by the order of chief officer Rybak has to help to hang up Sotnikov.
TLDR, I find this book interesting because it covers the following topics: 1. The horror of war - even far away from the frontline people are suffering. 2. Perspectives on the nearness of death from two persons with very different backgrounds.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
"Nie, 啪ivot je jedin谩 re谩lna hodnota pre v拧etko, 膷o existuje, aj pre 膷loveka. Raz v dokonalej 木udskej spolo膷nosti stane sa absol煤tnou kateg贸riou, mierou aj hodnotou v拧etk茅ho. Ka啪d媒 jeden 啪ivot bude hlavn媒m zmyslom 啪ij煤cich bytost铆 a stane sa rovnakou hodnotou aj pre cel煤 spolo膷nos钮, ktorej silu i harm贸niu bude ur膷ova钮 拧钮astie v拧etk媒ch jej 膷lenov." (Vasilij Bykov)