Belarusian literature, Belarusian novel, Belarusian language, European fiction
Abstract
The article presents a reflection on Dogs of Europe (2017), the major work of Al'herd Bacharėvič, a reflection that opens with an introduction to the author's biography and literary career. Both developed intertwined with the history of today's late Soviet, post-Soviet democratic and authoritarian Belarus and the fate of the Belarusian language, suppressed in the Soviet Union, revived in the first half of the 1990s and now marginalised again. This novel is as much about the present moment and future of Belarus and Belarusians as it is about the Europe of individual freedoms and its antithesis in the form of the authoritarian Russian Reich. The Belarusian language and the ability to make individual choices are indicative of democracy and civil liberties, which are completely suppressed in today's Belarus and Russia.
