Viktor Martinovich, one of the most famous young Belarusian writers, presented in several German cities his seventh novel “Revolution”, written back in 2013, recently published in German and banned in his homeland.
Its action takes place in Moscow in the early 2000s and has nothing to do with the Belarusian protests. In an interview with DW, Martinovich explained how the novel would be of interest to readers in Germany, and also told how he survived the post-protest year and what Belarusians can hope for now.
DW: Attention to Belarus after last year’s mass protests has grown in Europe and in relation to Belarusian literature. How will your novel be of interest to the German reader?
Victor Martinovich: I am much more interested in a thinking European who is capable of cultural interest. Let’s admit to ourselves that Belarus has not existed on the European map so far. No one knew our writers, our performances were not staged in European theaters. But in a country that does not exist, you can do whatever you want. And most importantly, no one will know about it!
Because of this, the interest in culture places us in a context with which we must all conform. We (Belarusians. – Ed.) we cease to be a blank spot on the map, they begin to read us. And here the most important point is the quality of the books we write. If we are able to create books that Europeans read like books to themselves, then we will stay. People are people everywhere, and there is nothing Belarusian in this situation.
Fear has no geography, love has no geography. I am very upset when we trade our pain. We shouldn’t trade in pain because it is a commodity that spoils very quickly. There is always much more pain around us than ears ready to listen to it. We must talk about beauty, because beauty remains. These are the goals I set for myself as I approach this market.
– “Revolution” is not a novel about protests in Belarus, but at the beginning of 2021 it was banned in the country. Why such a reaction?
– This is a book about power, about its nature. Perhaps someone did not like such global reasoning about what power is in general and what submission is, why the refusal of freedom is so sweet. But here I am probably idealizing someone. Most likely, it was just an instinct that worked: “The word” revolution “on the cover should probably be banned!” But in this case, I am very bitter, because the book is not to blame for this. She didn’t deserve such a fate.
German edition of the novel “Revolution” by Viktor Martinovich
It would be useful for everyone to read this book: both those who forbade, and those who did not take it seriously, having discovered that it was not about the Belarusian protests. In fact, it’s about everything – and about the situation in Belarus in 2020 too. It’s just that it is told in the mode in which fiction works. I don’t consider myself a documentary filmmaker. It is interesting for me to talk about something that has always been and always will be.
Is this novel more about power or submission?
– The main character is involved in a very muddy story that destroys his soul. Finding himself in a situation of danger, he begins to play according to the rules that are actively imposed on him. But about half the story, he turns into a completely different creature. A being who enjoys the benefits of a situation of submission. And most importantly – from the situation when you do not need to choose.
His personal revolution begins the moment it touches his girlfriend. This is also a romance about love, because only a very personal one can make you give up a sweet situation when you do not participate in a choice, give up freedom. Only a free person can love, that is the problem, everyone else can only multiply.
– Year ago you didn’t believe in protests, but you believed that this was a turning point and there was hope. Do Belarusians have any hope now?
– I proceed from the fact that only good can change the world for the better. Violence, even retaliatory, does not lead to the triumph of some kind of virtue. If you start breaking the law after the one who broke it first, you are not creating a society of justice and order. Therefore, the hope is for those who saw everything, understood everything and began to build their actions in such a way that there was as little evil in them as possible.
Because any revolution takes place inside a person, in a human heart. I hope so. Slaves do not make revolution, slaves are only capable of rebellion. Any revolt is completely successfully suppressed by a trained army, which from morning to evening does only what it trains.
– As a writer, did you feel any responsibility to the public during the year after the presidential elections in Belarus?
– I tried to make sure that my words did not force anyone to break their destiny. Moreover, this happened at a time when the responsibility of the writer, many intellectuals perceived the responsibility for what you should call somewhere and so on. But since I did not have any illusions, as I do not have them now, I understood that with my immoderate enthusiasm I could cripple someone’s fate, the fate of those people who believe me.
– How did you manage to survive this time yourself?
– It was very difficult for me, as a creative person who experiences everything very acutely. I could neither read nor watch, somehow emotionally not get involved. The immersion in all this caused a lot of trauma. When your ideas about legality, about responsibility as a result of your actions are taken away from you and instead they offer you a picture of the world in which some terrible things can happen to any person just like that, it is difficult to cope with it. We will take a very long time to disentangle the consequences (of what happened in Belarus. – Ed.).
– You are often called the master of predictions. Can you give any forecast for the near future of Belarus?
– I stopped pinning my hopes on politics in Belarus and look for joy in things that are enduring, for example, in literature, in culture. I understand that I am not destined to change anything now. My task is to create some kind of cultural product, which, perhaps, will eventually take part in the chorus of those people who will bring up some new Belarus, which I absolutely do not hope to find. But this is not a forecast, it is a general feeling. The scenarios that I have in my head, I will not voice, they are very pessimistic.
– When there is such a pessimistic outlook on the future, is there at least sense to support people morally?
– This is moral support, because all the other types of it – encouragement, leaving a certain feeling that if you wait a little longer, then everything will change – are just very unethical. You give people that hope for the future, which you yourself no longer see. I don’t think a writer should be optimistic or model the future, because a writer is not a politician. Our task is to share our understanding in those places where this understanding is present.
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