Verbum 1’2019. Digest of the literary and art magazine “Dziejasłoŭ”. Minsk, 2019.
Літаратурна-мастацкі часопіс “Дзеяслоў” выпусціў дайджэст тэкстаў са сваіх апошніх нумароў у перакладзе на англійскую мову. Паэзія, проза, эсэістыка, крытыка, кніжныя навінкі – тут прадстаўлены ўсе жанры, якія ёсць у часопісе.
CONTENTS Паглядзець
POETRY
Valancina Aksak. A Smoke of Mirages. Poems
Taćciana Niadbaj. Via Milky Ways. Poems
Maryja Martysievič. The Sewing Machine of Truth. Poems
Iryna Bielskaja. Christmas candles. Poems
Hanna Komar. A Leave Poem. Poems
PROSE
Uładzimir Niaklajeŭ. Gei Ben-Hinnom. Excerpt from the novel
Alena Brava. Slaughtered Birds’ Day. Excerpt from the“The Sodom Apple Tree”
Siarhiej Dubaviec. The Devil Hitched to the Plough. A Mystical Thriller from the Life of Prague-based Golems
Uładzimir Ściapan. The Bouquet. Miniatures
Valer Hapiejeŭ. Puzzle. Excerpt from the novel
ESSAY
Barys Piatrovič. Chernobyl – the Biting Wind, the Silent Scream.
PERUSAL
Arnold McMillin. A Feminist From Patriarchal Belarus: The Poetry of Volha Hapiejeva
BOOKRONICLE
Cichan Čarniakievič. Knihanoša. Recent book reviews
A Word From “Verbum” Паглядзець
Many a time and oft has it been said by different critics during various discussions that contemporary Belarusian literature is one of the most unknown Eastern European letters and, simultaneously, is one of the most interesting ones. It is possible to agree with the former at once. After all, we do know that the majority of Belarus’s neighbours have programmes and whole institutes aimed at disseminating their own culture and particularly – literature. The current Belarusian authorities do absolutely nothing in this direction; the state does not participate in the largest European book fairs at all. There are no special state-run projects to translate Belarusian prose and poetry into foreign languages. How then can international readers find out that our literature is in fact interesting and off the beaten line, and that we, besides the Nobel Prize laureate Svetlana Alexievich, also have tens of authors who are worth the most careful attention and a closer acquaintance?
Therefore, the independent literary and art magazine “Dziejasłoŭ” has decided to fill up this gap with the help of a digest of texts from its latest issues translated into English. Poetry, prose, essays, criticism, and new books – here one can find all the genres presented in the magazine. Many thanks to everyone who have been part of the implementation of this idea and in particular – to the translator Jim Dingley. We wish our dear readers a pleasant acquaintance with today’s Belarusian literature.
One more thing – there is a problem of transliterating Belarusian proper nouns (people’s names and surnames, toponyms, etc.) with Latin letters. The editorial board of “Verbum” has decided to use the so-called Łacinka, i.e. the Belarusian Latin alphabet, as the basic variant of trans-literation of such words. For the sake of convenience, in the section “Our Authors”, we also resort to a usual way of transcribing Belarusian literati’s names and surnames into English. For those who would like to under-stand more deeply this topic, we offer a table of Romanisation from the Belarusian Latin and Cyrillic scripts to the Latin (English) with reading and pronunciation variants.
