Novel about Belarus: The EU Commission expresses deep concern

It occurs to him that the Belarusian translation of Orwell’s dystopian classic was included in the index, as was Joseph Brodsky’s “Ballad of the Little Tugboat” – a children’s poem. “In order to understand absurdity, you sometimes have to become an absurdity yourself,” he continues.

“Good Wins” is the polemical title of Viktor Martinowitsch’s new novel. He shows how absurdity and cruelty, how surveillance and punishment intertwine in Lukashenko–Dictatorship. Martinovich is a famous author in Belarushis first novel “Paranoia” was banned in 2009 because the criticism of the regime was apparently all too obvious.

His works are published abroad

His works, including his latest, can often only appear abroad. The author still lives in Belarus today and teaches at a university in Vilnius. So he’s also talking about himself when he says that you have to become an absurdity if you want to understand it.

In “The Good Wins” Martinowitsch traces modern-day Belarus – with its propagandists and its sham justice, its repressions and thuggish special units, but also with its resistant civil society, here in the form of a theater ensemble that is probably modeled on the Belarus Free Theater.

He incorporates a number of cultural-historical references, from Joan of Arc to the French Revolution and the Dreyfus Affair to pop culture during the Perestroika period. In his book, a brave fighter against the government is called Lady Di; the protagonist’s philosophy professor has a cat named Heidegger. When she is arrested, he is supposed to save the animal from her apartment; Heidegger is threatened with starvation.

Joan of Arc and Belarusian women

The main character Matwej initially occupies a kind of observer position, who first reflects on what is happening and is gradually drawn into the plot. Matwej is an actor, he is supposed to play a supporting role in the fictional play “The Earthly Judgment” by the fictional author Romuald Yehudis. It deals with the Joan of Arc material, and the reference to women as protagonists of the Belarusian opposition is clearly visible.

The play must be approved by the censors of an “acceptance committee” – this first demands that scenes be omitted before the play is canceled completely and the artistic director of the theater is fired. Joan of Arc fails on stage, her revenants fail on the street.

Martinowitsch succeeds in portraying the dictator and his lackeys, especially with the help of a profound sense of humor that flashes up again and again and with which he exposes the ridiculous fake news about the West and the personality cult surrounding Lukashenko.

But the author’s criticisms are also directed against the West and the EU; After Matvey himself is later imprisoned and then released again, American celebrity colleagues show solidarity, but cannot even pronounce his name and mistake Belarus for Russia. And fellow campaigner Polina informs him that his case has become a political issue in Europe: “The EU Commission has expressed its concern twice in your case. First simple concern. Then deep concern.”

It’s worth reading, and not just because of the mini-points that run through the novel. “The Good Wins” can already be considered one of the great books about the leaden Belarus in the period after the defeated revolution in 2020. Anyone who wants to know how Lukashenko has killed the people of Belarus since then will find out in a nutshell in this reference-rich, demanding, but not over-taxing plot. The language is fast, sharp, pointed. Good wins? Anyone who has read this book will have the greatest doubts about this, even now that many political prisoners are being released and Lukashenko’s course seems unclear. And express concern. Deep concern.