Vasil Byka? is one of very few Belarusian writers to have gained a reputation abroad, largely because many of his novels were put into Russian, from which almost all the West European and American translations were made. Indeed, the Soviet authorities were happy to present him to the world as a Russian writer. Famous for non-heroic war novels, and revered for his moral and civic courage, he later in life turned to parables, a new genre in Belarusian literature.
Byka? was born on 16 June 1924 into a peasant family in the village of By?ki in the Lepiel district of Viciebsk province. After completing his seven-year schooling he studied sculpture at the Viciebsk Art School, an institution made famous by such distinguished modernists a…
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