When "The Ear of Your Scythe" was released in Russian in 1979 with a print run of 100,000 copies, Minsk taxi drivers sold them. Karatkevich was that popular
On March 12, the first foreign edition of Uladzimir Karatkevich's novel "The Ear of Your Scythe," published by the "Kamunikat.org" foundation, was presented at the Belarusian Solidarity Center in Warsaw. The presentation was attended by the head of the foundation Yaroslav Ivanyuk, writer Uladzimir Arlou, and also philologist and former political prisoner Aliaksandr Fiaduta. "Belsat" attended the event.
"I lead the 'Kamunikat.org' foundation, the same organization that the KGB and Lukashenka's regime declared an 'extremist formation' on March 3, along with other publishers, by inventing some 'coalition of publishing houses' that neither existed nor exists in nature. This is a fake thrown by the KGB to attach criminal cases to people they arrested a few weeks ago. It is very and very sad. But we are not giving up; we will continue to do what we have been doing – publishing books and expanding the library," said Yaroslav Ivanyuk, founder of the 'Kamunikat.org' foundation, at the beginning of the meeting.
"Apparently, the KGB of Belarus truly has a cell that deals with political anecdotes and invents such absurd situations," Ivanyuk added, also mentioning the situation with Dorota Mikhaluk's book "Belarusian People's Republic 1918—1920": this book had previously been included in the list of publications whose content allegedly "could harm the national interests of the Republic of Belarus."
"On those tables lies the weapon of 'extremism' in Belarusian"
Uladzimir Karatkevich's famous novel "The Ear of Your Scythe," published by the "Kamunikat.org" foundation, is the first foreign edition of this work. According to Yaroslav Ivanyuk, the idea to publish the novel in Poland emerged in 2023, when this work was removed from the school curriculum in Belarus.
The publisher admitted that he really wanted the book to appear by Karatkevich's 95th birth anniversary, which falls in 2025, but it was not possible. Although, as Ivanyuk notes, it was sent to print precisely on the writer's birthday – November 26. The book saw the light of day in 2026.
Yaroslav Ivanyuk
"The book we published is a book without censorship edits. I should note that 'The Ear of Your Scythe' had already been published uncensored in Belarus – by 'Popurri' publishing house and in Karatkevich's 25-volume edition ('Mastatskaya Litaratura', 2014). But we turned to Valiantsina Andreyeva, who once wrote a dissertation on this novel and now also heads an 'extremist formation' – the 'Gutenberg' publishing house. We turned to her (Valiantsina Andreyeva also worked on the text of the 2014 edition. – Ed.) to help prepare a text that, figuratively speaking, Karatkevich himself would have wanted to print," Yaroslav Ivanyuk recounted.
According to Ivanyuk, the 2026 edition contains nothing that wasn't in the text of the 25-volume novel. The only difference is that some words and linguistic forms in the 2014 edition were non-canonical. In the new edition of the novel, for the first time, Ivanyuk claims, words like "Belarusian," "Moskal," "Prydniaprouye," and others that Karatkevich used are restored.
The publisher says that Valiantsina Andreyeva managed to restore a version of the novel closer to the author's vision.
Yaroslav Ivanyuk also noted the excellent work of artist and designer Arthur Vakarau, who prepared the cover for the edition.
"The Ear of Your Scythe" is not the first book with the label "uncensored" published by "Kamunikat.org." In 2024, the foundation published a book by Vasil Bykau, which included the novellas "The Dead Don't Hurt" and "Liquidation" (the author's title for the novella "Sotnikau") without censored cuts. In total, since 2021, "Kamunikat" has published more than 70 books by Belarusian authors.
"Please, on those tables lies the weapon of 'extremism' in Belarusian. Buy yours!" – encouraged Yaroslav Ivanyuk, the publisher, for those present to buy the publishing house's books.
Uladzimir Arlou: Karatkevich gave us back our heroes
Writer Uladzimir Arlou spoke during the meeting about the immense significance of Uladzimir Karatkevich for Belarusian culture and about the strong influence Karatkevich's work had personally on him as an author and writer.
Belarusian history before Karatkevich, Arlou reflected, was "a history without heroes, where grey, faceless masses acted, whose only concern was to fight for reunification with the fraternal Russian people."
"Uladzimir Karatkevich gave us back our heroes," stated Uladzimir Arlou.
"Contrary to this impoverished history, which could foster not patriotism but only a complex of national inferiority, Karatkevich came to us. And this was a window into a world of completely different history, one to be proud of. And this was a history with its heroes and glorious victories. What a joy it was to learn from Karatkevich's books and his brilliant essays that, for example, our cities lived by Magdeburg Law, that we had an era of the Renaissance, that knighthood existed on our lands..." – Uladzimir Arlou continued.
The writer shared memories from his student years, when in 1974, almost the entire history faculty course at BSU skipped lectures to queue up at the "Central Bookshop," where a collection of Uladzimir Karatkevich's works, "From Past Centuries," was due to go on sale that day.
"The queue was long but very civilized. When the doors opened, everyone entered and started buying several copies of this book in a grey-blue cover. I remember the saleswomen were simply overwhelmed, carrying bundles of books. Then someone ordered: no more than two books per person! In my childhood, bread was sold that way," Uladzimir Arlou recalled, adding that on the same day everyone saw a "phantasmagorical sight" – elephants (which turned out to be circus elephants) walking along Minsk Avenue.
The collection "From Past Centuries" featured the first book format publication of "King Stakh's Wild Hunt." When the novella was released in Russian in 1979 in "Neman" magazine (with a huge print run of 100,000 copies) – that magazine, as Arlou says, was sold by Minsk taxi drivers. Not vodka – literature! Karatkevich was that popular.
"Karatkevich returned to us not just history. He returned to us a non-Soviet identity. He offered it to us, and we gratefully accepted it. And we must understand that without identity, there is no resistance. He led us to the moment of truth," said Uladzimir Arlou.
The writer noted that Uladzimir Karatkevich's name is not sufficiently honored in Belarus (monuments to the writer stand in Vitsebsk and Kyiv, but not in Minsk). However, the best monuments to Karatkevich are his books.
"The chief specialist in all spheres in Belarus has repeatedly said, addressing writers, that he 'has no time' to read books, but he knows that Belarusian writers have not written 'War and Peace.' Give me 'War and Peace,' he says. We do have our 'War and Peace'! It is 'The Ear of Your Scythe.' And this book is incredibly more important to us!" – noted writer Uladzimir Arlou.
Fiaduta: I don't believe Karatkevich could have finished his novel
The question remains whether Karatkevich completed the third part of the novel. According to Uladzimir Arlou's version, which Adam Maldzis also adhered to, the continuation of the novel existed and was stolen from the writer's apartment in June 1982. As Uladzimir Arlou states, there is even a receipt from Karatkevich, sent to the "Mastatskaya Litaratura" publishing house, in which the writer promised to submit the conclusion of "The Ear..." by the end of December 1982. According to the publishing house's plan, the final part of the novel was supposed to be released in 1984.
Philologist and former political prisoner Aliaksandr Fiaduta, who wrote a book of commentaries on "The Ear of Your Scythe" in a KGB pre-trial detention cell, admitted during the presentation that he does not believe in the existence of the third part of the novel.
"I don't believe that Karatkevich could have finished a novel in which his beloved heroes become murderers, because an uprising is always war and killings. That's what happened," said Aliaksandr Fiaduta, adding that this is only his opinion.
Fiaduta explained that he does not believe in the existence of the third part of "The Ear..." because Karatkevich described not historical truth, but poetic truth – a higher truth. While imprisoned in Minsk's "Amerikanka," Aliaksandr Fiaduta tried to prove this to his investigator, who initially promised to facilitate the manuscript's release but, after reading it, not only did not hand it over but also did not return it to the author. He found something in the text that could "harm the state interests of the Republic of Belarus."
To retrieve the manuscript of commentaries, Aliaksandr Fiaduta refused to take medication in the pre-trial detention center for a month and almost died. The text was saved.
Aliaksandr Fiaduta
The former political prisoner also recounted that, even before his imprisonment, he was inspired to write about Karatkevich's novel by the Polish book "Lexicon 'The Doll'" with numerous commentaries on the main Polish novel of the 19th century – Bolesław Prus's "The Doll." After acquiring the "Lexicon" in Warsaw, Fiaduta thought that Belarusians also have a book that requires a lot of knowledge for a good understanding. He gathered his friends – historians and literary scholars – around the idea of publishing it, but the project did not materialize due to lack of time. In prison, however, "there was more than enough of this resource," Aliaksandr Fiaduta noted.
The premiere of the book, which consists of commentaries on the novel "The Ear of Your Scythe" (50 articles), will take place, according to Aliaksandr Fiaduta, in May 2026 during the Warsaw Book Fair.
"I think this will be a very necessary addition to this wonderful edition of 'The Ear of Your Scythe,'" Aliaksandr Fiaduta summarized.
The new edition of Uladzimir Karatkevich's famous novel can be purchased in Warsaw at the bookstore "Knihaŭka" or ordered from the "Kamunikat.org" store.
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