A long way to the house

The Long Way Home, the autobiography of the most important Belarusian writer of the 20th century, at the beginning tastes sweetly of pears from a village orchard near Vitebsk. The idyll quickly gives way to the disasters that befell Belarus in the last century: collectivization, Soviet purges, and the devastating fight against the German invader. Dramatic war experiences cast a shadow over the rest of the writer’s life, but they also brought him worldwide fame. The later the story covers, the less willing the author is to write about himself, and the more willing he is to write about others. We owe him portraits of the most important creators of Soviet literature, insight into the backstage of communist censorship practiced by his own colleagues, and knowledge about the flame of the Belarusian national revival in the late 1980s. Against all odds, A Long Way Home is permeated with the belief in the universal charm of Belarusian culture and its deserved place in Europe.