Puppy years

"Puppy Years" — for the first time in Belarusian! The memoirs of Melkhior Vankovich — a descendant of a Belarusian noble family — tell about life on Belarusian lands during a crucial historical time: from the uprising of 1863 to the events of the 1920s. The book is filled with humor, controversial thoughts, and historical sincerity, which once inspired Karatkevich himself.

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The memoirs of the Polish writer Melchior Wankowicz (1892–1974) have not yet been translated into Belarusian, although they are primarily of interest to the Belarusian reader. The author is a descendant of a wealthy gentry family, born in the Kalyuzhychy estate (now the Berezinsky district). His "Puppy Years" depicts Belarus at the crossroads of historical eras - from the uprising of 1863 to the Soviet-Polish war of 1920. The book is fascinating to read: there is both lively humor and profound worldviews. The memoirs were published in 1934, they reflect the thinking of a person from a distant era, there is much to disagree with. But the literary and historical value is undeniable: Wankowicz's book was once inspired by Uladzimir Karatkevich. So, long before the translation, "Puppy Years" became a phenomenon of Belarusian literature.