It just so happens that I had never read any works by Vladimir Korotkevich (Uladzimir Karatkevich, if translated from Belarusian), even though my wife really enjoys his writing. I had been planning to for a long time, but I finally decided to start my acquaintance with the relatively short novella King Stakh’s Wild Hunt.
The novella tells the story of the main character, a collector of Belarusian folklore, who travels to distant marshy areas to find local folklore among the people. He’s kind of like Shurik from a famous Soviet film, but from an earlier time and in Belarus, not the Caucasus.
Luck smiles upon him, and he quickly learns about the legend of the Wild Hunt of King Stakh—phantom hunters who torment all the descendants of an ancient noble family. Since the last descendant is a lovely young woman, the main character decides to investigate the situation and protect the innocent victim. It’s a detective story with a blend of Belarusian motifs and constant reflections on the place of ordinary people in history. Initially, the narrative progresses slowly and measuredly, but after about a third, the pace changes, and events start to unfold more and more rapidly.
However, as I kept reading, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a sort of “Belarusianized” version of The Hound of the Baskervilles. There are just too many plot similarities. And after reading some articles about this novella, I see I’m not the only one with that opinion. Of course, the setting and atmosphere are completely different here, and the author examines the events through the lens of class relations, something Arthur Conan Doyle didn’t do. But still, it’s impossible to stop comparing the two works constantly. For me personally, the differences were too few, and I couldn’t fully detach myself from the comparison. Although, I did thoroughly enjoy the book, especially reading it in the beautiful Belarusian language.
My rating: 3/5
