Book: Dmytry Lukashuk, Maxim Goryunov “The Belarusian National Idea”

The book “Беларуская нацыянальная ідэя” (“The Belarusian National Idea” in English) probably would have passed me by entirely if its title hadn’t caught my attention in the news, where it was almost labeled as terrorist. Despite this, it was published in Belarus and even sold in a state-owned bookstore.

Essentially, it is a 600-page compilation of excerpts from 85 interviews with various well-known (whether widely or in smaller circles) Belarusian figures. All the interviews were conducted as part of the “Ідэя X” show on “Euroradio,” hosted by Dmitry Lukashuk and Maxim Goryunov. The central theme of the show was the Belarusian national idea. The hosts posed various questions: what exactly is this idea? Does it even exist? What does it mean to the guest, or how do they envision it? And is it even necessary?

Formally, the book is considered to be in Belarusian, but in reality, it is bilingual. Dmitry asks questions and converses in Belarusian, Maxim in Russian, and the guests respond in whichever language they prefer. Some answer exclusively in Belarusian, others only in Russian, while some guests switch languages, answering each question in the language it was asked. This means that the book can only be fully understood by readers who are fluent in both languages.

Dmitry Lukashuk (“Zmitser Lukashuk” in Belarusian) is a Belarusian, while Maxim Goryunov is a Russian journalist and philosopher. However, in their show, both of them discussed the national idea. Yes, primarily the Belarusian one, but within the conversations, the topic is much broader—what is a national idea in general, what is a nation, how did national self-awareness emerge in different countries and what did it transform into, and so on. They always start their interviews in the same way, with the same question, and then everything depends on the guest and their opinion.

And that’s why I found the book quite interesting, because the opinions expressed are very diverse, sometimes radically different. I agree with some things, I categorically reject others, but everyone has the right to their own view. The authors did not include the interviews word for word in the book; during editing, they left the most interesting parts, in their opinion, otherwise the book would have been several times thicker. And in such editing, it is noticeable how guests often stray very far from the topic—in some cases, nothing remains of the initial question, but instead there are reflections on other topics, which are also quite interesting.

However, there are flaws. It seemed to me that the hosts-authors are too fixated on the topic of the national idea. Yes, I understand that this is the main theme of the show, and they started all interviews with this question. However, when a guest strays far from the original topic, they forcefully return them to the question time after time, even if it’s not interesting to them. Therefore, there is no sense of dialogue. It’s just an interview with strict boundaries, not a dialogue. Although guests with strong positions still stuck to their own viewpoints and maintained their opinions.

Besides this, the book suffers from poor editing; there are mistakes in both Russian and Belarusian, which constantly distracted me, as a grammar Nazi. Moreover, these are editorial flaws, because all the interviews were originally audio.

In total: a look at modern Belarus and its people is very interesting, especially considering that Belarus became a truly independent country only after the collapse of the USSR, just 30 years ago (in terms of the history of modern humanity, this is very little). But the presentation somewhat blurs the impression.

My rating: 3/5