Description

“Why is Truth So Weak” — a bilingual collection of philosophical, social, and mythological poems by one of the most prominent contemporary Belarusian authors, Aleś Arkuš. Translated into Polish by Beata Siwek, these texts reflect complex questions of national identity, everyday life, and literary self-expression, presented through paradoxes, parables, and authorial irony.

Social, national, ideological, philosophical, aesthetic — the author greedily absorbs everything and experiences it as inherently personal, transforming the ordinary, the mundane, and the overtly social into a wonderful world of unexpected associations, paradoxes, myths, and parables. (Aleś Minkin)

Aleś Arkuš is a Belarusian poet, prose writer, and essayist. He is the author of over twenty books of poetry, prose, essays, and rock song lyrics. His works have been translated into Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, and Spanish. He is the publisher of the legendary samizdat almanac “Kseraks Bielaruski” and its successor “Kałośsie.” Founder of the Society of Free Literati and chairman of the “Hliniany Vieles” literary award committee.

Beata Siwek is a Polish literary scholar, researcher of Belarusian literature and drama, and a translator. Habilitated Doctor in the field of literary studies. She heads the Department of Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian Literatures at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin.