Friday 14 November 2014

Valiantsin Akudovich

Valiantsin Akudovich (1950), Belarusian: Валянцін Акудовіч
Belarusian writer, philosopher and literary critic.
After having worked in a number of institutions that were far from literature, Akudovich entered the literary and philosophical arena in the 1990’s. His literary works usually present a combination of philosophical reflections and fiction. As a writer and a philosopher he is deeply concerned by the way a human being exists in the world and communicates with it. Akudovich is the author of such books as “I Don’t Exist. Reflections Between Ruins of Humanity” (1998), “To Destroy Paris” (2004), “Dialogues with God” (2006), “Code of Absence. Basics of Belarusian mentality”. Several works by Akudovich were published in the USA, Poland, Russia, Czech Republic and other countries. His book “Dialogues with God” was translated into Polish (2008).
In 2012, his latest book called “Book about Nothing” was published. As the author described it, it is the culmination of his reflections started in the essay “I Don’t Exist”, where he contemplated about The Nothing and The Absent. In the novel, he addresses or even controverts all the previous philosophical tradition, from Parmenides to Heidegger and Sartre.

Akudovich received several awards, ranging from military medals to awards from the Belarusian PEN-Center and the Hlinyany Vyales award.

29 comments:

Unknown said...

Valiancin Akudovich recently took part in the project called 'The Flying University' - a public initiative aimed at developing the Belarusian intellectual and cultural space and at performing the role of the National University in Belarus. He held a lecture in Minsk on 14th November.

Unknown said...

You can watch the video from this lecture here, it's in Belarusian though.

Unknown said...

As the article above says, he worked in a lot of different working spheres. In several factories, served in the army and was a watchman. Worked at the Minsk School of Tourism and the Belarusian Branch of the Institute of Tourism. Held positions at 'Kultura' weekly, 'Krynica', 'Frahmenty', 'Pamizh' magazines and several other publications.

Unknown said...

A short biography and a few words about some of his books with a download links (also in Belarusian) here

Diana Kubrická said...

Valiantsin Akudovich: Belarusans don’t want to be a part of Russia

http://en.eurobelarus.info/news/politics/2013/01/24/valiantsin-akudovich--belarusans-don-t-want-to-be-a-part-of-russia.html

Diana Kubrická said...

Valiantsin Akudovich: Absence is the incredible potentiality

http://en.eurobelarus.info/news/society/2012/11/06/public_lecture_of_Valiantsin_Akudovich_about_the_metaphysics_of_absence.html

Diana Kubrická said...

MEDIA AS A MYTHS FACTORY OR THE STUDY OF ONE AESTHETIC DEFEAT

Valiantsin AKUDOVICH,

Belarusian Association of Journalists, Belarusian Collegium

http://www.bk.baj.by/medyjiupost/eng/akudovicz_eng.htm

Diana Kubrická said...

Valiantsin Akudovich: Ignore and get rid of Colorado beetles

Until Russia remains to be imperial, it will continually pose threat to Belarus and the surrounding world.
Ribbons of Saint George are becoming increasingly popular in Belarus, though after the war with Ukraine was launched, these ribbons became the symbol of a fratricidal war, the symbol of wild outburst of separatists observed today in the south-east Ukraine.

http://en.eurobelarus.info/news/politics/2014/05/09/valiantsin-akudovich-ignore-and-get-rid-of-colorado-beetles.html

Diana Kubrická said...

A philosopher Valiantsin Akudovich says that “Russian language hasn’t yet managed to defeat Belarusan language”. “However, at the same time Belarusan language didn’t manage to oppose Russian language so that it retreats to its historical homeland, Russia.”


http://en.eurobelarus.info/news/politics/2014/05/09/valiantsin-akudovich-ignore-and-get-rid-of-colorado-beetles.html

Unknown said...

Article : A Belarusan philosopher Valiantsin Akudovich´s about : "Belarus didn’t have Maidan as the regime has more opportunities for repression" interview from 2014 .
"- What do you think about the future that awaits Ukraine?" asked reporter.
"- Well, I’m no soothsayer. There is hard and complicated road that lies ahead of Ukrainians. There are different reasons for that: Ukraine is much less united than Belarus; it has to act as one to become one nation, and Maidan plays important role in this process. ..." he replied.

http://en.eurobelarus.info/news/politics/2014/02/04/valiantsin-akudovich-belarus-didn-t-have-maidan-as-the-regime-has-more-opportunities-for-repression.html

Unknown said...

Very interesting article from 2012: "Valiantsin Akudovich: A lot of political emigrants feel out of place in Belarus"

“I wouldn’t overestimate their influence on the Western expert communities, especially political ones. There is no doubt that some contacts are being formed; perhaps, something will come out of these contacts. But until now I don’t know any example so that some initiatives (whether it is Eastern Partnership, or the sanctions, or the black lists for the civil servants) come out of the fact that they are lobbied and pulled by the emigrant forces”, noted the interlocutor of the “EuroBelarus”.

http://en.eurobelarus.info/news/politics/2012/11/02/Valiatsin_Akudovich_on_political_emigration_from_Belarus.html

Unknown said...

Here are few words from an interview with Valiatsin Akudovich talking to Radio Svaboda about the regime, elections and his support for Mikalai Statkevich.

More: http://charter97.org/en/news/2015/8/3/162870/

Unknown said...

In year 2013 the philosopher Valiantsin Akudovich came up with opinion that even if its surprising Belarus has not formed any political party that would support their country’s annexation to Russia. Moreover almost 40 per cent supported close relations with Russia. He believed that “most Belarusans have a gene of independence lying somewhere deep. It doesn’t show itself formally, as they can be negative about Belarusan language, can be for the union with Russia in many different formats. But they do not respond to the idea of becoming part of Russia”.

http://en.eurobelarus.info/news/politics/2013/01/24/valiantsin-akudovich--belarusans-don-t-want-to-be-a-part-of-russia.html

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

He was the protagonist of idea that the main role of the media in nowadays world is not the production and sale of information as it would seem at first sight but namely the production of myths.

http://old.belcollegium.org/medyjiupost/eng/akudovicz_eng.htm

Unknown said...

Valiantsin Akudovich’s public lecture “The metaphysics of the absence: how impossible becomes possible” from “Urbi et Orbi” lecture circuit coincided with the presentation of his book

http://en.eurobelarus.info/news/society/2012/11/06/public_lecture_of_Valiantsin_Akudovich_about_the_metaphysics_of_absence.html

Unknown said...

Out of Belarusian Collegium
MEDIA AS A MYTHS FACTORY OR THE STUDY OF ONE AESTHETIC DEFEAT

http://old.belcollegium.org/medyjiupost/eng/akudovicz_eng.htm

Unknown said...

Valiantsin Akudovich for Eurobelarus

http://en.eurobelarus.info/news/politics/2014/02/04/valiantsin-akudovich-belarus-didn-t-have-maidan-as-the-regime-has-more-opportunities-for-repression.html

Nikola Lanczova said...

You can watch this video from the last year:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYx9mWKcC1g&feature=youtu.be

Nikola Lanczova said...

Visegrad Literary Award - Belarus author Valiantsin Akudovich was in 2014 nominated for this award by his written book named: Кніга пра Нішто / A Book About Nothing. Unfortunetely he didn't win.

You can check winners from the last year there:
http://veapla.eu/cena14c.html

Nikola Lanczova said...

Valiantsin Akudovich: Absence is the incredible potentiality

http://en.eurobelarus.info/news/society/2012/11/06/public_lecture_of_Valiantsin_Akudovich_about_the_metaphysics_of_absence.html

His well known quote: “Human is the one who knows that Non-existence exists”.

Unknown said...

Andrei Khadanovich:
He recalled the metaphor by Belarusian philosopher Valiantsin Akudovich, who called one of his books Archipelago Belarus. “No one would ever touch a plain unremarkable conformist publisher, but Lohvinau bookshop had no censorship and self-censorship, which annoys me and which we have a lot in Belarus,” Khadanovich said.

http://charter97.org/en/news/2015/1/12/134869/

Unknown said...

Nelly Bekus: ,,The issue of Belarusian language policy can be analyzed in two different dimensions –as an
element of nation-building strategy in post-Soviet Belarus, and as a part of linguistic human rights
discourse, which refers to legal, moral as well as to emotional aspects of current Belarusian
language legislation and practice.´´

Unknown said...

“There is no doubt that Kremlin will never yield to Belarus, - noticed the philosopher. – But I don’t think that he will do it through formation and support of some pro-Russian organizations. It is more likely to be done through economic, diplomatic, financial pressure”.

Valiantsin Akudovich about Belarus-Russia partnership

Unknown said...

Book of Valiantsin Akudovich (Кніга пра Нішто / A Book About Nothing) was nominated for book of the year 2014

Unknown said...

yolo

Unknown said...

Worked at several factories, served in the army and was a watchman. Worked at the Minsk School of Tourism and the Belarusian Branch of the Institute of Tourism. Held positions at 'Kultura' weekly, 'Krynica', 'Frahmenty', 'Pamizh' magazines and several other publications.
http://belarusprofile.com/en/profile/akudovic-valiancin-vasiljevic

Unknown said...

He was born in 1950 in Hrodna Region in Belarus. Educated at maxim Gorky Literature Institute.
http://belarusprofile.com/en/profile/akudovic-valiancin-vasiljevic

Unknown said...

Cult of the Ethnos and Deconstruction of the Nation (Two Breakthroughs of Akudovich)
The paper is the analysis of the well-known Belarusian philosopher Valiantsin Akudovich's ideas, mainly on the ground of his book The Code of the Absence. On the Foundations of Belarusian Mentality. The author of the paper argues that Akudovich paradoxically represents at once «mystical nationalism» (thereby approaching the non-militant ultranationalism) and deconstructionist reconsideration of the traditional nationalist dogmas. The author critically evaluates both features of Akudovich's discourse, highlighting that his nationalism finds itself in dangerous affinity with tribalism, while his reinterpretation of Belarusian history proves to be internally inconsistent and unable to survive empirical verification.

http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/36066184/cult-ethnos-deconstruction-nation-two-breakthroughs-akudovich