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Zekameron
I september 2021 blev Maksim Znak, en dygtig og velanset belarusisk advokat for bl.a. oppositionens leder Svjatlana Tsikhanouskaja, dømt til at afsone ti år i en straffekoloni.
Zekameron er 100 små fortællinger om indsattes daglige liv i et belarusisk fængsel, skrevet i de første måneder af hans varetægtsfængsling.
Bogens titel, Zekameron, er afledt af Zek, en almindeligt brugt betegnelse for straffefanger.
Inspireret af Boccaccios Decameron fra det 14. århundrede. beskriver Maksim Znak
hverdagen i fængslet.
Historierne handler om værdighed, om modstand, om selvhævdelse og omsorg. Fængslets brutalitet og hverdagens banalitet konkurrerer med menneskets evne til at overvinde undertrykkelsen. Med humor, menneskeligt nærvær og sans for det absurde i hverdagens små detaljer giver fortællingerne mindelser til både Anton Tjekhov og Samuel Beckett.
På trods af dens dystre kontekst er det langt fra sortsynet læsning. Det er en bog der lakonisk og ironisk, men ærligt, beskæftiger sig med, hvad det vil sige at være et menneske.
Zekameron er 100 små fortællinger om indsattes daglige liv i et belarusisk fængsel, skrevet i de første måneder af hans varetægtsfængsling.
Bogens titel, Zekameron, er afledt af Zek, en almindeligt brugt betegnelse for straffefanger.
Inspireret af Boccaccios Decameron fra det 14. århundrede. beskriver Maksim Znak
hverdagen i fængslet.
Historierne handler om værdighed, om modstand, om selvhævdelse og omsorg. Fængslets brutalitet og hverdagens banalitet konkurrerer med menneskets evne til at overvinde undertrykkelsen. Med humor, menneskeligt nærvær og sans for det absurde i hverdagens små detaljer giver fortællingerne mindelser til både Anton Tjekhov og Samuel Beckett.
På trods af dens dystre kontekst er det langt fra sortsynet læsning. Det er en bog der lakonisk og ironisk, men ærligt, beskæftiger sig med, hvad det vil sige at være et menneske.
223 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2023
3 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Maxim Znak
4 booksMaxim Aliaksandravič Znak (Belarusian: Максім Аляксандравіч Знак) is a Belarusian lawyer and politician, part of Viktar Babaryka's team, lawyer of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and a member of the presidium of the Coordination Council formed during the 2020–21 Belarusian protests in opposition to the rule of Alexander Lukashenko. Along with fellow opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova, Znak actively participated in the demonstrations and protests against the Lukashenko government after Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya had left the country. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Belarusian authorities. He was freed and exiled in 2025.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 4, 2024
Shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2024, UK & Ireland
88.Bloody Andy
Every stupid rule was inspired by a muse of its own. The internal regulations of the remand prison undoubtedly arose from escape attempts or something even a little worse. Nobody could recall the names of those held here who were the inspiration for new daft rules, but there was one name that virtually everyone could remember – that bloody Andy Dufresne!
The mind may well have been able to grasp the idea that problematic rules existed a hundred years before ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ was made, but all the same it was simpler to blame Andy. Why was it not permitted to stick Playboy photos of the playmate of the month on the walls or indeed stick anything at all on them? That bloody Andy ...
...
Spoons were handed out only at mealtimes. ... Heaven forbid that the inmates should be able to communicate with each other ...and absolutely no trips to the library!
The zekameron is subtitled 'One hundred tales from behind bars and eyelashes', and is by Maxim Znak, translated from the Russian by Jim & Ella Dingley.
It is published by Scotland Street Press, "a small, independent publisher of fiction, history, poetry, biography and translation based in Edinburgh. And when we say small, we mean really small. But your size and our independence give us the freedom to champion stories we believe need to be hold and voices that need to be heard."
And this is certainly a voice that needs to be heard. Inspired by Boccaccio’s Decameron, the stories have been smuggled out of the Belarusian prison where Znak, a members of the presidium of the pro-democracy Coordination Council of Belarus is held as a political prisoner.
In her introduction, poet Valzhyna Mort explains this background and then comments I emphasize the gravity of these stories’ context because when you read them in the safety of your own home and life, you are going to be entertained: you’ll find these stories funny, even instructional.
What follows is a series of 100 2-3 page vignettes of prison life that do indeed constitute something of an instruction manual (the politics of deciding if the cell does or doesn't go to the exercise yard, including why this has to be a collective decision, are one of the common threads).
I was reminded of the wonderful sitcom Porridge, although there isn't any character development here, and as a result the stories can feel a little repetitive.
This is clearly a work highlighting an important cause, but I couldn't help think this was done better by 2022's Like A Prisoner by Fatos Lubonja, translated by John Hodgson.
88.Bloody Andy
Every stupid rule was inspired by a muse of its own. The internal regulations of the remand prison undoubtedly arose from escape attempts or something even a little worse. Nobody could recall the names of those held here who were the inspiration for new daft rules, but there was one name that virtually everyone could remember – that bloody Andy Dufresne!
The mind may well have been able to grasp the idea that problematic rules existed a hundred years before ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ was made, but all the same it was simpler to blame Andy. Why was it not permitted to stick Playboy photos of the playmate of the month on the walls or indeed stick anything at all on them? That bloody Andy ...
...
Spoons were handed out only at mealtimes. ... Heaven forbid that the inmates should be able to communicate with each other ...and absolutely no trips to the library!
The zekameron is subtitled 'One hundred tales from behind bars and eyelashes', and is by Maxim Znak, translated from the Russian by Jim & Ella Dingley.
It is published by Scotland Street Press, "a small, independent publisher of fiction, history, poetry, biography and translation based in Edinburgh. And when we say small, we mean really small. But your size and our independence give us the freedom to champion stories we believe need to be hold and voices that need to be heard."
And this is certainly a voice that needs to be heard. Inspired by Boccaccio’s Decameron, the stories have been smuggled out of the Belarusian prison where Znak, a members of the presidium of the pro-democracy Coordination Council of Belarus is held as a political prisoner.
In her introduction, poet Valzhyna Mort explains this background and then comments I emphasize the gravity of these stories’ context because when you read them in the safety of your own home and life, you are going to be entertained: you’ll find these stories funny, even instructional.
What follows is a series of 100 2-3 page vignettes of prison life that do indeed constitute something of an instruction manual (the politics of deciding if the cell does or doesn't go to the exercise yard, including why this has to be a collective decision, are one of the common threads).
I was reminded of the wonderful sitcom Porridge, although there isn't any character development here, and as a result the stories can feel a little repetitive.
This is clearly a work highlighting an important cause, but I couldn't help think this was done better by 2022's Like A Prisoner by Fatos Lubonja, translated by John Hodgson.
September 5, 2023
The background to this publication is an infuriating one. A lawyer working for free and fair elections in Belarus, Znak was arrested by the dictator Lukashenko’s regime as it repressed domestic opposition that briefly had a moment in 2020. Znak began writing these 1-2 page wryly humorous glimpses into prison life after his arrest and subsequent sentencing to a decade in a penal colony. The stories were then smuggled out; an introduction to the book coyly comparing that event to the figures floating in the skies of Marc Chagall’s paintings, Chagall’s birthplace being near the prison.
The completed book is a collection of 100 of these little stories (comparable there to the Decameron, thus the title) featuring unnamed prisoners, stand-ins for all prisoners be they of the political or criminal variety. The tone is not at all what you would probably expect of such stories, being gentle and humorously ironic while portraying the poor conditions the prisoners exist in. It’s certainly a curious way to write about life inside of a dictator’s jails as a political prisoner. Instead of understandable righteous outrage and political arguments, we read a stoical and often tender account of what passes the time, the camaraderie between prisoners generating warmth and good vibes. The guards are something like bullying sitcom big brothers, there to give you a hard time, sure, but never really threatening.
In story 78, “Savasana”, for instance, a prisoner tries to argue to a guard that he was not actually sleeping during the day, which is forbidden:
Possibly Znak originally wrote these little stories to entertain fellow prisoners, I’m not sure but it would seem logical. Their translation and publication is a chance for us to have a unique sort of reading experience. The reader will learn all sorts of things, like why toilet paper is valuable as air freshener, why spiders are the real bosses of the cells, and why Andy Dufresne’s character from Shawshank Redemption is so unpopular.
The completed book is a collection of 100 of these little stories (comparable there to the Decameron, thus the title) featuring unnamed prisoners, stand-ins for all prisoners be they of the political or criminal variety. The tone is not at all what you would probably expect of such stories, being gentle and humorously ironic while portraying the poor conditions the prisoners exist in. It’s certainly a curious way to write about life inside of a dictator’s jails as a political prisoner. Instead of understandable righteous outrage and political arguments, we read a stoical and often tender account of what passes the time, the camaraderie between prisoners generating warmth and good vibes. The guards are something like bullying sitcom big brothers, there to give you a hard time, sure, but never really threatening.
In story 78, “Savasana”, for instance, a prisoner tries to argue to a guard that he was not actually sleeping during the day, which is forbidden:
“No! I was practising Savasana. That’s the name of the Corpse Pose. I was falling into a meditative state.”
“It’s not allowed. You can’t do it in the daytime.”
“But it’s a spiritual practice of my religion. I am allowed to conduct religious services.”
Did it actually help? Yes, and how! To help him meditate more successfully he was dispatched to the peace and quiet of the punishment cell two days later.
He had naively hoped to be able to work on his Savasana, but during the day the bed was locked away against the wall, and in answer to his request for space to be made available for his spiritual devotions the head warder of the wing recommended that he should master the Tree Pose.
Possibly Znak originally wrote these little stories to entertain fellow prisoners, I’m not sure but it would seem logical. Their translation and publication is a chance for us to have a unique sort of reading experience. The reader will learn all sorts of things, like why toilet paper is valuable as air freshener, why spiders are the real bosses of the cells, and why Andy Dufresne’s character from Shawshank Redemption is so unpopular.
April 30, 2024
In 1353, Italian writer Boccaccio completed his book "The Decameron", one of the early masterpieces of prose fiction. The narrative frame imagined that ten people (seven women and three men) went into voluntary "lockdown" in a remote villa outside Florence to protect themselves from the Black Death which was at the time devastating lives in the city. In order to amuse themselves during their fortnight of isolation, they told each other stories, 100 in total.
Boccaccio's masterpiece has influenced writers ever since, including greats like Shakespeare, Swift, Keats, Tennyson, Longfellow and contemporary writers like Margaret Atwood, as well as composers like Vivaldi and even the protestant theologian Martin Luther. We can now add to that list "The Zekameron" by imprisoned Belarus dissident, lawyer and writer Maxim Znak. In 2020, Znak was arrested for his opposition to the country's dictator Lukashenka and in 2021 he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
In "The Zekameron" Znak has written 100 pieces of flash fiction, one for each of his first 100 days in captivity, which depict life in a Belarus prison and the characters and activities of a range of prisoners, from political prisoners to thieves to drug dealers to murderers. However, in the main the reason people are incarcerated is irrelevant, what concerns Znak is how they cope with the petty and constantly changing rules and deprivations they have to live under.
The stories were smuggled out of prison, but in order to protect those involved we aren't told how. Indeed, the publisher - Edinburgh's Scotland Street Press - were at first reluctant to publish the collection in case it made Znak's situation worse. But Znak's wife and sister urged them to publish.
The 100 stories range from the comic to the sad to the enlightening to the descriptive. What they all have in common is the portrayal of the banality of life in prison, prisoners attempts to make their lives better in small but important ways and how the human spirit can survive in even the most awful of situations. We read of prisoners sharing what little resources they have (and what happens when the occasional person decides not to share) and of finding ways of communicating with each other. We discover the things that are really valuable inside: cigarettes and books among them. We see the way some warders abuse their positions of power while others don't, as well as those prisoners who have been there for some time helping newbies learn the ropes.
In "Crumbs" we meet a prisoner who turns a snail into a pet. In "The Cannibal" we read about a practical joke played on a newbie. In "Running Mad" we meet a fitness fanatic who manages to persuade the guards to let his cell use the largest exercise yard, only to be ill in bed when that day arrives. "The Babbleline" describes the way prisoners from different cells communicate with each other. In "The Tastiest Titbits" he describes prisoners watching a warder remove all the bits of meat from their cauldron of watery soup and feed the meat to the prison cat. In "The Hat", we come across a prisoner who achieves a minor triumph against the warders. These are just a few of the wonderful stories in this powerful and courageous collection.
The title comes in part from Boccaccio's classic, but the first part - Zek - comes from the Russian word for prisoner. The word "eyelashes" in the subtitle refers to the steel bars welded on the outside of cell windows.
In the light of the recent death in custody of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, this book takes on even greater relevance and importance.
Boccaccio's masterpiece has influenced writers ever since, including greats like Shakespeare, Swift, Keats, Tennyson, Longfellow and contemporary writers like Margaret Atwood, as well as composers like Vivaldi and even the protestant theologian Martin Luther. We can now add to that list "The Zekameron" by imprisoned Belarus dissident, lawyer and writer Maxim Znak. In 2020, Znak was arrested for his opposition to the country's dictator Lukashenka and in 2021 he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
In "The Zekameron" Znak has written 100 pieces of flash fiction, one for each of his first 100 days in captivity, which depict life in a Belarus prison and the characters and activities of a range of prisoners, from political prisoners to thieves to drug dealers to murderers. However, in the main the reason people are incarcerated is irrelevant, what concerns Znak is how they cope with the petty and constantly changing rules and deprivations they have to live under.
The stories were smuggled out of prison, but in order to protect those involved we aren't told how. Indeed, the publisher - Edinburgh's Scotland Street Press - were at first reluctant to publish the collection in case it made Znak's situation worse. But Znak's wife and sister urged them to publish.
The 100 stories range from the comic to the sad to the enlightening to the descriptive. What they all have in common is the portrayal of the banality of life in prison, prisoners attempts to make their lives better in small but important ways and how the human spirit can survive in even the most awful of situations. We read of prisoners sharing what little resources they have (and what happens when the occasional person decides not to share) and of finding ways of communicating with each other. We discover the things that are really valuable inside: cigarettes and books among them. We see the way some warders abuse their positions of power while others don't, as well as those prisoners who have been there for some time helping newbies learn the ropes.
In "Crumbs" we meet a prisoner who turns a snail into a pet. In "The Cannibal" we read about a practical joke played on a newbie. In "Running Mad" we meet a fitness fanatic who manages to persuade the guards to let his cell use the largest exercise yard, only to be ill in bed when that day arrives. "The Babbleline" describes the way prisoners from different cells communicate with each other. In "The Tastiest Titbits" he describes prisoners watching a warder remove all the bits of meat from their cauldron of watery soup and feed the meat to the prison cat. In "The Hat", we come across a prisoner who achieves a minor triumph against the warders. These are just a few of the wonderful stories in this powerful and courageous collection.
The title comes in part from Boccaccio's classic, but the first part - Zek - comes from the Russian word for prisoner. The word "eyelashes" in the subtitle refers to the steel bars welded on the outside of cell windows.
In the light of the recent death in custody of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, this book takes on even greater relevance and importance.
March 4, 2024
Shortlisted for the 2024 Republic of Consciousness Prize
This version is translated into English by the husband-and-wife team of Jim and Ella Dingley (natural born English and Belarussian speakers respectively) and published by Scotland Street Press, a small Edinburgh based independent publisher whose “size and independence gives us the freedom to champion stories we believe need to be told and voices that need to be heard”
And this story very much fits into that criteria – as it is a tale of prison life by a political prisoner, smuggled out from a penal colony in Belarus. The author – Maxim Znak – worked as a lawyer for the opposition parties to Aliaksandar Lukashenka in the 2020 Presidential Election in which Lukashenka claimed victory despite all evidence to the contrary and systematically imprisoned those associated with his opponents (Znak being kidnapped by men in masks and then sentenced to ten year’s imprisonment).
And to be honest the “need to be heard” is the main reason this book “needs to be read” – as viewed objectively as a piece of literary fiction it is deliberately simple in form: a series of 100 2-3 page simply written vignettes from prison life, first told in oral form to the other prisoners, and inspired by the Decamaron.
Through the stories we get a picture of some of the issues in prison life, with some recurring themes including: the decision whether to exercise in the often terrible weather; the Guard’s constant spying through observation ports and issuing of warnings; the importance of parcels from home and the way in which allowed goods can be repurposed as non-allowed ones. We also get introduced to some (translated) prison slang (slightly redundantly included in a glossary as well as in footnotes when first used). What we perhaps lack is any sense of the actual prisoners other than visiting characters that have small vignettes – although this is perhaps understandable given the circumstances of the writing. We perhaps also do not get a real glimpse either into the darker side of prison life (one passing reference to punishment rape feels like an anomaly) or the situation of political prisoners.
There are the book prizes: Nobel, Booker, Pulitzer, Giedroyć. But surely there should be a prize for letters as well? If someone has tried hard and has actually written a letter, re-read it, crossed bits out, suffered creative anguish, torn it up and then rewritten it, surely the author’s labour should not be allowed simply to disappear into the void?
This version is translated into English by the husband-and-wife team of Jim and Ella Dingley (natural born English and Belarussian speakers respectively) and published by Scotland Street Press, a small Edinburgh based independent publisher whose “size and independence gives us the freedom to champion stories we believe need to be told and voices that need to be heard”
And this story very much fits into that criteria – as it is a tale of prison life by a political prisoner, smuggled out from a penal colony in Belarus. The author – Maxim Znak – worked as a lawyer for the opposition parties to Aliaksandar Lukashenka in the 2020 Presidential Election in which Lukashenka claimed victory despite all evidence to the contrary and systematically imprisoned those associated with his opponents (Znak being kidnapped by men in masks and then sentenced to ten year’s imprisonment).
And to be honest the “need to be heard” is the main reason this book “needs to be read” – as viewed objectively as a piece of literary fiction it is deliberately simple in form: a series of 100 2-3 page simply written vignettes from prison life, first told in oral form to the other prisoners, and inspired by the Decamaron.
Through the stories we get a picture of some of the issues in prison life, with some recurring themes including: the decision whether to exercise in the often terrible weather; the Guard’s constant spying through observation ports and issuing of warnings; the importance of parcels from home and the way in which allowed goods can be repurposed as non-allowed ones. We also get introduced to some (translated) prison slang (slightly redundantly included in a glossary as well as in footnotes when first used). What we perhaps lack is any sense of the actual prisoners other than visiting characters that have small vignettes – although this is perhaps understandable given the circumstances of the writing. We perhaps also do not get a real glimpse either into the darker side of prison life (one passing reference to punishment rape feels like an anomaly) or the situation of political prisoners.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews