A book of essays by Belarusian philosopher Valyantsin Akudovich has been published by the Minsk-based Ihar Lohvinaw Publishing House.

A book of essays by Belarusian philosopher Valyantsin Akudovich has been published by the Minsk-based Ihar Lohvinaw Publishing House.

Titled The Code of Absense, the book is said to have answers to the question why Belarus is not “where it dreamed to be in the early 1990s.”

As Mr. Akudovich said in an interview with BelaPAN, the essays focus on the history of Belarus. “But I have separated the history of the lands that are currently called Belarus from national history,” the philosopher stressed. “Many mistake a country's national history for its ancient origin. This is not the case, as national history in all countries is not very long and is connected with the appearance of the national idea in the 18th-19th centuries.”

In the book the author looks at the formation of the Belarusian national idea and factors that have prevented the Belarusians from becoming a full-fledged people.

This is the fourth book by Mr. Akudovich. The previous one, Dialogues with God, won an independent literary prize in 2006.