The Quarry

13 hrs. 51 min.

Romance & Prose

Language Russian

Author Vasil Bykov

Narrator Vladimir Sushkov

Description

Books created by the Belarusian prose writer Vasil Bykov brought him worldwide fame and recognition from millions of readers. Having lived through the hell of the Great Patriotic War, served in the postwar army, and written about fifty works—harsh, sincere, and merciless—Vasil Bykov until his very death remained “a conscience” not only of Belarus, but also of every individual person beyond national boundaries.

The novella “Career” takes place in two dimensions—at the end of the 20th century and, at the same time, in the tragic period at the beginning of the war, to which the main character constantly returns in his thoughts and memories. Continuing the cycle of wartime novellas by the well-known Soviet writer Vasily Bykov, “Career” is saturated with complex moral issues; it forces readers to think intensely about the high cost of human life, about how irreparable losses arise from suspicion and from the loss of natural trust between people.

The author makes Agieyev, the hero of the novel “Career,” return from today to his youth—to experience again the encirclement, the underground struggle, and the love that was tragically cut short because of him. To experience the painful feeling of guilt that leads to moral self-purification.