THE ROLE OF AUTHORIAL SELF-REFLECTION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW BELARUSIAN LITERATURE ( EARLY 20 TH CENTURY )
Journal Title: Studia Litterarum - Year 2017, Vol 2, Issue 1
Abstract
The essay focuses on the development of a new Belarusian literature in the early decades of the 20 th century and the ways Belarusian writers reflected on the perspectives of the national literary development. During this period, literary works to some extent took on the functions of literary criticism and literary studies. The works of the founders of the new Belarusian literature contained ideas about the nature of creative writing and the relation of literature to reality. In 1913, there took place an important discussion on the correlation of the social and aesthetic content in literature. A prominent Belarusian poet Maxim Bogdanovich was not directly involved in this discussion but his prose piece “Apocrypha” was an indirect response to the discussants. This story is written in the form of a parable. It tells about Jesus Christ coming on earth. Christ answers the question of a folk singer whether his art may serve simple peasants who toil in the busy season. Working people need beauty like all the rest of us, says Christ. The artist should not reproach himself for idleness because his work serves people. In many other classical works by Yanka Kupala, Yakub Kolas, Maxim Bogdanovich, and other writers of the early 20 th century, creative process too becomes a subject of self-reflection. The poem “Symon- Musician” by Yakub Kolas shows that the artist’s life experience is a priceless treasure, which is subject to artistic reflection and transformation. Belarusian classical literature that emerged in the early 20 th century thus faced a difficult challenge; it had to outbalance the social orientation of literary works with artistic quests. This task was eventually solved and this experience remains actual and useful in our time.
Authors and Affiliations
E. A. Gorodnitsky
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP26140
- DOI 10.22455/2500-4247-2017-2-1-268-283
- Views 274
- Downloads 17
NATIONAL SPECIFICITY AND ARTISTIC VALUE: AT THE CROSSROADS OF ETHNOCULTURAL DISCOURSE AND AXIOLOGICAL CRITIQUE
The article discusses correlation of ethnic, cultural, and axiological approaches as a methodologically relevant problem in literary studies. The weakening interest in the structural and semantic complexity of the lite...
Zolotarev А.А. Campo Santo of my Memory: Memoir. Fiction. Poems. Essays. Philosophical Works. Opinions of Contemporaries. Edited by D.S. Moskovskaya and V.E. Halizev. St. Petersburg: ROSTOK Publ., 2016. Review
No Abstract
FROM THE FORGOTTEN RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE: AN UNKNOWN ACROSTIC BY I. A. AKSENOV DEDICATED TO K. A. BOL’SHAKOV (On IWL RAS Archive Materials)
This is the frst publication of a hitherto unknown acrostic by an avant-garde poet, I. A. Aksenov. The poem was found in the archive of the Russian Union of Soviet Writers (VSSP) in the Manuscript Section of the Instit...
BIOGRAPHY GENRE IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE: EUROPEAN AND BRITISH INFLUENCES
The article examines the development of the genre of biography and life writing that influenced Russian biographical tradition. This tradition stems from Plutarch’s Comparative Biographies that influenced English life wr...
ANDRÉ GIDE’S RETOUR DE L’U.R.S.S. AND ITS PUBLICATION HISTORY: A VIEW FROM THE KREMLIN
The article discusses the publication history of André Gide’s book Return from the USSR written after his trip to the Soviet Union. It explains how the Kremlin gathered information about the book and how ofcial Soviet...