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Belarusian literature: wandering through a swamp

It cannot be said that today’s Belarusian literature has inherited the tradition of its perished predecessors naturally, through the continuation of stylistic choices or rediscovered forms. Rather, this tradition is now displayed through allusions, reminiscences, quotes, inclusions of images or metaphors developed by former poets that are now included in the fabric of modern and postmodern verse. At the same time, today’s Belarusian literature continues to “clear the path” of the generation from the late Soviet period.

Belarusian writers, who try to convey the dramatic history of Belarusian literature through, for example, public speeches, show that there are two approaches that can be described as optimistic and pessimistic perspectives. In the optimistic one, Belarusian literature is presented as a phoenix burnt to black ashes only to rise again. Indeed, over the past century alone, Belarusian writers twice had to reinvent the historical novel, the science fiction story, the school of translation, literary criticism and free verse.

July 8, 2025 - Vera Beika - Issue 4 2025MagazineStories and ideas

A photo of Hrodna in Belarus. Ivan-chirko (CC) https://www.goodfon.com/city/wallpaper-belarus-grodno-panarama.html

This had to be done each and every time, as if it was for the very first time. This optimistic spirit is expressed by a motto of resilience: “They have tried to kill us many times, but they never succeeded – and they won’t succeed now either.”

The pessimistic perspective portrays a Belarusian swamp, where a group of amateur wanderers makes its way on an uncertain path. Their only goal is to remain alive when they reach a hill, while the swamp around them appears as a lonely, dangerous and wild expanse. Only few realize that the path ahead has already been cleared by the earlier wanderers who were equally desperate as the ones today. They also do not know that they are not surrounded by a desert, but instead boundless riches hidden in the black bog. There is no one left to tell them about the path or the swamp, because their predecessors lie here in the mire – along with their unknown achievements and unclaimed experience.

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