This survey of young Belarusian prose is in many ways a sequel to Spring Shoots. It follows the same pattern of thematically arranged chapters, but makes less attempt to treat writers in only one chapter, preferring to allow some writers’ works to appear in several different parts of the book. The scope is only short prose (apaviadańni, apovieści), and, once again, debut writers rub shoulders with those of greater experience. The aim of the book is to show some of the variety and imagination that young prose writers bring to their work, and to illustrate a pragmatic selection of some of the topics in which they are interested. Naturally, some of the themes are far from country-specific (Love and sex; People and animals; Religion and philosophy) whilst others are highly relevant to contemporary Belarus (Leadership and the country; Writing; and History), although all literature written in an oppressed and neglected language is in itself very important for the development of national culture and consciousness.
This collection of essays concerns perceptions of the West as reflected in the work of Russian writers of the Third Wave of emigration. The authors include several well-known writers such as Aksenov, Gladilin, Zinik and Loseff as well as Soviet and Western scholars, and the result is both varied and surprising: in the light it throws on the Russian mentality, on the phenomenon of exile and on aspects of the West. It will interest students of contemporary literature, of the Soviet mentality, and of exile in general.
This collection of essays concerns perceptions of the West as reflected in the work of Russian writers of the Third Wave of emigration. The authors include several well-known writers such as Aksenov, Gladilin, Zinik and Loseff as well as Soviet and Western scholars, and the result is both varied and surprising: in the light it throws on the Russian mentality, on the phenomenon of exile and on aspects of the West. It will interest students of contemporary literature, of the Soviet mentality, and of exile in general.
This collection of essays concerns perceptions of the West as reflected in the work of Russian writers of the Third Wave of emigration. The authors include several well-known writers such as Aksenov, Gladilin, Zinik and Loseff as well as Soviet and Western scholars, and the result is both varied and surprising: in the light it throws on the Russian mentality, on the phenomenon of exile and on aspects of the West. It will interest students of contemporary literature, of the Soviet mentality, and of exile in general.
Spring Shoots introduces individually the early work of two score young Belarusian poets, all of whom began writing after the start of the present regime. This is the first such survey in any language, including Belarusian. All poetic illustrations are cited in the original and accompanied by English prose translations. The poets’ work is presented in eight loosely thematic groups: the historical heritage, religion, protest at alienation and repression, use and defence of the language, the lyrical impulse, humour, performance poetry and the theme of writing itself and poetic inspiration. Also very important in these poems are the joys and tribulations of love. By using the Belarusian language, the poets are helping to save it from decades of erosion and official devaluation, so that their discussion of it is often poignant, particularly as language is a central part of the also suppressed historical heritage. Other types of verse such as humorous, lyrical or that for performance, are less central to the Belarusian situation, but the angry and bitter protest poems serve as perhaps a release valve, as small editions of poems are far less conspicuous than the expression of such feelings on the street, which always meets bitter reprisals.
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