I have readEliza Orzeszkowa, Nad Niemnem | On the Niemen (1888)
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I have written... nothing ...
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There are minor countries that remain in the shadow of other minor countries. Just to give an example, Moldova remains in the shadow of Romania, and Belarus remains - in my awareness - in the shadow of Ukraine. I remember to possess in my library a strange dissertation of "Belorussian postmodernism", but never found time to read it. The country, so close from where I was born, was more mysterious than a distant island on the Pacific, especially if it is to be seen for its own specificity, not for Polish history that happened there.
Arguably, the Byelorussians became visible in Poland, for the first time, after the hard turn in the authoritarian politics in 2020, at something like the third election falsified by the autocrat. And even then, the colonial contempt of the Poles toward the subaltern nation was shamelessly displayed, even at the official level. How should I find any trace of Byelorussian literature then? Beyond the saga of Bohatyrowicze, by Eliza Orzeszkowa, that was once forced upon me at school, and that is to Belarus just like Karen Blixen's Out of Africa is to Kenya.
Arguably, the Byelorussians became visible in Poland, for the first time, after the hard turn in the authoritarian politics in 2020, at something like the third election falsified by the autocrat. And even then, the colonial contempt of the Poles toward the subaltern nation was shamelessly displayed, even at the official level. How should I find any trace of Byelorussian literature then? Beyond the saga of Bohatyrowicze, by Eliza Orzeszkowa, that was once forced upon me at school, and that is to Belarus just like Karen Blixen's Out of Africa is to Kenya.
