The “Belarusian school of poets” in the perspective of romantic regionalism

Abstract

The article is an attempt to describe the phenomenon of the 'Belarusian school' in the perspective of research on literary regionalism. The author presents a phenomenon recognizable in the borderland area and representatives of said school, who announced their manifestos and published their literary works in the 1840s. The trend was created by such authors as Aleksander Rypiński, Jan Czeczot, Jan Barszczewski, Wincenty Dunin-Marcinkiewicz, Tadeusz Łada-Zabłocki and Władysław Syrokomla. Their work is mostly bilingual (Polish and Belarusian), which can be reflective of noble and folk traditions. These authors manifest their relationship with Belarusian folklore and space in autobiographical terms. This regionalism marks the category of geographical-historical determinism and the attempt to create their own literary geography in poetry. The above tendencies should be considered an effort to build the founding myth of all those who, in the situation of the partitions, feel a connection with the history of the Belarusian province.