Belarusian Literature of the Diaspora by Arnold s> McMillin (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 329 material from newspapers and journals of the time, Walker shows how the novel constantly converses with the very language of the Stalinist myth, perpetually 're-familiarizing'it to devastating effect. This is well illustrated through discussion of Pushkin's 'The Bronze Horseman' as a subtext to the novel. Having readthis collection of essays,one is leftwith the impressionthat it is precisely the 'tormenting ambivalence' of Platonov's poetics that makes his renderingof Stalinismso powerful. Forsomething that resists'portrayal',the Stalinistrealityseems to come alive fromwithin throughPlatonov'sprose, the materialityof detail again intimatingthe expanses of the bigger 'hum'. In this sense, Platonov's role as the great bard of the 'socialisttragedy'has yet to be acknowledgedin full. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies CHIARAMAYER-RIECKH University College London McMillin, Arnold. BelarusianLiteratureof the Diaspora. Birmingham Slavonic Monographs, 34. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, 2002. xvi + 503 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. ?30.?? (paperback). THIS new monograph by Arnold McMillin, the well-known historian of Belarusianliterature,is the fruitof many years of research.In it he describes and analysesliteratureby writerswho for one reason or another had to leave Belarus, as well as those who were born in ethnically Belarusian territory which now forms part of other countries. From the laconic but very informativeintroductionit emerges that thisbook was originallyconceived as part of a longer workon Belarusianwritingfromthe I970s to the presentday, but that, as the work developed, it became apparentthat the literatureof the diaspora,in its form and methods as well as in its chronological development, fell outside the bounds of contemporaryBelarusianliteratureand demanded separatetreatment,resultingin the monograph under review. The book is divided into three parts, each devoted to differentaspects of literaturewritten outside Belarus.The first,which comprises seven chapters, describesBelarusianliteraturecreated in the West. This is the largestsection, not surprisinglyso, in view of the many writers who were forced to leave Belarus as a result of World War II, Stalin's Terror and the redivisions of Eastern Europe. There are four chapters devoted to the most outstanding emigre poets: Janka Juchnaviec, Larysa Hienius, Natalla Arsiefinieva and MasiejSiadnioui.They arefollowedby a more generalreviewof lessimportant but nonetheless interesting poets such as Ryhor Krusyna, Siarhiej Chmara, Mikola Viarba, Uladzimier Klisevic, Uladzimier Dudzicki and others. In the last two chapters of this part, the author examines in turn emigre prose and drama:theworkof Chmara,Sviataslaiu Kouii,Uladzimier Slucanski,Chviedar Illa?evicand others. In ProfessorMcMillin's opinion, with which it is hard to disagree, the emigration did not produce any prose writers or dramatiststo match the best poets. Thus, there are no separate chapters devoted to outstandingexponents of prose or drama. Parttwo is the shortest,treatingonly three writers:EduardVajvadzil from Latvia, Anatol Kirviel from Russia, and Ina Snarskaja from Ukraine. 330 SEER, 8i, 2, 2003 Althoughone canoccasionally findhereandtherein thepressthenamesof otherBelarusian writers frompartsoftheformerSovietUnion,itmustbesaid thatthe threehighlightedhereare indeedthe mostcreativelygiftedof the writersin this category.The presentreviewerwould,however,have been inclinedto addanothername:thatof IvanLaskofl, anothertalentedwriter who lives permanentlyin the Siberiancity of Yakutsk,but publishesin Belarusian aswellastranslating hisownworksintoRussian. In partthreeProfessor McMillinexaminestheworkof Belarusian writers. Thestructure ofthissectionissimilartothatofpartone,exceptthatseparate chaptersare devotedto only one poet,Jan Cykvin,and one prosewriter, SakratJanovic, theundisputed leadersoftheBelarusian literary movement in Poland.It must be said that in post-warPoland(or, more precisely,the Bialystok region)theregrewupa numerically largeandculturally significant literaryschool.The originsof thisphenomenonlie in Stalin'scedingof the Bialystokregion to Poland afterWorldWN'ar II, as some kind of a rewardto it forjoiningthesocialistcamp.Andalthoughpolonization iswelladvancedat the presenttime, a significantproportionof the local people still use the Belarusian languageand, indeed,createliteraturein it, as the bookunder reviewexcellentlydemonstrates. The firstchapterof this sectionconsiders poetry, introducinga wide range of poets from Viktar Svied, Dzmitry Satylovicand Ale?Barskito NadziejaArtymovicand MiraLuksa.In the chapteronprosetheworkofsuchwriters asJankaZamojcin, VasilPietrucuk, AlenaAniseuiskaja and othersis discussed.The finalchapterconsistsof a reviewof the theatreand dramaof thisperiod:the writersare all poetsor prose writerswho have figuredearlier,includingBarski,JurkaHienijus, CykvinandJanovic. The monograph iswrittenconvincingly witha finesenseof theBelarusian language(includingthe highlydialectalusagesof severalwriters),and also withan understanding of the Belarusian mentalitywhich,in the opinionof this reviewer,is essentialfor the understanding of the heroesand other characters in thisliterature, includingthelyricalheroesof poetry.Professor McMillin'sexceptionally wideacquaintance withsecondary literature in no wayaffectstheoriginality of hisinterpretations andhisnotablyuntraditional approachto individual works.His creativetrademarks, familiar fromearlier works,remaina gentlesenseofhumour,a colourful andlivelynarrative style anda sensitivedescriptive manner.Thisreadable bookcaptivates thereader, asifitwereitselfa novel. Francis Skaryna Belarusian Libragy JURAS LAU'RYK...