Paradoxes of National Consciousness: Belarusian Idea as a Symbol of Belonging to the Minority Reflected in Modern Belarusian Literature

Abstract

The article is devoted to the investigation of an aspect of the newest developments in Belarusian art and literature. The “inter-life”, the “life on the side” as a special way of orientation of Belarusian people is under scrutiny in a number of cultural chronotopes. In this context it is the comprehension of a Belarusian idea of characters in both literary and real “universes” that makes them “strangers”, a minority in Belarusian cultural zone. The author makes an attempt at a panoramic review of poetry and prose, and she tries to discuss the modern literary works which are most significant to the understanding of paradoxes of a national culture. In this work a number of images or topoi extremely important for modern Belarusian literature are outlined, and some intrinsic features of the collective images of various literary generations are described.