JAN BARSZCZEWSKI’S MYTHOLOGICAL URBANISM

The article defines the authorial myth about the city as an artistic truth which is created by the author according to his own laws, and a new reality which is modeled according to the laws of mythological consciousness and urban mythology (represented by folk legends about wonderful moments in the history of the city, its life, its inhabitants and its space, where the city is perceived as a holistic, living cultural body). According to Jan Barszczewski’s artistic interpretation, the city is an ambivalent image; its symbolic ambiguity is disclosed by the author through the use of the biblical concepts of the city of Paradise, the city of Hell and the city of Purgatory. It is revealed that archetypal moments of the biblical history as well as Belarusians’ pagan ideas are transformed in the authorial myth; their use contributes to the understanding of the imperfections of the current situation in the world and to the perception of hope for a renewal which is conceived by the writer not as creating something new, but as returning to the original harmony. On the one hand, the renewal in Jan Barszczewski’s urban myth is connected with the idea of a utopian return of the Golden Age and is intertwined with the belief in the man of nature and in a subsistence economy; on the other hand, the renewal is manifested in the author’s inconsistent hopes for the city as a center of education, high culture and spirituality. It is emphasized that the key motif in Jan Barszczewski’s urban mythology is the loss of the historical memory, which is a sign of degradation and naturally precedes the end of the history of the city; it is part of eschatological myths, but the eschatological in the urban myths is made less tragic through the motifs of cyclic recurrence and renewal. The article defines eschatology in urban mythology and utopia in the authorial myth of the city as an expression of the idea of cyclic recurrence. The distinctive features of the writer’s worldview are identified.

Belarusian literature of the 19th century, myth, mythology, mythmaking, Belarusian national myth, urban mythology, eschatology, utopia, renewal, idealization

1. Padbiareskі R., “Belarus and Ya. Borschevskiy”, in Barshcheўskі Ia., Shliakhtsіts Zaval'nia, abo Belarus' u fantastychnykh apaviadanniakh [Nobleman Zavalnya, or Belarus in Fantastic Tales], Iunatstva, Minsk, BY, 1996, pp. 331–367.

2. Garetskі M., Gіstoryia belaruskae lіtaratury [The History of Belarusian Literature], Mastatskaia lіtaratura, Minsk, BY, 1992.

3. Kavalenka V.A., Mіfa-paetychnyia matyvy [Mythical and Poetical Motives], Navuka і tekhnіka, Minsk, BY, 1981.

4. Khaўstovіch M.V., Mastatskі metad Iana Barshcheўskaga [J. Barszczewski’s Artistic Method], BDU, Minsk, BY, 2003.

5. Danіlenka S.І., Mіf Adradzhennia: kharunzhyia Boga. Spetsyfіka satsyial'nai mіfatvorchastsі ў belaruskai lіtaratury KhІKh – KhKh stst. u kantekstse іnfernal'nai vobraznastsі [The Renaissance Myth: God’s Cornets. Specifics of Social Mythmaking in Belarusian Literature of the 19th – 20th Cent. in the Context of Infernal Imagery], MDU іmia A. Kuliashova, Mogilev, BY, 2005.

6. Tychyna Z., Sny і snabachannі Iana Barshcheўskaga : managrafіia [J. Barszczewski’s Dreams and Visions: A Monograph], Belaruskі knіgazbor, Minsk, BY, 2004.

7. Bagdanovіch І., “Biblical Archetype of a Lake in Romanticists’ Interpretation (A. Mitskevich, J. Chachot, T. Zan)”, in Tarasiuk L.K. (ed.), Slavianskіia lіtaratury ў kantekstse susvetnai. Ch1. Tearetychnyia prablemy lіtaraturaznaўstva, mіfalagіchnyia matyvy і fal'klornyia tradytsyі ў lіtaratury, slavianskіia lіtaratury, ad siaredniavechcha da asvetnіtstva, belaruskaia lіtaratura ў iae ўzaemasuviaziakh z іnshymі lіtaraturamі svetu [Slavonic Literature in the Context of World Literature/ Part 1. Theoretical Problems of Literary Criticism, Mythological Motives and Folk Traditions in Literature, Slavonic Literatures from the Middle Age to the Renaissance, Belarusian Literature in its Interaction with World Literature], BDU, Minsk, BY, 2000, pp. 13–17.

8. Bel'skі A., ““Oh, the City’s Wonderful Lure!” Formation of Urban Thinking in Belarusian Poetry”, Rodnae slova [Native word], 2015, no. 3, pp. 17–18.

9. Medvedeva N. I., “Myth as a Form of Artistic Convention”, Abstract of Ph.D. dissertation, Theory of literature, Textual, Moscow Order of Lenin, Order of October Revolution and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor State University named after M. V. Lomonosova, Moscow, RU, 1984.

10. Barshcheўskі Ia., Vybranyia tvory [Selected Works], “Belaruskі knіgazbor”, Minsk, BY, 1998.

11. Vovk O.V., Entsiklopediia znakov i simvolov [Encyclopedia of Signs and Symbols], Veche, Moscow, RU, 2006.

12. Aspekty mifa [Aspects of the Myth], Translated by Eliade M., Lit. Izd. Agenstvo “Akadem proekt”, Moscow, RU, 2001.

13. Vergilii Publii, Bukoliki. Georgiki. Eneida [Bucolic. Georgics. Aeneid], Khudozhestvennaia literature, Moscow, RU, 1971.

14. Vasiucheka Piatro, “Kryvian Dictionary according to Jan Barszczewski”, Krynіtsa [Source], 1999, no. 7–8 (54), pp. 24–26.