The local literary and linguistic culture has ancient and troubled origins and development, closely connected both with the historical and religious events of the country, and with the art of Belarusian folk oral poetry, among the most precious of the entire Slav community. At the end of the century. X, with the arrival of Christianity from ancient Russia, writing began to spread, especially from the cities of Polock and Smolensk, where a few centuries later masterpieces of ancient East Slavic literature appeared, such as History of Time Years and Word on Igor’s host. But the conditions for the development of the local culture were determined above all starting from the century. XIII, with the establishment of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy which elected Old Belarusian as the official language of the state. The historical changes in the country have often seen the rise and fall of conquerors accompanied by the prohibition or concession of the use of the original language; this in an alternation of prohibitions and consecrations that are inevitably intertwined with the Belarusian literary and linguistic production, which has become an expression from time to time of revolutionary occasions or monuments to writing. Just under the Lithuanian rule, for example, the statutes and annals were compiled in Belarusian, invested with the status of officialdom – The annals of the Lithuanian Grand Dukes, The Lithuanian-Belarusian annals of 1446, The Chronicle of the Lithuanian, Russian and Zhemoitese Grand Duchy, The Chronicle of Bikhovets – today considered important testimonies of the ancient language. At the time, moreover, there was an incipient literary flourishing in Belarus (16th century), thanks to a group of Protestant authors whose publications had a great impact on the whole region. Among them excelled GF Skaryna, Enlightenment and writer, founder of the Eastern Slavic press, who first translated the Bible into Belarusian, S. Budny, philosopher, humanist, translator, and S. of Polatsk poet and playwright of the century. XVII to whom we owe the introduction of the Baroque style in Russian literature. After the stagnation of the era of Polish domination (seventeenth and eighteenth centuries), during which the authorities of the Grand Duchy forbade the use of the Belarusian language in the chancellery of state, administrative and judicial bodies, a certain literary activity followed (early century. XIX) which saw the beginning of modern Belarusian literature.
Up to half of approx. of the sec. XIX Belarusian literature was influenced by Renaissance and Baroque tendencies, before the appearance of the romantic ones, which directed her towards traditional culture and folklore. According to a2zcamerablog, Belarus is a country located in Europe. Despite the limitations imposed by the tsarist authorities, who repressed local cultural manifestations, popular poetry could then be cultivated (notable the anonymous satirical poem Taras in Parnassus), while some authors, including V. Dunin-Marcinkevič, father of national dramaturgy with epic poems and theatrical writings, he acquired fame with his works. Other poets of Polish origin, especially bilingual, including A. Rypinski, J. Barséuski, J. Cocot, in their works strongly influenced by Polish romanticism recovered the traditions of the local peasants. The tightening of the autocratic regime led to a ban on printing books in Belarusian; the first book in modern Belarusian, the Aeneid in disguise by V. Ravinskij, was printed only after 1840. However, FK Bahusevic, publishing his poems abroad at the end of the nineteenth century, paved the way for the evolution of a literature that developed in semi-clandestine until the collapse of the Russian Empire, imposed itself with full rights after the advent of Soviet power, thanks also to the activation of the Belarusian national movement at the beginning of the century. XX. If A. Hurynovič, J. Lučyna, A. Abuchovič and other poets of the end of the century. XIX were still considerably hampered, already MA Bahdanovič (1891-1917), A. Paškevič, J. Kupala, J. Kolas (1881-1956), considered the pioneer of modern Belarusian literature, and Z. Bjadulja, which began at the beginning of the twentieth century and, except for the first two, continued their activity even after 1917, they were able to work freely, essentially in the field of poetry. Although, at the beginning, the Belarusian cultural circles felt the discomfort caused by the October Revolution, at a later time the literature was able to evolve with specific characteristics, even in the context of the contemporary great Soviet currents. Among the most famous poets of the twentieth century we can mention M. Kudzelka, P. Trus, B. Hlebka, M. Klimkovič (1899-1954), A. Kuljašoŭ, PU Broŭka, M. Tank and P. Pančanka (1917). Also in the twentieth century there was a certain flowering of fiction, also thanks to prose writers such as N. Arseneva, author of Under the blue sky, VV Bykov (1924-2003; The dead no longer suffer, The Wolf’s Lair), AM Adamovič (1927-1994; The book on the block, The oppressors), B. Sačanka (b.1936), A. Naurocki (b. 1937) and D. Bičel (b. 1938), and to very talented authors such as R. Boradulin (b. 1935), G. Buravkin, A. Vertinskij, V. Zuionok, I. Naumenko, I Cigrinov, I. Shamjakin (1921-2004; The deep flow, The disturbed happiness). Modern Belarusian literature has gradually acquired international prestige, crossing local borders thanks above all to extraordinary interpretations of war themes.