Uladzimir Karatkievich and aesthetic quests of the “philological” generation

Abstract

The paper discusses the evolution of philosophical aesthetic views of the eminent mid-20th century Belarusian writer Uladzimir Karatkievich. Special emphasis has been placed on the impact of the 1960s ideology and the Khrushchev Thaw, and on the importance of the Kiev period in the life of the young writer when he was a student at the Taras Shevchenko University in Kiev. The author concludes that it was in Kiev in the 1950s that the Belarusian genius chose his creative path. The article closely analyses Karatkievich’s first important work: the novel In snow sleeps the spring, which can be safely called the manifesto of the “philological” generation in Belarusian 20th-century literature.