Manor and Small Homeland as a Text-forming Phenomena in Russian and Belarusian Literature

Abstract

The article compares the manor text in Russian poetry and the text of the small homeland in Belarusian poetry. It is shown these supertexts perform the same functions in Russian and Belarusian culture, which gives grounds for conclusion about their functional equivalence. First the manor text and the text of the small homeland participate in the formation of the national picture of the world and the system of values ​​(world-modeling function), creating a number of images-symbols, semantic oppositions, characteristic of Russian and Belarusian cultures. Second these supertexts perform the function of retransmitting cultural memory, ensuring the continuity of tradition in critical historical periods. Third in the structure of the manor text and the text of the small homeland there is a cultural dialogue, which contributes to the search for a new artistic word, overcoming stereotypical cultural meanings and performs an aesthetic function. The continuity of the considered supertexts for several centuries (XVIII–XXI centuries for the manor texts, XX–XXI centuries for the texts of the small homeland) shows their value for Russian and Belarusian cultures, as well as the specifics of these national cultures. In Russian culture, since the period of Peter’s reforms, a great role is played by the European (written) tradition, the assimilation of which by cultural elites leads to a cultural split between the nobility and the people. Belarusian cultural elites in the period of national revival (the first half of the XIX – beginning of the XX century) focus on the folklore (oral) tradition, which for centuries noted the specifics of Belarusian culture and reflected in the text of the small homeland.