Vincent Vikentzy Ivanavic^ Dunin-Marcinkievic^ (January 23, 1808 - December 17, 1884 * ) Poet & Playwright

Photo Credit: Vincent Jakub Dunin-Marcinkievic^: His Life and Times, (in Cyrillic Belarusian), author and editor, Uladzimir Sodal'. (1997); frontispiece. [ * Dates by new, current calendar: February 4, 1808 -- December 29, 1884. Year of birth is cited as both 1807 and 1808.]

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(Note: The following summary is still under development. -- December, 1999)

The first major professional poet and playwright of modern Belarusian literature. His three plays marked the beginning of a national dramatic tradition, while seven narrative poems and three shorter verses broadened the scope of existing poetic genres. His ambitious translation of Adam Mickiewicz's Pan Tadeusz did much to develop the literary language (1859).

Dunin-Marcinkievic^'s principal achievement, in fact, lay in the quantity, as well as quality, of his Belarusian publications, which drew widespread attention to the existence and possibilities of the language as a liteary medium, laying foundations on which later writers were able to build.

Vincent Dunin-Marcinkievic^ was born on an estate at Paniushkavichy near Babrujsk in 1808 [1807 ? ]. His family belonged to the polonized minor gentry and had many prominent intellectual connections, not least among them the celebrated Archbishop of Mahilou, Stanislau Bohush-Siestrancevich. Dunin-Marcinkievic^ was schooled in his home town of Babrujsk and at St. Petersburg University. The writer introduced new forms into the fledgling Belarusian literature such as the novella, short story, ballad, and comedy. In his literary works he evoked the old legends and traditions of Belarus, and in a romantic manner, fused them with situations in real life, exposing human foibles and promoting social harmony.

In 1852, he organized the first Belarusian professional theater, where his comic plays were staged with himself and some of his family members in leading roles. Shortly after the establishment, the theater was forbidden to perform but continued doing so illegally until 1856, staging plays in Minsk, Babrujsk, Sluck, and other towns. He also wrote in Polish. The writer and his daughter Kamila were participants in the Uprising of 1863-1864. Dunin-Marcinkievic^ was briefly imprisoned and put under police surveillance, and Kamila was exiled to Siberia.

The major significance of Dunin-Marcinkievic^'s literary and theatrical activity was his demonstration of both the richness of the Belarusian language, which had been pushed to the social background by the previous policies of Polonization and Russification, and its suitability for further creativity.

The preceding summary was compiled from the following sources. Any terms in bold (in the preceding summary) refer to other entries in the Historical Dictionary of Belarus. The Historical Dictionary of Belarus is an important summary of the history of Belarus.
• Belaruskaya Mova: Entziklapediya, edited by Mikhevich, A. Ya., et. al. (1994); pp. 185-87; (in Cyrillic Belarusian). [Note: This book gives his full name as "Vincent Vikentzy Ivanavic^ Dunin-Marcinkievic^" and his year of birth as 1808.]

• Vincent Jakub Dunin-Marcinkievic^: His Life and Times, (in Cyrillic Belarusian), author and editor, Uladzimir Sodal'; (1997). [Note: This book gives his full name as "Vincent Yakub Dunin-Marcinkievic^" and his year of birth as 1808.]

• Historical Dictionary of Belarus, by Jan Zaprudnik (1998), p. 98. [Note: This book gives his year of birth as 1807.]

• A History of Byelorussian Literature (Die Literatur der Weissrussen): From its Origins to the Present Day, by Arnold B. McMillin; Giessen, W. Germany, 1977; excerpts from Chapter 8, pages 90-97. [Note: This book gives his year of birth as 1807.]

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