August 15 marks the 190th anniversary of the birth of Vinces Karatynski (1831–1891), Belarusian and Polish writer, poet, publicist, translator, one of the most famous writers and journalists of the middle of the 19th century
Vinces Karatynski was born in Sielishcha village of the Navahrudak district, Minsk province (now the Karelichy district of the Hrodna region). He received his education through self-study and under the guidance of a local organist. He taught his younger brothers to read and write. Noble families began to invite the "educated" young man to get private lessons, and until 1850 he worked as a home teacher. Uladzislau Syrakomlia then invited him to his Zalucha estate (now Stoubtsy district) as an assistant secretary. Working with the poet was a collaborative effort between two talented people and like-minded friends. Karatynski could learn about artistic innovations published in the Vilnia, St Petersburg and Warsaw periodicals and to study old chronicles, which Syrakomlia tirelessly translated into Polish. The favourable conditions for further self-education made it possible for Karatynski to become a true polyglot: in addition to Belarusian, Polish and Russian, he also knew Czech, French and German. This allowed him to further engage in translations. Some time after Syrakomlia moved to the village of Barejkaushchyna, near Vilnia, Karatynski headed there as well. He remained an assistant to his literary teacher even when he got married and lived with his family in the Jakienty estate of the Ashmiany district.
Vinces Karatynski was the author of lyric poetry, poems, literary reviews and essays, historical essays and poetic translations into Polish from French, German, Russian and Czech. He raised in his works fundamental questions about literature: reality and literature, literature and society, the role of the writer's personality in understanding the world, the place of a creator in society, etc. His first poem in Polish "Above the Cradle" ("Nad kolebką") was written and published in 1856. A year later, the Polish-language poetry collection “Whatever the household has, makes it happy” was published, prepared with the support of Syrakomlia. Karatynski's most important poetic work is the poem "Tamila" (Tomiło, 1858). The work centres on the image of a Belarusian peasant and the life of the Belarusian village of that time. A poetic pamphlet, "Kuba Drank Before Jakub", was published in 1860. The proclamation poems "The Talk of the Old Man" and "The Talk of the Two Neighbours" are allegedly attributed to Karatynski. Three poems from the poet's Belarusian-language heritage have survived: "To His Majesty Emperor Alexander, a song with a bow from the Lithuanian-Russian peasant community", a dedication to A. Viaryha-Dareuski "By heavens! Artsim" and an elegy "Longing for a Stranger's Home".
From the second half of the 1850s, Karatynski began to write travel notes, essays and articles on local history. Thus appeared an interesting and insightful work about his native region "Navahrudak Land and Navahrudak" (1858), in which the author describes the nature and everyday life of the locals in detail.
Vinces Karatynski willingly took up journalistic and public duties. He collaborated with the magazine "Teka Wileńska" from 1857 to 1858, and from 1860, he worked for the newspaper "Kurier Wileński". From 1858, he was a member of the Vilnia Archaeological Commission. He was also a member of the Vilnia Statistical Committee, prepared materials for the "Dictionary of the Polish language" ("Słownik języka polskiego") and edited it.
He moved to Warsaw in 1866; there he pursued journalism and co-operated with major Polish periodicals. He was a columnist for "Gazeta Warszawska" and worked with "Tygodnik Ilustrowany" from 1886. He prepared articles thematically related to the Belarusian region. He wrote many articles about Belarusian towns (Viciebsk, Valozhyn, Sluck, etc.) for the Polish-language "Encyklopedyja powszechna", vol. 1-28, 1859-1868). He is the author of biographical sketches about A. Mitskievich, A.E. Adyniets, I. Damejka, S. Rysinski, K. and E. Tyshkievich, R. Ziankievich and others. He wrote a large essay "Images from the Banks of the Nioman" (1882).
Vinces Karatynski translated the works of Pushkin, Lermontov, Heine, Beranger and others into Polish. He published a 10-volume collection of works and a 5-volume collection of selected poetry by Syrakomlia (1872, 1890).
The democratic and humanistic pathos of the writer's pieces had a significant influence on the development of Belarusian literature. R. Baravikova, R. Baradulin, V. Marhiel, H. Tumash, etc. have translated Karatynski’s works into Belarusian. Streets in Warsaw and Navahrudak are named after him.
Information about the life and work of Vinces Karatynski can be found in the resources of the National Library of Belarus: electronic catalogue, online encyclopaedia “Belarus in Persons and Events” (in Belarusian), National Database of Authoritative / Normative Records (in Belarusian).
Bibliology Research Department
