Gennady Buravkin Wants Belarusians To Read Authentic Yanka Kupala
BelaPAN
Unfortunately Belarusians have not yet read original Yanka Kupala, said Gennady Buravkin in his interview to BelaPAN.
He said that “it’s not the Belarusians’ fault but the authorities’ that Belarusians choose for themselves”. “School teaching programs have never opened up those best, most poetic, and artistic Kupala’s pieces of the 1920s when he was thinking about the future of Belarus, its independence, when he was very passionate and full of hope. All Belarusians are to read it if they want to be known and respected around the world,” stressed the poet. He also said that in this respect Belarusians should keep up with Ukrainian people as they have a monument to Taras Shevchenko in every town, and every intelligent person has Shevchenko's most famous work ‘Kobzar’ in the home library.
“Kupala and Yakub Kolas gave all they could to Belarus. So far the Belarusian state has been far from paying the real tribute to its national prophets,” reckons the poet.
Belarusian Writer Olga Ipatova said that this great poet writer reflected the tragedy of the Belarusian nation torn between the East and the West. “Kupala was a Catholic but he wrote in Belarusian although he had all reasons to do it in Polish. His personality reflects patience, honour, and Belarusian ‘affluence’. When I see his images in different periods of his life, he seems to be a celestial person trapped in a human body to go through all the hardships Belarusians were going and experience their sins and hopes,” said Olga Ipatova. She reckons nobody managed to describe the Belarusian history in such poetics terms as Yanka Kupala did. “Kupala for us is like Pushkin for Russians,” noted the poetess.
Former Director of the Yakub Kolas National State Humanitarian Lyceum Vladimir Kolos said that Lyceum students are going to celebrate Yanka Kupala’s 125th anniversary during their session in Zakopane, Poland on 7 July. “The students arranged this celebration with a prominent Belarusian literature expert – Honourable Chairman of the Belarusian Pen Centre Lyavon Borschevsky. They are going to read Kupala’s poems and do a little production. During another session in Gdansk we are going to visit the recently opened Kupala’s monument and meet the members of the Belarusian ethnic community,” said Vladimir Kolos.