Eastern Europe

Overview

Cyrillic, adapted in the ninth century to translate the liturgy into Slavonic, gave this region a common script and a lasting bond with Orthodoxy. In the nineteenth century Russia produced a novel that became a world reference, from War and Peace to The Brothers Karamazov, in a literary language fixed only a century earlier. Ukraine and Belarus have literatures of their own, long banned or discouraged: the Belarusian generation of Nasha Niva was shot in 1937, more than a hundred authors in one night. More than a hundred authors were shot in a single night.

What circulates

Moscow long decided what was published and translated across the region, and a Ukrainian author passed through Russian to be read elsewhere. Samizdat, the typed copy passed from hand to hand, circulated what publishing refused, and tamizdat had it printed abroad before bringing it back in.

Limits of this grouping

Four countries for a region that Russia fills almost entirely by its size and its publishing. The division separates it from Poland and the Baltic states, which nonetheless share its recent history, and it places Moldova here although its language is Romanian. Moldova shares its language with Romania, filed under the Balkans.

Works cited

• NovelAnna KareninaАнна КаренинаLeo Tolstoy · 1878A novel in eight parts, published in a magazine in instalments, then in volume form in 1878: Anna's passion and, in counterpoint, a landowner's quest.LiteraturePublic domain
• TheatreThe SeagullЧайкаAnton Chekhov · 1896A play in four acts first staged in 1896: on a country estate, a young author, an apprentice actress and a successful writer.LiteraturePublic domain
• TheatreThe LocalsТутэйшыяYanka Kupala · 1924An opportunist who changes his coat with every occupation, in the Minsk of the civil war years.LiteraturePublic domain
• CinemaMan with a Movie CameraЛюдина з кіноапаратомDziga Vertov · 1929A silent film of 1929 produced by the Ukrainian studio, whose credits announce that it has no script, no actors and no intertitles.Cinema