Maxim Tank: a brief overview of life and work

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Maxim Tank is one of the most famous Belarusian poets. His work was important for the development of Belarusian literature, not only in the artistic sense, but also in the national sense: after all, he did a lot to popularize the Belarusian language, translated books into it and did everything possible for its development.

Early years

Maxim Tank, whose biography is the subject of this review, was born in the Minsk region in 1912. His real name is Evgeny Skurko. He came from a simple but not poor peasant family. After the outbreak of the First World War, he and his family left for Moscow, but after a while he returned to his native village. He studied at two schools: Polish and Russian, became a member of the Komsomol, but was soon expelled from the gymnasium for freethinking and disobedience. After that, Maxim Tank entered the Vilna Russian Gymnasium, where he first tried himself in the literary field. He published his own handwritten literary magazine in which he published his first poems.

The beginning of a literary career

In the 1930s, the poet actively wrote new works under a pseudonym. By this time hebecomes famous all over the country. However, due to the fact that he lived in Western Belarus, which was then part of Poland, Maxim Tank was persecuted because of the propaganda of the Belarusian language and for publishing a magazine in this language. Nevertheless, he continued to actively publish in Belarusian publications and write a column in Belarusian in a Polish newspaper.

In the indicated decade, he also created major works, poems, for example, "Narach", "Kalosse". His works immediately became a noticeable phenomenon in the literary life of the country, the young author was immediately noticed, and he began to be perceived as one of the most promising poets. After the unification of Belarus, he was under the suspicion of the Soviet authorities, despite the fact that he was considered a communist. Several times he was threatened with arrest, but this did not prevent him from continuing his active literary activity.

War years

Maxim Tank, a Belarusian poet, devoted a significant place in his work to military themes. For example, he composed the poem "Yanuk Syaliba", and also published several collections of poems, among which one can name "Praz vognenny nebashil". The military theme occupied a prominent place in his work in subsequent decades, but the poet himself considered them not strong enough and expressive.

Features of creativity

Maxim Tank, biography, work, whose bibliography is the subject of this review, received popular love as the creator of fairy tales in the folklore spirit, as well as works for everyday lifetheme. Here you can specify such works of his as "Ehau the Cossack Bai", "Horse and Leu" and others. In 1970 he published a book written in the form of a diary. Critics note the following features of his language and style:

• fluency in poetic form;
• he did not always adhere to the classical rules and canonical requirements, but wrote in a characteristic manner, peculiar to him alone, often resorting to blank verse.

He was very sensitive to his native language and throughout his life, creativity and social activities sought to affirm its enduring value. By the way, he himself was fluent in Polish, and also knew Russian.

Editorial and social work

M. Tank was actively involved in editorial work. It has already been said above that he began his literary activity with the release of his own handwritten journal. In the post-war years, he edited the satirical magazine Vozhyk, then moved to another publication, which was called Polymya. He was a member of the Union of Writers of the country, was the chairman of its board. The poet also worked in the Supreme Council, which indicates that by the post-war period he had finally developed as a recognized author. This is evidenced by the fact that he received the title of people's poet. Maxim Tank, whose biography, creativity, awards and titles indicate that he deservedly enjoyed the love and respect of readers, made a significant contribution to the development of the Belarusian language, for which he receivedStalin and Lenin awards, and also became the Hero of Socialist Labor.

Artworks

The poet's political views are still being debated. On the one hand, he positioned himself as a communist, but at the same time he came from a family of a we althy peasant (these were called kulaks at that time), he was brought up in a capitalist country, for which he was constantly under suspicion from the party. Nevertheless, the folk theme occupies one of the leading places in his work. He was interested, first of all, in sketches of folk life and the lives of ordinary people.

So, for example, he dedicated one of his first poems "Narach" to the strike of ordinary fishermen because they were forbidden to fish under the ice. One of the early collections of his poems is called "On the Stages", then the collection "The Fall of the Mast" was published. Despite the fact that the main place in his work is occupied by philosophical themes, as well as the satirical genre, he also writes on a military theme. Among these works are such as "Kab Vedali", "At Darose" and others. The poet died in 1995.

The literary activity of the poet should be considered and evaluated on a par with the work of other such famous Belarusian poets as Ya. Kupala and Ya. Kolas. These authors glorified Belarusian poetry with their works. A common feature of their work is that they all made the image of folk life and the life of ordinary people, as well as the problem ofwar.