Vikentii Dunin-Martsinkevich

Born 1807 in Bobruisk District; died Dec. 5 (17), 1884. Byelorussian writer. Born into a family of the dvorianstvo (nobility or gentry).

Dunin studied at the medical department of the University of Vilnius. He was an official. Beginning in 1840 he lived on his estate near Minsk. In 1846 he wrote the libretto to the opera Village Idyll (music by S. Moniushko). In his sentimental didactic poems (such as “Gapon,” 1855) and poetic stories (“Kupala,” 1856; “Shcharov Harvests,” 1857), Dunin depicted primarily the countryside. He glorified the peasant as the bearer of high moral qualities and spiritual endowment, while at the same time poeticizing feudal serfdom relations. In his comedies The Pinsk Gentry (1866) and Matchmaking (1870), which were published only after the October Revolution, Dunin creates satirical images of officials and exposes the rapacious kulaks. He was the first to translate A. Mickewicz’ Pan Tadeusz into Byelorussian (1859).