Abstract
The works of the publicist, historian, and writer Vaclav Lastouski represent a significant attempt to define the Belarusian national identity. The theme of seeking the origins of Belarusians also dominates his short story The Labyrinths (1923), combining the narrative and (pseudo-)historical and (pseudo-)mythological explanations in a unique way.
This paper examines the possibility of interpreting and analysing The Labyrinths based on the context of Lastouski's works and, more importantly, the historical context. The years after 1918 were very turbulent.
It was a time when positivism and realism met the new modernist literature in Belarus and romanticism blended in with Marxism while creating a new myth of national history. It is precisely the context of this period that represents the key to understanding the text which - despite the constantly proclaimed endeavour for unity - cannot avoid its fragmentation.
The accumulation of mythological and historical "evidence" of the age of the Belarusian Nation in the story leads only to the creation of a "maze" where no explanation is possible. The network of contradictions born out of the chaotic post-war times is explored more than the author's will to experiment in The Labyrinths.