Jan Barszczewski was Polish and Belarusian writer, poet and editor. His best known work is Szlachcic Zawalnia, czyli Białoruś w fantastycznych opowiadaniach (1846) (Nobleman Zawalnia, or Belarus in Fantastic Stories).
Background
Jan was born in the village Muragi, Polotsk district of Vitebsk Province (present Rossony district of Vitebsk region) in the family of a catholic priest of greek origin allegedly belonged to the Gentry family. He studied at the Jesuit College of Polotsk, where he became known as renown poet and narrator. Being a student he often spent vacations traveling around the coast of Lake Neshcherdo.
Because of the tendency to poetical impromptu, he was a welcome guest at rural gentry family celebrations. The first known poem, written in Belarusian - "Dzevanka" (dedicated to his girlfriend, Maksimovich), and "Revolt of slaves".
Jan was also engaged in painting - he painted landscapes and caricatures, popular with locals.
In the late 1840s, contracted tuberculosis and died after a long illness. He was buried in Chudnov.
Career
In about 1816, after graduating from the Collegium of Polotsk (in 1812 transformed the academy) he worked as a teacher and tutor . He traveled around Belarus, collected folklore.
In the mid 1820s (probably 1826 or 1827) he moved to St. Petersburg, where he taught Greek and Latin in several public schools, he also studied the literature of antiquity. Fulfilling the request of the Navy Department, visited France, Britain and Finland, and traveled around Polotzk . In St. Petersburg he met with Adam Mickiewicz in 1839 - Taras Shevchenko. His romantic poems Barshchevsky´s readers evaluated without much enthusiasm. Shevchenko's poems also criticized for insufficient Barshchevsky them folk element, called the Belarusian writers to serve the people of the serf and develop young Belarusian literature in a democratic direction.
In 1840-1844 Barshchevsky together with other members of the literary circle, which consisted mostly of immigrants from Belarus was engaged in the publication of an annual almanac «Niezabudka» ("Forget-Me-Not") in Polish. Maintained close ties with members of the circle and its correspondents - writers David Vincent, Stanislaus Augustus Ljahovichem, journalist and critic R. Podberezskaya, literary critic and historian Y. Bartoshevich, artists, and R. K. Zhukovsky, J. Khrapovitsky folklorist, writer L. Sturmer , V. Raut, T. Lada-Zablocki, A. Storm, L. Groth-Spasovski. Among his closest friends Barshchevsky contemporaries called G. Shepelevich familiar with the poet from the time of study in the college of Polotsk. Editorial Vilna had contact with a "democratic society" (1836-1838), distribute (through Lavtsevicha F.) Prohibited poetry.
On pages of "Forget-me-not", Barshevsky published mainly short stories in verse. From Classicism to Romanticism gradually moved. In 1843 in the journal «Rocznik literacki» ("Literary Yearbook") were first published his Belarusian poetry - "Dzevanka", "Garelіtsa" perhaps they treated (the authorship is not fully proven) folk song "Zyazyulya" ("The Cuckoo").
In 1844-1846 published his main work - the book Nobleman Zawalnia, or Belarus in Fantastic Narratives (Volumes 1-4, in Polish, engravings R. Zhukovsky), parts of which had been published in magazines «Rocznik literacki» and "Athenæum ". Financial assistance in the publication of books has Barshchevsky Vilna writer A. Zdanowicz. The journal "Rubon" in 1847 came the second part of the story "old wooden and Madame insecticide."
In 1846 (or 1847), the (possibly 1847 m) at the invitation of the Polish writer G. Zhavuskogo Chudnov moved to the city in Volyn. Lived in the house of Countess Yu Zhavuskoy, where he lived as a well-known graphic artist Napoleon Orda.
Barshevsky maintained close and friendly relations with the Polish poet and translator Petrovsky and Dr. K. G. Kohler, gathered the materials at archaeological sites. In 1849 in Kiev, published the first part of the book "prose and poetry" (in Polish), which included the ballad, the poem "Life of orphans," the story "The soul is not in his body."