Intermediate Media World
LiveJournal as a Refuge for Belarusian Voices
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The history of digitally produced literature on the Russian and Belarusian-speaking Internet began on LiveJournal. The platform offered authors a format where they could interact with their readership. The unique types of texts reflected in the blog entries, comments, and memes represent their own kind of contribution to the history of Slavic literature. From 2010 on, these literary practices shifted to other digital platforms, most notably Facebook. Nonetheless, the New York-based Belarusian writer Tatsiana Zamirovskaya decided to keep publishing on LiveJournal in order to stay in touch with readers of the first hour of digital writing and to continue the chronology of her life. The shutting down of the platform in October 2024 proves the thesis that social networks have a short half-life and shows how quickly a digital platform can become a historical archive.
(Osteuropa 1-3/2025, pp. 459–462)