The Belarusian literary scholar, literary critic, theorist, and historian of literature was 95 years old.
Vasil Zhuraulyou was born on May 27, 1931, in the village of Razdzel 2nd, Mstislavl district.
In 1954, he graduated from the Faculty of Philology of the Maxim Gorky Minsk Pedagogical Institute. He then enrolled in postgraduate studies at the same institute. From 1956, he worked as a researcher, and from 1989, as a chief researcher at the Yanka Kupala Institute of Literature of the BSSR Academy of Sciences. He held a doctorate in philological sciences.
Zhuraulyou began publishing as a critic and literary scholar in 1956. He researched the history and theory of Belarusian literature, literary criticism, and problems of poetics.
Vasil Zhuraulyou was one of the authors of fundamental collective works on the history of Belarusian literature, including the two-volume «History of Belarusian Soviet Literature» (1964—1966), the second volume of «History of Belarusian Pre-October Literature» (1969), and «Истории белорусской дооктябрьской литературы» (1977).
The scholar also participated in the preparation of the study «Problems of Modern Belarusian Prose» (1967), written together with Pavel Dzyubaila and Mikalai Luferau, and the work «Questions of Poetics» (1974), prepared together with Ivan Shpakouski and Ales Yaskevich.
In 1978, his monograph «The Structure of a Work» was published, dedicated to the issues of literary work construction.
One of Zhuraulyou's most significant works was the book «In Search of Spiritual Ideals: Based on Belarusian Literature of the 19th - early 20th Century.» For this, in 2002, he received the State Prize of the Republic of Belarus named after Yakub Kolas.
He passed away on September 16, 2026.
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