The increasingly comparative exploration of 'smaller' Slavic literatures aims to develop a paradigm that systematically records and conceptualises the specifics of such literatures. A typology is envisaged that replaces the implicit binary system of 'small' and 'large' (i.e. model-forming) literatures with a continuum and, in particular, is able to systematically organise the problems of 'regional' literatures and 'supranational' partial literatures (e.g. the "literatura kresowa"). On a theoretical level, these studies aim to review, revise and critically develop the field-theoretical model in particular.

The research currently focuses on Belarusian literature from the 19th to 21st centuries (especially the first third of the 20th century, from here comparative studies of (primarily Polish-language) literature of the 19th century and the current post-Soviet literary situation), which is hypothetically understood as a model case of literary 'smallness' with regard to diachronic and synchronic specifics. The comparative study of Russian, Polish and, prospectively, Ukrainian literature promises new insights into the overlapping and intertwining of the literary fields that emerged in the territory of the former Rzeczpospolita, which can be profitably confronted with findings from the postcolonial approach.

Sub-projects:

• Literature, market, ideology: Autonomy of 'small' literatures
• Constituting the Belarusian literary field
• Belarusian literary history
• Database of Belarusian literary journals