The theme of the work is the literary process taking shape among Lemko-Rusyns in Austria-Hungary and forming their community identity based on local culture elements in an all-Rusyn context.

The monograph is a presentation of the writings of the stateless people called Lemkos-Rusyns, from the earliest awareness of their own cultural and ethnic separateness until World War I. It contains information about the group and its culture, defines the concept of Lemko literature as a minority literature and describes the cultural situation of Lemkos in the 19th century. Ten chapters present the main genres and types of Lemko literature in the years 1848-1918. Literature is shown as one of the key cultural and identity discourses. Extensively quoted excerpts from texts reveal the linguistic reality and consciousness of the Lemko intelligentsia of the time. The monograph also outlines the developmental tendencies of Lemko literature over the successive stages of this community’s history.

Dr hab. Helena Dü-Fajfer is a native Lemko literary scholar, art historian, poet. She is head of the Department of Russian Literature at the Jagiellonian University, Poland, and author of 250 scientific publications.