The Subcarpathian Rusyns are an east Slavic people who live along the southern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains where the borders of Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland meet. Through centuries of oppression under the Austro-Hungarian and Soviet empires, they have struggled to preserve their culture and identity. Rusyn literature, reflecting various national influences and written in several linguistic variants, has historically been a response to social conditions, an affirmation of identity and a strategy to ensure national survival.