Ukrainian History through Literature

Tamara Hundorova_l in conversation with Manuel Ferez Gil

Professor Tamara Hundorova is a leading scholar at the Institute of Lit­erature of the NAS of Ukraine, Associate Fellow at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, and Dean at the Ukrainian Free University in Munich.

Manuel Ferez: Couldyou start by telling us about the origins ofUkrainian literature, what were its key themes and who were its founding authors?

Tamara Hundorova: Ukrainian literature has a longstanding tradition, both published and spoken, dating back to between the 11th and 13th centuries, the period of Kyivan Rus. However, it began to develop more actively from the end of the 18th century. Hryhorii Skovoroda (1722-1794), often called the “Ukrainian Socrates”, was a recognized writer, philosopher-mystic, and traveler. The main themes of his dialogues, fables and parables were self-knowledge, goodness, the harmony of the macrocosm (the universe), and the microcosm (the hu­man soul). Skovoroda was also known for developing the concept of “congenial work”: a natural form of human activity that meets the needs of the soul and brings freedom and happiness.

The writer Ivan Kotliarevsky (1769-1838) marked the beginning of the modern period in Ukrainian literature.

Taras Shevchenko (1814 - 1861), who was born into a serf family and only gained his freedom at the age of 22, emerged as the first Ukrainian national poet of the period of Romanticism. His first book, Kobzar, was published in St. Petersburg in 1840 and reveals him as a talented artist and poet who relies pri­marily on folklore and identifies himself with a kobzar, a traditional folk singer and bard. In the center of Shevchenko's artistic world is the Ukrainian world, which he imagines and fantasizes while being abroad, in the capital of the Rus­sian Empire and later in exile as a soldier of the Imperial RussianArmy.

Having visited Ukraine, the poet is especially concerned about the suffer­ing and tribulations of his compatriots. He also speaks sardonically of the Rus­sian imperial family and the colonization of Ukraine, which destroys the world of the people by uprooting their heroic sense of history. The popular imagery employed in Shevchenko's work includes the following: the fate of the offended woman and mother, pity for one's native land, scenes of a popular uprising, and the historiosophy of a Ukrainian national history that intersects with those of the Poles and Jews, as depicted in his poem Haydamaky. Shevchenko also widely uses biblical plots and imagery in order to create national myth while also ad­dressing the moments of collective memory and identity.

Ukraine in Shevchenko’s poetic visions is often identified with a pokrytka: a girl who gave birth to a child out of wedlock. The remnants of Ukraine’s au­tonomy have been destroyed, the Ukrainian world is distorted and far from God’s heavenly kingdom, the family is devastated, and motherhood is threat­ened. In Shevchenko’s romantic vision, Ukraine is also tragically split in half and dislocated: it seems to be, on the one hand, an ideal community, a paradise, and on the other it is a hell. For rebellious poems and anti-tsarist sentiments, Shevchenko was sent to the army for ten years while also being banned from writing and painting. Yet his personal voice is still associated with that of the entire nation; the cult of Shevchenko, which was formed during his lifetime, has been preserved throughout the ages.

M.F.: Whatrole did Ukrainian writers and poets play in the development and evolution of modern Ukrainian nationalism?

T.H.: The national idea has been one of the dominant themes in Ukrainian lit­erature since the time of Shevchenko.

of the Ukrainian intellectual. An important theme in his work is international relations and conflicts, particular those between Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews. The diversity and multifaceted nature of Franko's work also heavily evokes that of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, whom he translated, while Franko was known to have written in Ukrainian, Polish, and German.

The idea of nationalism continued to fuel Ukrainian literature through­out the 20th century, occupying a particularly special place in the 1920s dur­ing a period known as the “Red Renaissance”. The key figure in this movement was Mykola Khvylovy (1893-1933), who proclaimed the slogan “Get away from Moscow! ”, calling for Ukrainian authors to move away from simply imitating Russian literature and to focus on what he termed “psychological Europe”.

M.F.: Could you identify any similarities and differences between contemporary Ukrainian literature and that of other nations, which became independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union?

T.H.: Post-SovietUkrainian literature is characterized by its post-colonial and post-totalitarian nature. During the 19th century in the Russian Empire, the Ukrainian language was considered unsuitable for literature. Indeed, it was even illegal to publish serious literary work or perform plays in the theater that were scripted in Ukrainian (The Ems Ukaz, 1876). This policy stemmed from the belief that language and culture served as agents of nationalism and sep­aratism. Later, in Soviet times, entire cultural strata, such as the Ukrainian avant-garde, were erased from memory, with the names of its representatives being incorporated into the history of Russian culture while many Ukrainian writers were repressed or killed, especially during the Stalinist era.

All this determines the relevance of post-colonial criticism in post-Soviet Ukrainian literature as away of restoring the national tradition, renewing the literary canon, and reclaiming the names of previously banned authors and literary works. At the same time, a new literature is being formed starting from the 1990s, devoid of official pathos, didacticism, and socialist ideology.

The process of “carnivalization” in the 1990s encompasses all spheres of life and serves as a means of restoring a full-fledged national entity and more posi­tive literary models of self-perception. It also helps to banish the lingering con­sciousness of a totalitarian person. An important cultural role in this process is played by the group “Bu-Ba-Bu”, whose name stands for “burlesque, bala- gan, and buffonada”. Its members Yuri Andrukhovych, Viktor Neborak, and Oleksandr Irvanets use gamified types of communication, creating new types of characters that serve as guides between the past and the present, between physics and metaphysics, one's own and someone else's. The group's stated goal is also about forming a new Ukrainian-speaking readership, which has been achieved during the years of independence.

Alongside this, Andrukhovychs postmodern novels, Recreations, The Moscoviad, and Perversion, in which he traced the adventures of his hero­trickster in times of global changes, also became literary iconic for this period. The author allows him to undergo trials at home in Ukraine, in Moscow - the capital of the already dead Soviet Empire, and in the new Europe of the late 20th century. Andrukhovych proves the polymorphic and protean nature of the character, close to bohemian, and presents his bifurcation and play as an attempt to overcome post-totalitarian trauma. The dialogic structure of the novels, quotability, pastiche, stylistic play - all this ensured the enduring popularity of Andrukhovychs works.

Colonial trauma destroyed generations, affected language, destroyed the intimate space of the family. Consequently, the post-totalitarian period in Ukrainian literature is characterized by a generational conflict. It also creates a sense of homelessness and resentment towards the world of adults who comprise what Serhii Zhadan (born in 1974) called “the last Soviet generation.” In the 2000s, Zhadan becomes the biographer and leader of this genera­tion. In his published works, Quotations, Depeche Mode, Anarchy in the Ukr, and Voroshilovgrad, he depicts the consciousness of a teenage character who experiences disappointment in the world of his parents, who are associated with the post-Soviet country and its diminished values. The protagonist lives in a fragile house of existence, considers himself a loser, distancing himself from society, and does not want to become an adult; Zhadan's work very much records the evolution of this generation.

The appearance of women's writing and a number of prominent female au­thors, among whom Oksana Zabuzhko (born in 1960) has been the most promi­nent, is also a characteristic of post-Soviet Ukrainian literature. In her novels, Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex, The Museum of Abandoned Secrets, as well as numer­ous essays, Zabuzhko expresses how colonization, including that of the Soviet period, destroys generations, leads to demasculinization, and erases collective historical memory. Her typical heroine is an intellectual who wears different masks, has different guises, maintains a dialogue with past eras and some­times aggressively fights for her freedom.

M.F.: What are the most notable stereotypes that contemporary Ukrainian literature had to overcome? Historical prejudice about Poles, Jews, Russians, and other minorities for example, often come to mind.

T.H.: Modern Ukrainian literature actively works with memory narratives. Moreover, the latter is increasingly associated with the international, multi­cultural history of Ukraine. At the same time, specific stories from the lives of different ethnic groups acquire a meta-historical character and unfold on different levels - from private to transgenerational, multinational, and post­colonial. Thus, Sofia Andrukhovych's novel Felix Austria is addressed to the rather complicated history of Polish-Ukrainian relations through the fate of one household consisting of both Poles and Ukrainians. This is also a story of two girls, Stefa and Adele. Both are around the same age and could almost be considered sisters, although the Ukrainian Stefa plays the role of a servant, while the Polish Adele is her mistress. The novel was written on behalf of Stefa and depicts in detail the atmosphere of a provincial Galician town at the beginning of the 20th century. However, the story is not only about sisterly love and devotion, but also explores issues inequality and hidden jealousy set against the political passions and nationalist conflicts raging across the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although this is nominally a Galician text that focuses on the province of Halychyna, at the same time it is also describes the reasons for the fall of the Habsburg Monarchy. Small conflicts, innocent at first glance, jealousy manifest as hidden catastrophe, which eventually explodes on the outskirts of Europe and destroys the Habsburg idyll.

Another novel, Vichnyi kalendar (The Eternal Calendar), by Vasyl Makhno, shows how destinies and events are intertwined and the landscape of memory is transformed over the course of three centuries in one small town in Podil- lia, an area inhabited by Poles, Ukrainians, Jews, and Turks. Although these communities periodically fight, they also intermarry, convert to one-another's faiths, work together, and raise their children. Vichnyi kalendar describes the key events of recorded history, which is often demarcated by wars, but also records individual names, dates, and events on a smaller scale that are otherwise erased from memory and forgotten.

The Jewish theme, which has been silenced for a long time, is actively present in Ukrainian literature. In particular, the development of modern urban prose clearly testifies that Jews are an important part of the urban community and the urban landscapes of both Kyiv and Lviv. Zabuzhko and her contemporaries Larysa Denysenko and Yuriy Vynnychuk, present their stories not only as a clash of one's own and someone else's, but also because of the similarities of the traumas experienced and the shared experience of survival. This common sense of shared Ukrainian-Jewish past appears after decades and almost mystically echoes across generations, as in Zabuzhko's novel saga The Museum ofAbandoned Secrets, where, as if in a kaleidoscope, patterns of destinies and parallel worlds are formed.

M.F.: Russian aggression and the invasion of Ukraine will have many effects, what do you think will be its long-term impacton Ukrainian literature in the future?

T.H.: The war in Donbas, which has been ongoing in Ukraine since 2014, brought another important topic to Ukrainian literature and resulted in many prose and poetic works on the subject of war. A large proportion of them were written by participants in the war in Donbas such as Tochka nul (Point Zero) by Artem Chekh and Svitlyi shliach (Bright Way) by Stanislav Aseyev. These publications are often autobiographical and documentary, while also being written by both men and women, and include various genres such as non-fiction, poetry, prose, and adventure literature. For example, Olena Herasymyuk, a participant and volunteer, performed a live reading of the collection Tiuremna Pisnia (Prison Song), which combines almost folk melodies with harsh military vocabulary in a completely hybrid way. In the poetry col­lection Abrykosy Donbasu (Apricots of Donbas), Liubov Yakymchuk describes the Luhansk oblast in Donbas region, where she grew up, its landscapes and signs, and dedicates her poems to her parents who remain in the occupied territory. Tamara Horikha Zernia in her narrative Dotsia (Daughter) describes the story of a female volunteer who dedicates her life to helping soldiers and challenges the traditionally militaristic discourse of war in terms of gender. To date, the most famous novel about the war has been Serhii Zhadan's Internat (The Orphanage), where the author depicts, against the background of a story about male initiation, how the “last Soviet generation” grows up and learns to defend its “last” territory.

Firstpublished on 10 July 2022. This interview first appeared in Spanish on https://ori entemedio.news.

Translatedfrom Ukrainian by Olha Chyzmar.

Works Cited

Andrukhovych, Sophia. FelixAustria. Translated by Vitaly Chernetsky. Harvard Library of Ukrainian Literature (Cambridge Mass.: HURI, 2023).

Aseyev, Stanislav. The Torture Camp on Paradise Street. Translated by Zenia Tomp­kins

and Nina Murray. Harvard Library of Ukrainian Literature (Cambridge Mass.: HURI, 2023).

Chekh, Artem. AbsoluteZero. Translated by Olena Jennings and Oksana Lut- syshyna (London: Glagoslav Publications, 2020).

Yakymchuk, Liubov. Apricots of Donbas. Translated by Oksana Maksymchuk, Max Rosochinsky, and Svetlana Lavochkina (Washington: Lost Horses Press, 2021).

Zabuzhko, Oksana. The Museum of Abandoned Secrets. Translated by Nina Shevchuk-Murray (Washington: Amazon Crossing, 2012).

Zabuzhko, Oksana. Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex. Translated by Halyna Hryn (Washington: Amazon Crossing, 2011).

Zhadan, Serhii. The Orphanage. Translated by Reilly Costigan-Humes, and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler. A Margellos World Republic of Letters Book. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2021).

Zhadan, Serhii. Voroshilovgrad. Translated by Serhii Zhadan, Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler, and Reilly Costigan-Humes, Voroshilovgrad, First edition (Dallas, Texas: Deep Vellum Publishing, 2016).

Zhadan, Serhii. Depeche Mode. Translated by Myroslav Shkandrij (London: Glagoslav Publications, 2013).