The Poetry of Oleksandr Irvanets
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CANADIAN- MTgCAN TTT-SLAVIC sTUDIE5 Canadian-American Slauic Studies 44 (2010) 67-S I brill.nllcss rericans rthodox gio n is ts The Shiftirg Object of Desire: poetry m, lend The of ractices Oleftsandr Irvaners e, these ings of 'iaIized, Myroslav Shkandrij (Jniuersiry :ies and of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada :eligion asporic entieth Abstract oleksandr Irvanets Formed produced some of his best known works shortly after Ukraine's cleclaration of independence impor- in lggL The writer's irreverenr, ironic, and humorous reworking of the Ukrainian self-image is anilyzed. Using the writings of Slavoj Zitek : that it and Jacques Lacan, the author argues that the poems surprise the reader by dislocating the object of desire from its Lnd the expected, "traditional," place, and relocating it in anorher, wholly unexpecred, one. In this way suntry. Irvanets reveds existing fantasy structures both in the patriotic poem and in the Soviet clich6. He e firm questions their validity and suggests the need for a new sense of identity. d with Keywords reli- 'al Ukrainian literature, post-independence, new identity, Oleksandr tion of Irvanets rl link- rent in Oleksandr Irvanets (along with Yury Andrukhovych and Viktor Neborak) is a member of the Bu-Ba-Bu trio that achieved fame in the late eighties and espe- cially around the time of [Jkraine's declararion of independence in 1991 . The group is best known for its irreverent, ironic, and often humorous reworking of the lJkrainian self-image. As Andrukhovych has admitted, the outdated attitudes and pieties on display in the nation's cultural life were roo arrracrive a target to ignore: "literature directed and rempred us with undomesticated nooks, unpopulated spaces, and outdated taboos that we wanted so much to break."r Bu-Ba-Bu, whose name is formed from the ukrainian words for bufroonery (bufonado), farce (balahan), and burlesque (burlesk), aimed ar shatteritg, among other things, populist culture's naive self-image: a picture of innocence, purity, and modesty "so becoming in every young miss" but less appropriate ulture'," in an older woman when she is beginning ro "^g, and dry Mathijs 'uel nnd r) Iurii Andrukhovych, 'Ave, 'Kraisler'! Poiasnennia ochevydnoho," Suchasnist'5 (1994): 7-8. o Korrirrklilke Brill NV Leider,20i0 Doi 10.rr63122r023910x5 12804 68 M. Shkandrtj / eanadian-American Slauic Studies 44 (2010) 67-sl otlt'"2 This attitude drew the trio into a playful, deflationary apd "deconsrruc- U] tivist" literary game in which they turned accepted and sometimes revered th images inside out. Around the year 1992lrvaners produced some of his mosr sh amusing and best known "deconstructivisr" lyrics, bringing grear delight ro in' many readers and outraging others. How these poems achieve rheir effect has w( rarely been given consideration. Beyond some critical examination of rheir be erotic imagery and their impact as political sarire, rhey have nor artracred close CA analysis' It is suggested here that many of the poems derive their srrengrh by rei dislocating the object of desire from "rraditional" its expected, place, and relo- tir cating it in another wholly unexpected one, with results rhat can be both ot hilarious and disturbitg, depending on how .,rradi- wedded the reader is ro a ap tional" fbrm of expression. th Thke, for example, the author's mosr often antholo gized poem, the now CX famous parody of Volodymyr Sosiura's "Liubit ukr"i.,,r" (Love 1;kraine, SO 1944)' Sosiura's poem became a cause c6ldbre, when in l95l , during a clamp- down on expressions of LJkrainian patriotism in the posr-war period, ir was m denounced for expressing love for "some primordial ukraine, f;kraine in gen- yc eral" rather than the actual Soviet one. The decision ro parody rhis classic lif expression on love for one's homeland was already a provocative acr. Irvanets rel models his own "Liubit!" (Lov e, 1992) on Sosiura's ."rli., lyric, employing rhe to same distinctive phrasing and meter. However, he enjoins readers ro love nor ljkraine' but PL Oklahomz, Indiana, Northern and Souther' 6( Dakora, Alabama, S1 Iowa, California, Florida, Nevada, rhe Districr of Columbia, Georgia, of Montana' Louisiana, Arizona, Alaska, Nebraska, and Virginia. The list of an states, all ofwhich have fbminine endings in lJkrainian, suggesr a list of female by lovers' The poem hints at the need to share one's afrectiorr-g.rr.rously, even ro sil the point of promiscuity. In this way it achieves precisely rhe opposite efrect to hl the one intended by Sosiura's work, which exhorted readers ro love ukraine hc particulatly, if not exclusively, not to be ashamed of this love, nor to dissolve at it in a wider entiq., such as the USSR, communism, the Soviet way of life, or an Russia' when it appeared in 1944, Sosiura's message was a bolj departure m from what had previously been allowed writers as a sraremenr on wartime suf- in fering' It was only allowed publication because during the war the regime oI briefly supported the expression of both a Russian and a ukrainian parriotism th as part of a drive to mobilize the population. Irvaners, however, calls upon lai an )) It fbid., p. B. Pc )) 67-S I M. Shhandrij / Canadian_American Slauic Studies 44 (2010) 6Z_S1 69 and "deconstruc- Ukrainians to love alr American states. metimes revered As the poem develops, readers realize that they are being instructed in a some of his mosr rather didactic, earnest rryt. ,. ..p.",.ary shift the object of their grear delighr love from state ro srare, and _ incongruously ro inanely and - to concenrrate their love exclusively e rheir effbct has on the uslio.li"os also its women). The parody is shocking because ..Liubit rination of rheir Sosiuras Ukrainu,,, after being introduced into school cuiriculums )t arrracted close in late Soviet ,i-.r, ,ro* .rr,oy, canonical status in the pantheon heir srrengrh by of patriotic statements. Its treatment regime by the in 195 1 attached to it a further place, and relo- subtext: national persecution in stalin,s time' ukrainian readers would not at can be both be unaware of this subtexr a.r?i.,, p"rr,- otism and victimhood are precisely er is to a "tradi- the parodys ,"rg.r. Mor.o".r, lfr. appeared immediately -ri_. 0.._ after the d.claration of indfienden.., *h.., there was an outpouring of nationar " )oem, the now pride, and many readers would have and a form of expression Love L/kraine, ,T[:Tir:T:'ff"" appropriate to a celebrarory luring a clamp- The poem achieves its effect by taking period, it was sosiurat message quite literally and making explicit some underlylnq Ury Ikraine in gen- ,in.pok.r, ,rru_p"rionr.-a;r;;." urr., young women and dy rhis men to consider the fact that their p.orp..ri.,r. classic life p*tners in might not love them if they do nor love 'e act. Irvaners their homela"a. mtr'-".ning is repeated by Irvanets who makes the employing the message even more direct by reducing it to an injunction: suppress sexual instincts lrs [o love not in favour of r"r. fu he puts it in his most ota, unsubtle.manner, young men should "ii""L. Alabama, "stronger cultivate a love that is than the lure forthe vulvi" (g,tnihu, bia, Georgia, nizh poilah do uulu).The objecr of desire has here shifted disconcertinlly r. The list of not only from territory to territory and perhaps person list ro person' but from love to of fbmale "lso sexual desire. M.reover, by moving to a lower register the language rusly, even ro - not of love, but of sex - sosiura,s strategy of blackmailing lovers is made osite effecr ro tJook ridiculous. Irvanets is in fbct Iaying bare the working of an ideological love l]kraine rirual: the declaration of love fbr the homeland, the eroticization of this )r ro dissolve p"atriotism, and the ,t r.", oii.inj d..,i.d a sex life if the rirualis,t: ,.",,1T:", ,ay of life, or i, ,,ot This srru*ure and "...pted. ofiho,rght feeling is sustained by a h^idden fantasy: ld deparrure ,rr. trnt berween patriotism, love, marital bliss, and sexual satisfactiorr. warrime suf- How.rer, it is only a veiled formulation in sosiura' an ideological message ' the regime that cannor entirely be acknowledged openly' Irvanets challenges n parriotism not much patriotic convicrions -so and desires, but the external ideological ritual_of declaring , calls upon one,s love of nation, and the formu_ laic and insipid sentimen-rs that inevitaf,ly rezults from any i"r,nr,,.^"r^a and repeated recitation. Nfhen patrioti.m iemands such rituarisri. ,..irl,iorrr, it is.ineffective; the partially suppressed fantasy that nourished the orisinel poetic expression begins ro appear feeble and .idi.ulour. n. po._, ;il; 70 M' shkandr( / canadian-American slauic studies 44 (2010) 67-sI sosiura and Irvanets can be found alongside their English translations in the recent anthol ogy of {Jkrainian poetry compiled and .dit.d by olha Luchuk and Michael M. Naydan: J /Lo6irni [Ipucanqyrc B. M. Cocxtpi Ifto6irn Oxnaxouyl BHo.ri i n o6ig, ,flx HeHnxy i 4eggi gocrory. Iho6irn IH4iauy. Ih rax caMo nro6iru IIinHi.rHy l,r IIinaeHHy flaxory. /Irc6irr Ana6avty B 3arpaBax rox(e)K, Iho6irn ii n pagouli r4 6iau. ( Al,rony nro6irr. Kani$opHiro re)K. I I nannuu Kpvrcrrari @nopiAu. fiinvruo! Xall oKo rBoe rony6e, _ Ta ue sa sa[r{ _ $isnvuii A Koxauu fi nrc1wrr{ He BcraHe re6e, moti, Konv rr,r He nrc6ww HenaAn. K)Ha.re! I'n vycwtu nw6urr4 croKpar (Lviv CrnrHiue, uix nrc6uwKoxaHy, stranl Konyu6iro-oxpyr i flxopgxiro_rurar, beard MouraHy i llyisi aHy.