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 '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 , 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 As Andrukhovych has admitted, the outdated attitudes and pieties on display in the nation's cultural life were roo arrracrive a target to ignore: "literature directed and rempred us with undomesticated nooks, unpopulated spaces, and outdated taboos that we wanted so much to break."r Bu-Ba-Bu, whose name is formed from the ukrainian words for bufroonery (bufonado), farce (balahan), and burlesque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- 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. and I J7rc6wru He 3Mo)Kerrr rr{ marin Ap/rux, for la Konu rr4 He nrc6um no_6parcbKr4 flonie ApisoHu ft rarcwxAoporr4x from flpocropin Ann cxw f,r He6pacxr. 1939 .[ro6os !ro, cnnrHiruy, Hix nor.flr [o By/rbB, Natic llnexair I Ayuri He3Hr{KoMy. from Bip4xiHiro-rurar, ax BipgxiHiro BynrS, llrc6u. Repu facts, I nto6w _ Ornaxorvry! migh

Love! whos Dedicated to V M. Sosiura figure age o Love Oklahoma! At night and at supper. pecte Love your mom and your rlad quit" .qu"l. the er Love Indiana. And the very same way Love Northern and Southern Dakotal facts , Love Alabama in the red glow of fires, tory, Love her in joy in misfortune, Be sure to love Iowa. And California, roo. 3) And the branchy palms of Florida. Olel Teenybopper! Centur, It's nor for your eye so blue, PP.64t 0r0) 67_Br M' Shkandrii / canadian-American Slauic Studies 44 (2010) r 6z-st 71 translations in rhe And not for your :d by Olha Luchuk physical defects, If you stop loving Nevada Your love will stop loving you roo. H.y guy! You have to love a hundred times Stronger than you love your Love, The District of columbia and Georgia the state, Montana along with Louisiana. You can't love any other states If you dont brotherly love The Arizona fields and the charming Alaskan Nebraskan wide open space. This love is stronger than the lure for the vurva, Cultivate the eternal in your soul. Love virginian the srare like you do virginia the woolf, And be sure to love * Oklaho_r!,

A similar need to break with ourworn sentimenrs and empry forms motivating force is the in other works. In one short srory ,,Lvivska (Lviv entitled brama,, Gate' 2002) a character finds himself in the house of a man strange personal who has a museum' The collection of historical beard objects includes the of Mykhailo Hrushevsky, the chairman of the central Rada in r9r7 and t]kraine's most distinguished historian, whose works laid the for later scholarship foundation in a number of fields. The collection from Avhustyn also includes hair voloshyn (the President of the carparhian-L]krainian state in 1939) from Yaroslav stetsko (a ' leader of the organi zation of gkrainian Nationalists at the time of the second \x/orld \Var in emigration), from other leaders of the "rrd and governmenr in exile of the people,s Republic (1917-1920)'Ther. Ukrainian i, no demand for this esoteric collection facts' but the owner of arti- keeps a few hairs from each figure "jusr might in case.,' Readers see in this a humorous commenr on the importance of Hrushevrky, whose entire beard has been preserved, and the lesser significance figures' from whom of other only a few hairs have been kept. Therel, a large pack- age of old papers called the "ko t]krainian ldea, which th. collector pected asks his unex- guest to transport to . The latter does so, bur accidentally drops the enormous bundle into the Dnipro, where it sinks. The collection facts could be interpreted of arti_ as a commenr on the fossilization tory' which' of l]krainian his- because it only survives in museuffis, has alimited impact on r) oleksandr Irvanets" "Liubit'l," in A Hundred years of llouth; centuryt ukrainian A Biringual AnthotogJ/ of 20th Poeny, ed. olha Luchuk and Michr.l pp. 640-41. M. Nayd"r, ituiv: Litopys, 2000), 72 M. shbandrij / Canadian-American Slauic Studies 44 (2010) 67-st

contemPorary life. The fact that his guest loses the bundle of papers under- the c scores this point: the collector clings ro preserving only the hollow forms of thror the past, slowly fading expressions of past idealism. Contemporaries are sad- cultu dled with these forms and must pass them on to orhers, until the time comes 11 when they can finally jettisoned. be The conrrasr berween rwo ideologies - one ture, contemporary and one frozen in the past - and the attachmenr ro the formal to th structures each generates, is also the basic organizing principle of his novel eral ' Riune-Rouno (2002). This work describes the writer's hometown as separated the r by of Berlin ^kind wall: one half belongs ro theWest and lives a modern exist- oft ence' while the other remains stuck in the Soviet zoneand maintains all the Disc characreristic features of the communist era. sugg The desired objects in lrvanets's poetry might be seen as elemenrs in the to s( mediating screen of fantasy that is thrown up berween the desiring subject and fron the inaccessible Other. According to Slav oj Zii.ek's reading ofJ".q,r., Lacan, a 11OIlt fantasy teaches us how to desire. It provides a "schema" according to which featr certain objects in reality allow us to project desires upon them.a The srrucrur- this ing of fantasy is of primary importance. In "Liubit!" Irvanets takes the formal subj symbolic structure of the patriotic poem, as provided by Sosiura, and then conl shifts berween various objects of desire. Readers are allowed to fill in the blanks pre- with their own eroticized desire, perhaps as they imagine how and *hy they l should love Oklahoffiz, Indiana, Northern and Southern Dakora, and so on. ture The author's strategy is to fragment and deterri torialize the object of desire, in thos this way questioning its validity. In the same way readers of the short srory and nati novel are confronted with and made to ponder the fantasy life that has pro- ing duced such strange phenomena as the collection of artifacts or rhe museum- thei town of Rovno. If a literarywork is to be effectivr,ZiLrk has argued, the desire bast that animates it has to be partially suppressed, ro remain "implicit" and ro diffi maintain a distance from the explicit symbolic rexrure ir sustains. Too close witl and obvious an identification destroys the lite raryworkb power.t For this rea- gre2 son even the most harmonious art is a priori fragmenrary and allusive; it always woI relies on the distance from fantasy. According to such a reading, by bringing sinc the erotic fantasy into the open, often in the most direct manner, Irvanets inst breaks the artistic spell and produces a humorous reaction. He undermines whr the ideological edific. by making an identification that is too literal, and thus the deliberately erodes the required Lini-al distance from explicir sratement. By ofi fragmenting the object of desire, by displacing it in time and place, and - in seel

slavoj Zii.ek, The Plague of Fantasies (Lond,on: vers o, 1997), p.7. Ibid., p. 19. 6) Il 7-B I M. Shkandrij / C)anadian_American Slaaic Studies 44 (2010) papers under_ 6Z_S j 73 llow the case of his "Liubit!" forrns of - by making the sexuar conrenr too explicit, Irvaners 'aries are th. sad_ ho_og..,l,q,l"a solidiry ;i,;;il:,oricar e tirne cornes :[T:, ff,,1::,;", and ologies There is ofcourse - one a deeply subversive ele rure, o rhe fbrrnal as rhe srrong reacrions arnorrr"_. rJotJrl::H:::,iffi*i,;:: of his group as novel a whole"terti$,. At issue efaril"i1t^}*-fu here i, ,,or ro.^u.h as separared con-renr gi::l the lit_ "f " poem or a particurar interpretarion, rhe work makes available bur the facr that odern exisr- rhe underlyine fa of thinking tains all rhe f..lrng,- ;;;:,.: Discovering ".,d * ;H"Jf,il:,,::i ;t:j::::::X: this procedrir. ."n U.'air..**ri"g, suggests that b.."ur., f.. thing, it ents in rhe the desire and fascination ;;-;., "* to somerhing abroluter, b,r, ."n*."rlty ;ubject and entirely djfferent: ,U.ri.. from ir,''of course, metonymical; "*".h es Lacar, one object to another; it shifts ? ,rr-.rgi;il ti,r.re displ".emenrs, none rhe however, desire ; ro which less retains a minimum of form"l features which, a set of phantasmic e structur_ when they .;.;;;;;;i;conslstence' this ".. he forrnal object. . . . r'. o*..,i*"i, subject's ",righ,,, ,tJ,::il:.lj:::,,1"::i::jJ:ii: and rhen falling in love: the i, set in motion he blanks "u,o-"ri.'''oiiou. -h.r, ,o-. r' c'aio og..t nnd, i,,'.ii o..upying *hy rhey ;:#::Hl'fii;y..::o'**"' . There have rd so on. been many debunkers and 'bnti-patriots,, ture. Ivan in Ukrainian litera_ Cesire, in Franko, Karmarrt;.; yevhen those who |1tro Malaniuk are amons tory and have in dinerent wavs denoun*, n #i11,,'If'::l:i a tio n ar s en ti m en has pro- rs, o. ro. .r i ngr ing narrative n;;; J:ilff lJl"*fi l useurn_ parrerns i_"g;.yi" :':j[il: coun,tv ".nd ";;;;0, to describe why they .,love,, re desire or people. ua"".a'r",f.i" i,J basticthel revorurio,"ry and ro rutu.i., p;.* differenr rimes "i.,d il*;#,;ffi::ffjno"",* ,o close focused on a _fir"rJ, i.-, with cherry his rea- orchards and u**,r.,r _J:;",:" "ilf.r:*,,iH,.T grea_tly always and who have been denied ,t.i. id.*i "o;.:rt 'inging *' u' - u"- u.,' :Jf;il:' 'vanets ff::T#;T;;;1, "" ;t # : :' i::;ili; 'rnines who:T:"!"d;i:;;1''1:,1"1ffiruiffi accept i::*::'i;:1,'T$iff J rhus the schemas are making'th.-j',r., ffi:,:, into willing instruments of rt. By commined betievers who.turn :l:ftH:!|i}? themserves into tools l-in background' "ut, seen as a hidden n* oJ..'l"n b. -..n"-lili?l:nlsm rhar generares:n' and directs f"nrii.r; it h", b..n

()) f bid., p. 39 . I

/z+ M. Shhandrij / Canadian_American Slauic Studies 44 (2010) 67_gI compared ro an invisible. agency pulling the strings show and running the behind the stage currains. It ca'be "divine providence Pro( ology' in christian ide- isd the Hegerian 'cunning of Reason' (o., ."rh.., the popurar version of it), the 'invisible hand of the phrr -"".k t' in ,rr.'.o--odity economy, the ,objective logic of History' in Maxism_L.rrinir_, ,i. ori 1.**t conspiracy, in Nazism, "Fr( etc"'7 The role of such a hidden ,.It -..h".rir- can vary: can function quieting as a asPi and strengthening reassurance (religious confidence in God,s Stalinist's convicrion wilr; the whir th"t h. i, irrrtrurnLrr of'historical "n necessity) or as a terri$'ing paranoiac agency (as in neal the case of rhe Nazi ideology recognizing behind economic crisis, narional humiliation, Mvl moral degeneration, erc., rhe same hidden hand of the ofte Jew)."r From this perspective, the .,big hides Other,, that in the background and consrrucrs of tl ,l'. a.rr"ry-tife of nationalists can be identified of .omm,rnifroiia"n,y, usiht "' 'hJd.."- the interests of the home- land' or the organicist metaphor feeli people who live and breathe as one body. By bringing to light ,hi,"f "'r;;;1. quir po*.'rfrl fantasy and by showing how ir susrains an entire literary clinl srrucrure, Irvanets demyrtifie, i, at least - r"; patriots "res( - demonstrates the need for ,r._ l,r.ory ,..u.rui,""d replacing it. .lo"Uf. ., who \When an underlying fantasy of tl srrucrure is exposed, according to ZiLek, effect is similar ro wl th, idea Ligh,srheyo.'"r,;T1:;:],e:iffi :ffi :t:;:lffi late, the man who provided her wirh"mon.yi.-iir. _.ff,::::T:f# the i operation that allowed her to do so' All along she has pun( expected him to be rich and the 6nal owner of a car. In the scene, when she i, atl. to touch phra i.", the voice of the t."mp, .he finally understands that her prince "ra worl ch";i";], in realiry a wretched vagranr. \'hen the young womant is pa identi'cation .ir .,o longer coincide object' the symbolic with the ll ord;r (her world of lirrguitic communication, tions social rela- achi( and conventions). is. destroyed. Tr-Jgho,rt the 6rm her gaze(the way she sees and understands being r.."1 rt"r revel i.ir li-.a not at the tramp, but ar someone.else' a figure created by The her own fantasy. As soon as she aware of her becomes drop mistake, she must ieal with a disturbing 'ttain" and confusing reality, the presented by the tramp bvA Something similar on Jr occ11 jn several poems by Irvanets. ,Aine nakhtmusik" (Eine klaine "wall kleine Nachtmusik, tiiii- r*r^plifies this disiilusioninq instil over( 7) Ibid. Ir'' 8) rbid. e) ally, slavoj zii'ek' Enioy Your Symptom!Jacques Lacan in Hollywood york: 2001),p.4. and our (l\ew Routleclge, ized" with 7) 67Sr M' shhandrii / canadian-American slauic studies 44 (2010) 6z-sI 75 nd running the procedure' The poem begins with some in Chrisrian ide_ rypical patriotic senrimenrs: ukraine is described as a vasr counrry lar version of it), .,ou.irhing mother (nenha).The exalted phrases recall songs "nd " ry, the 'objective that are sung as an affiinatio' of .r",io.r"i or identiry. soridariry :acy' References_to well-known quotations set in Nazism, "From the tone and mood: the Don to the Sian" (vid Donu )o rn function as a sianu) expresses ,r",ion"t political aspirations for a united Ukraine. Irvaners n God's will; rhe reverses the words in the line, which are "vid sianu do Donu." "The sun ecessity' or as a is low in the sky, the evening is sontse nlzenko, )gy recognizing i:ai' lvzhe Vzhe uechir btyzenh) is a love *ri, f*_ Mykola Lysenko's operetta Natalha-Polnuka "rl ".," 'ation, etc., the (1889). There follows anorher often expressed sentiment, the encouragement lig Other" rhar to include every member of.f3 in the great family: ,.let,rs rationalists can 1a^tion ,1."11everyone,, {Oornlr}o*Arr*o usikb)' After such an rs of the horne- th. r."d., expecrs a continuation feelings' :p.",,."g, ollofry civic re However, this call io include and breathe .r,..i -.-b.r of the nation is taken quite literally. The speaker begins 'showing how enum.r"ri.,g the citizenry: asrronauts cir- cling the earrh, amareur I for doctors (hosnprauy .ugg.r,, - parriots "reser" ,irrr,"p..or. *f." bones), pederasts, millionaires, "lt es capable of in the army, prostitutes _ all of whom go about their "m..., dairy lives without devoting much thought "family"' to being part of the This imagery of the motherland to Zii.k, the and its citizens cannor be idealized in any u.,"ornpli."t.d manner, ..bitter Jhaplins Ciry since it is both and immacu_ late' sacred and hated" (hirka rtasized abour i prechysn, niata.i nenauysna).By interpreting the idea of communiry as_ qr,'1s literally Ilowed her ro all_inclusive, ;. ;.; .*i"r., Punctures the unexpressed fantasy ""a f a car. In rhe thai underpins the solemn and ritualistic phrase "let us recall everyone." The e tramp, she eclectic mixture of lines from different works and figures from different ;hed vagranr. walks of life produces a pastiche whor. is parodic. int..,, ide with the poem "UroLy klasyky: Tsykl" (Lessons t, social rela- ,The in the classics: A cycre, 1992) achieves its effect in a similar way. Each rze (rhe way of the poem,s three sections is a revelation of what is suppressed when :affip, but ar a common phr"r. or clich. is spoken. The first such clich€ is the instruction "squeeze he becomes to the slave out of oneserf, jr"l ot dro^y" (Po krapri z rsing reality, .rytdauriuaaty ub, iaba).Th. phr"r. *", fi.r, u..a by Anton chekhov in a letter to the publisher and journalist A. F, on Suvorin \ine January 7, 1889. It is frequently ured in order klaine "walk to express ,h. ,r..d ,o tall" or 'ttraighten on.'s spine," sillusioning and suggests that the servile behavior instilled in people by a long legacy of ,..fdi- and imperial rule must overcome. be

Irvanets takes the well-known phrase and develops ir, once more quite liter_ ally' elaborating it, in *"y th*i resembles ..."r- <: o.,. oi'Maiakovslcy,s r"-"r, Routledge, ized" metaphors' (Maiakovsky" wourd take a metaphor such *it.ti"" n* with love" and then describe in some detail the arrival of 6re engines to pur 7 6 M' shhandrii / canadian-American slauic studies 44 (2010) 67-s I otrt the towering human inferno.) The effect of such literalism is comic bathetic: and L L L flosi,rnHo s ce6e Bu1yilryriarrl, L 'fa sce ua nanip, L

Ha nauip ... C B u.rasrroB arr4, BWT ucKyB aT yr, .{x nacry s rrc6nKa ... r,, An tiful" Slowly squeeze it out of yourself. Vania Right onro the paper, huma Onto the paper ... Force it out, squeeze it out, thoug I-ike toothpaste from a tube . . . i myst literal Far from developing an elevated ,,re senriment and rone, the alization,,of metaphor the associates it with the physical B and personal, suggesring in facr some sorr of unpleasant medical op.r"tion. I f The second clichd is 'A human being is born for happiness, like a bird for I flight" (Liudyna rodry*ia dlia shchasila, iak pmkh dlia'jobto). By describing 3 specific birds' the author elaborates and concretizes this aphorisffi, I occurred which in Vadimir Korolenko's essay "Paradoks" P (paradox, l194)and then in Maksim Gorky's story "starukharzergil" B (old rzergil,lBg5). However, the birds Irvanets mentions B mostly do nor fly atall or. nor associated wirh F gracefulness - either in flight or on th. ground "r. and the resulting effect F once - is more comic bathos: I I ,[lx nrax ... )

,flx iH4Nx, C .flx nineHn, .firc gepxaq Ha 6onori? E flx crpayc, 1 .[x xisi, ( ,[x ervry, S

Yn .qx vapa6y?tl Y I

I l_

Like a bird .. . C

Like a turkey, F

C i. Io) oleksandr Irvanets', "LJroky klasyky," in Bu-Ba-Bu (tviv: Kameniar, lg95),p. r r) Ibid. 91. r2) Ibit D 67-sI M' shhandrii / canadian-American isrn slauic studia 44 (2010) is cornic and 6z-at 77 Like a cockerel, Like a bittern in the mud? Like an osrrich. Like a kiwi, Like an emu, Or like a marabou?

And' finally' the clich6, "Everything in a human riful" (V tiudyn, -third*,"!:^!"U being has to be beau_ is taken Vania (Llncle ^, tr1ilifi), from Clekho v.s Vania, lg99), ,r, *lr,.n bo Diadia lu-": u.,.,g ousi, to be beautifur: rhoughts" (V il!:::f:'".","',ffir,?.fff:;:; chelnehe ,* a"UU" Orr')olyr1o, overworked ,-;;;;::;;:;d", i dusha, 'r?rJil;,This phrase t' r""r. r,ar."l. -liJr" ,rJr{r*ourn quite zation" ofthe in facr sorne B zro4tarri rce ruycurn 6yrunpeKpacHnM: Ayuuu ir noqyrrr, ke a bird for Ilantro i copovxa, r describing lllxapnerxu li ni4rxxrur. 3a.ricra,6poalr, 'rsrn, which rii, ty6u i {) sy6u, and rhen Poroaa nopox HnHa, cnilsoBa cwever, o6olouxa, the Bozocc.a Ha ronori. :iared wirh B naxyi ni4 naxnauu. Hirri, ruxipa, tg effecr is uosoni Ha n,.arax, Kpoo, nirvrQa, Illnprxonrri cir, IeHirazii i Qexanii. Ycnriruxa iJ €Ar{Ha. Ovi iio4si.r:

in a human lverphing being has to be beautiful: Thoughts and feelings, Coat and shirt. Socks and garters,

Hairstyle, brows, eyelashes, Lips and teeth. OraJ cavity, saliva coating, Hair on the head, bosom and -On_the under the armpits, Nails, skin, calluses on the heel.

D lbid., o.92.

- 78 M. Shhandrij / Canadian_American Slauic Studies 44 (2010) 67_Sl

Blood, lymph, Stomach juices, plays Ceniralia and fecalia. tion, ' Every person's smile is singular able, Their eyes unique. usuall has n AII the phrases in the above poems were used in the soviet school tem with a frequency sys- obser that emptied them of any .i.ir., _."rri"r. n. ,,,,ra_ In numbing repetition of these ..I.b."t.d phrases was often to ..explain,, literary classics by condensing -.".rr unde them into a single phrase, tf.q,r.."ing them into the onlv a.c.pt"bre-paradigm .h;;J;;;], "nd fantar "f *i.i charac- also rers were assigned positive and negative ",, characters. The effect was often ro turn pupils away from the (Ar classics. Th.i, p.rh"p, is the message ironic .orru.y.a n ,fr. labor title to the three poems of the cycle.' for tl round that ,urt"i.,, ,^ .fr".rir{!*k the latter imagery in the poems is humanist1. idealism (the a the F conviction that each individuaihas uniq,i. a boy-scoutish u."ury), itself moraliry, and a call to individual self-improvement." There is being also another literary srrucrure that underpin, ,h. ."pr.r.i.' oi,hi, f"nr"ry. t, can be found in Vasyl Symon.rko's ,.Ty foreil po.m znaiesh, shcho ty liudyna,, (you know that you are a Person). Symon.nko', fo.- l, one of the classics of the 1960s and exemprifies the :::i high-minded, ."the. didactic ton. rh"t inrpi..d some of the best its ap poetry f.om this period. In the post_independence, postmod_ The ern world of the nineties the outdated.,.r, oi ,1,i. ar,".y U".ii-,rnd i, (Son revealed' Real life details - the ugly, the banal, and the ai.grrri"g iitrude show how much - to and has b..., o-l"r,.d frorn borh,h. frrrr"'r1."nl ,i.'f,r.r"O srrucrure it parodies. SO-CA Irvaners poetl delights in playing with various forms ,.national,, of imagery, folk exploring both language the way individuals imagine themselves by ing on "nd draw- Att canonized authors like Sosiura and Symonenkol 6gur., f ,f.. U."rfr*rf., who championed ukrainian Pesni independen.., o."l traditions, and earlier writers an i: whose aphorisms are now used unconsciousry as parr of the language. He forces readers ro review only the unconsciou, f..lig, behind accepted imagery and also the.way clichds govern,how we like ,o p..r..ri ourselves to others. Since our understanding of ourselves celet and.others is profoundly shaped by the use of lan- of st guage, the latter require: \We :*.fu! scrutiny. lderrtif, *,rf, ri", ..0- resenrs what we would "r',rn"gJ the like to be. At the same time we are conscious of the Eurc place from where we are being observed, where we look at ourselves so as to appear likeable. rw'e "rJ;"- attri should therefore ask ourselves fo. playing *h;;; a dit a given role. There is a gap berween ".. rhe way we see ourselves and the point from which we Se flSt b.irrg obrerved in order to appear "re likeable. Irvanets fantr '20I0) 67_8 I M. shhandrij / canadian4merican slauic studies 44 (2010) 67_sI 79 plays on this disluncture when he takes a commonplace symbolic identifica- tion, which is initially presented in the form of *h"t appears ro be an accept- able, if somewhat h".kn.yed, phrase or though patt.r.r.'Almosr immediately, usually in the second or third line of a poem, th. ,."der realizes that Irvanets has : Sovier rwisted the commonplace into ,o-.thing school sys_ entirely different. The point of observation has shifted radically. reaning. The rnind_ In allowing censored, rneant ,o "eXplain,' silenced, and overlooked details to be seen, Irvanets undermines the entire symbolic , ,n.d by ,queezing structure of an "elevated" poem and the fantasy that breathes life into n which all charac] it. This kind of demystificarory operation is also directed against the clichds lt was often to turn of Soviet life. In "Deputatska pisnia', (A Deputy's Song) he mocks typical ;e conveyed in rhe Soviet slogans: "Sray close ro the laboring class" (I btyzhchym bud do nudiaslttttypll and "Give everything in for the struggle" (wt uiddai borotbi). In "Pisni ,khidrrykh rhe poems is a slovian,, (songs of the Eastern slavs) he makes a unique beauty), fun of the Russian self-im?ge, which consrrucrs )vernenr. itself as messianic and victimi zed,. It is messianic There is in so far as it sees itself being continually called upon of rhis fanrasy. to rescue the world from ryranny, fascisffi, and Ir foreign r invasions; and it is victimi zed. ry liud yna,, (you in ro the exrenr that is sees itself as the he persistent object of Western aggression, and classics of rhe of Ukrainian and Jewish treachery' According to this )ne thar inspired self-im age, Russia musr periodically srep out of its apathy and put an end dence, postrnod_ to the surrounding disorder, thus saving the world. The parodied text here , background is Aleksandr Pushkin's Pesni zapadnykh slauian is (Songs :ing of the $Testern Slavs , IB34), a collection - inrrude ro of poems with anti-Moslem and anti-Semitic overtones. and the lirerary Pushkin had translated prosper M6rim6e,s so-called "Illyrian" poems. These were fakes which purported ro be folk poetry of the Balkans. The ional" irnagery, Russian writer initially beli.,r.d them to be genuine folk ballads that express the tselves by draw_ popular view of a tragic and violent hirrory. At the time Irvanets wrote petrushevskaia ike Hrushevsky his poem, Liudmila in her Pesni uostoc/tnykh slauian (Songs I earlier *rit.r, of the Eastern Slavs, 1990) also produced an ironic version of this collection. language. He Pushkin was targeted for p"rody nor only because of his untouchable :d irnagery and position as a national mythmaker, but also because the anniversary rers. Since our of his birth occurred at this time and was being celebrated with great pomp. the use of lan- It is ironic that his poems were translations of supposed translations of non-existent nage that rep_ folk poerry. Howev er, afake reveals the desire that a certain work rscious of rhe should .*irt; the fantasy life of educated Europeans in Pushkin's time k at ourselves created the im agery of a*ili Balkans and then attributed this imagery to the people vhom we are of thl region. Irvanets suggesrs that a different kind of wish-fulfillmenr, one elves and rhe of imperial violence justified by a sense rble. of entitlement, has formed and contin,r., Irvaners f r,r ,o form a partern in Russian ran tasy-l I fe. J g0 M. Shhandrij / C)anadian-America, studies 44 (2010) 67-sI Demystificar :"",: ;:".-"'"*nnn"'uic "r" Ukrai n ian poet's repe*oire r#::'rhetndependence tnvest, ffry;:Jffi::T'Ito a paniculan' dl' i.T in I991 destroy illusions. 'iroti't''Ttto of iconoclasm 'oot"'t*a 'o tionin tacts with ,rr. ..rr'lllt^yt"',"ntll"a;'t* "ta ' '" nation curruraro,;;;;:"-t'hew,orld'"'*itl.i1l!ff '."r*T,*U::X*:l,: tionali ni:r"lv,'* expresl 3i*ff ::l* n::? ner.l4 ' attrtudes ;*;rr'.m tlp t,* l,'g:iiftoward p - tltti ng mo re liberal social l u' t a optn a tt' ?"f nd o rh er rin:l-'j':"1 "" ' -"n an effo "rr " The .i'''tt* *: n{.,il; tifi'f,ffi *h,',ffi L' i.# stir sor ding tl: ::..",tn*i evolvin $:+i",T,iil::;:ffi::,:r?n*{di[i,.Ji:f can be ;1,:::T:,:,*i:*:Tilffi.:li;5.,:.,,;*..ffi challenr

of fans I and s,a re r",; li.,l,i1,,1*;il ;il:I?:'j J:; in the #:,'." ,i.ykrai 1 * n ians pr., and n,",, T:llil-::,"* r #:J ;ffi ::il, only in -.', il,*f us p e.. .'b' I subversi nl I *'" ;; ;.;. :u' **; *:::; n: :1' ffi i.i_*; kitsch, c political il',ii',,',,'' languag, i,i,]::..f'j*ilffi i:::ff ff f# readers t ;:Ii:::lXjT#1,i.1til:i;::,;:,::',,^.:'::f41,'#;:::.',.finational" ; ,,*';.,'ne had for roo rons ge.nerarion *r, d.,.r_ll:,:ig; 1nl: yl.: o,a ., i, "0.,,. fi;ru.;l.J,I, ii:ffi [,jrr*iim odels. rn. r;*i ;]t;J:tn - J-.,,, or, i ndependen nifl I.,.Y"experimentation ce rh ererb re .r.#,ng ;.;;J,,.fitsttc and srylisric il;il r,r.a rne " ,, rronic rone evid, fr:5:,','',Ti ;ri;; ffi i;i.gfr :: :,TH rece i ved tr n; n o r i o ns exp toded f ijffi rn. A, o ri.r.;;; #_* :"I;::ili,:i1, il?Ti

'A Catfish t4) Iaroslav fo Thoughrs: i ukrainian Literarure 1gr-gc;,here i;r:""t at the T,rning p.3. r>) Ibid. t6) Zii.rk, n t0to) 678r M- Shhandrij / Canadian-American Slauic Studies 44 (2010) 67-gI Bl rn poet's repertoire. investigated ggl from this perspective, the work of Irvanets yields a deeper ques- : in I appears ro tioning of identity than is ,lasm often supposed. His poerry is a biting critique of the and a need ro national imaginary. It belongs to what has been described as the new "inren- p disappeared, con_ tionality" of contemporary lJkrainian writing, one that has never before v images, texrs, and expressed itself in such a concentrated, panoramic, and demonsrrative man- available. A radical_ ner.ra This literature declares its spiritual and intellectual independence Rock festivals from rook social "constructs 'e habit and alternative concepts, models, and paradigms" in liberal and open an efforr ro reform the language and aesthetic tasres.r5 sity. The Bu-Ba_Bu The poems from 1992 in particular provide nor only grear humor, but also ts in this process. stir some disconcerting and disquieting feelings. Some readers found unser- rerformance at the tling the idea that the "target" of desire is an unstable, ever-moving and ever- for rwo days. The evolving object. The suggestion that enjoyment or ecsratic delighi even if d to roman dcized it can be caught in different ideological fields, still remains free-foating, poses a I they feel obliged challenge to any iconic narrati ur. Ziirck has pur it this way: "The enthusiasm the grear narional of fans for their favourite rockstar and the religious rrance of a devout Catholic r lies in a reacrion in the presence of the Pope are libidinally the same phenomenon, they differ L half, L/krainians only in the different symbolic nefworkwhich supporrs rhem."16 This is a more nd, virtuous peo_ subversive message than the debunking of a parricular icon, the rejection of : their counrry in kitsch, or the eruption of the carnivalesque. By revealing Lccharine "poetic the link berween the political and the erotic, and by exposing neration unconscious assumptions behind because language, Irvanets, like others in the post-independence avanr-garde, asks : time, a marked readers to question the way fundamental belief sysrems are consrructed. e was the expres_ :rong interest in rd for roo long y, and the new ipenr paradigm. re with moder_ dence therefore ' thar aimed ar rd other avanr- of fresh air. It of challenging Lotions. \Yhen

t4) Iaroslav Holoborod'ko, Artegraund: Ukrainskyi literaturnyi isteblishment (Kyiv: Fakt, 2006), p.3. : at the Tirrning r;) Ibid. 16) ZiLek, The Plague of Fantasies, p. 50.