University of Alberta Incarceration and Death: The Poetry of Vasyl' Stus Natalia Burianyk @ A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillrnent of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Phiiosophy in Ukrainian Literature Department of Modem Languages and Comparative Studies Edmonton, Alberta Fall 1 997 National Library Bibliothèque nationale IS.Iof Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Octawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distxiiute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otheMrise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Notes on Translation All the translations of Stus' poems and excerpts from letters, as well as sorne Ukrainian-language sources quoted in this work are done by me, unless otherwise stated. In approaching Stus' poems, my guiding premise was to reflect as precisely as possible the original text in Ukrainian. All the translations are as literal as possible without any regard to poetic merit. lnasmuch as I deal with themes, motifs and images in Stus' works, this approach is necessary for both analysis and companson. Abstract This dissertation examines the poetic works of Vasyl' Stus (1 938-1 985), a Ukrainian dissident writer whose uncompromising stand resulted in his untimely death in the Soviet Gulag. Given that in Ukraine Stus has often been regarded primarily as a national hero, the thesis presents him above al1 as a poet. This work explores the influence incarceration had on the poet's themes, motifs, and images; it traces some of the literary influences, and identifies the role of existentialism and Buddhisrn in both his life and writing. The dissertation places Stus in a context of prison writing in general, showing how his themes of life and death, love, space and time resonate with writers and philosophers of different periods and cultures. Acknowledgments A doctoral dissertation is known to be a test of one's character and perseverance. The work on my dissertation with Professor Oleh Ilnytzkyj, my graduate supervisor, proved to be beneficial not only from the point of view of acquiring an acute sensitivity to the use of language and the skills to effectively present an idea. It also provided me with basic survival skills, hardened my character, and prepared me to face the world outside university. The critical commentaries and suggestions of other members of the cornmittee -- Professors Milan Dimic, John-Paul Hirnka, Edward Mozejko, Natalia Pylypiuk, and Peter Rolland, as well as the commentaries of Danylo Stnik, my external reader- were most heipful. I would like to thank the Department of Slavic and East European Studies for supporting me during the two years of my doctoral prograrn, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for granting me a Doctoral Fellowship and thus allowing me to pursue my research without worrying about finances, and the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies whose Doctoral Fellowship allowed me to complete my dissertation. Without a doubt, my dissertation benefited from the discussions with Mykhailyna Kotsiubyns'ka, a noted Ukrainian literary critic and a friend of Stus, and Dmytro Stus, the poet's son and a literary scholar. Valuable advice, helpful acadernic sources and moral support were provided by Professor Elena Siemens. My special thanks go to Professor Milan Dimic. I had the privilege of not only having him on my supervisory cornmittee and thus getting the benefit of his encyclopedic knowledge and professional advice, but also being a student in several of his classes. Professor Dimic's high persona1 and professional qualities have always represented for me the best that the University of Alberta has to offer. Of course, no words can express rny gratitude to my husband, Michael Burianyk, who helped me keep my sanity during the last stages of work on this thesis, and to rny two sons, Mark and Stefan, who showed me what was really important. Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Death Why the Theme of Death Living Between Life and Death Chapter 2: Death and Eastern Infiuences Stus and Eastern Philosophy The Elements of Eastern Philosophy in Stus' Poetry Chapter 3: Fate and Existence Existentialism Stus and Mass Man Choice and Authentic Existence Spiritual Self-sufficiency Loneliness and Personal Choice Existence as Etemal Turmoil God and Fate Chapter 4: Love The Theme of Separation Beloved as Divine Love as Drearns and Reminiscences Erotic Love Love and Death Chapter 5: Space The Square as a Symbol of Incarcerations and Death Chapter 6: Tirne The Present, Past, and Future Stus' Time and Existentialism Chapter 7: The Imagination in Confinement: Beyond Stus Death Philosophy and Religion Love Space Tirne Conclusion Bibliography Appendix Introduction It is arguable that it is impossible to understand Occidental thought without recognizing the central significance of prison and banishment in its theoretical and literary composition. 1 The poetry of Vasyl' Stus (1 938-1 985) has not yet been subjected to systematic and comprehensive analysis. This thesis does not pretend to perforrn such a task. It is instead an investigation into his prison (and exile) writings that seeks to explore -- on a comparative basis -- the effect that confinement had on the themes of his poetry. The guiding premise of this thesis is my conviction that the experience of imprisonment has, throughout history, evoked broadly similar intellectual and poetic responses among nurnerous writers.2 In my opinion, among the factors that have a most profound impact on the human psyche, incarceration occupies a place next only to love and death. Much of the influential literature of Judeo-Christian civiiization was composed under conditions of incarceration and exile.3 The list of incarcerated writers is long and impressive. Even though their "crimes" were different -- from what was considered to be political treason to sexual perversion and to dissident activities -- their works firmly established their names in literature and 1 loan Davies, Writers in Prison (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Basil Blackwell, Inc., 1990) 3. 2 The impact of confinement was explored by Victor Brombert in The Romantic Pdn (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1978.). 2 brought fame to their authors. Among the latter are Boethius, Benvenuto Cellini, François Viilon, André Chénier, the Marquis de Sade, Taras Shevchenko, Wilfrid Blunt, Fedor Dostoevsky, Oscar Wilde, Paul Verlaine, Victor Serge, Jean Genet, Ezra Pound, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Wole Soyinka, to name but a few. The list also includes Vasyl' Stus, a Ukrainian poet whose confinement resulted in his death and inspired his best poetry. Vasyl' Stus was born on January 8, 1938, in the village of Rakhnivka, south of Kiev. However, he spent his childhood and youth in the Donbas Region, an extremely Russified area of Ukraine, where his parents moved in 1940. After graduating from a pedagogical institute, Stus worked as a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature. In 1963, he moved to Kiev, where he became a graduate student in literary theory at the Shevchenko lnstitute of Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. The atmosphere of the 1960s, with its political thaw, revival of the arts and informal literary gatherings, had a profound effect on the intellectual life of the Ukrainian capital. A group of Ukrainian writers, subsequently called shestydesiatnyky ("the generation of the 'sixties"), "rediscovered the function of poetry and successfully defended the poet's right to the iyfical apprehension of reaiity and linguistic experimentation."4 The "sixtiers," mostly poets, included Vasyl' Syrnonenko, Ivan Drach, Vitalii Korotych, Lina Kostenko, Mykola Vinhranovs'ky. Their works betrayed different styles, and hence the writers did not fom a single school. However, George S. N. Luckyj, "Ukrainian Literature," Discordant Voices (Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press, 1 9 75) 1 30. they were united by a new appreciation of poetry. They consciously stayed away from the language clichés of socialist realism, seeking "new images and intricacies."s According to M. Kotsiubyns'ka, the "sixtiers" were united by the awareness of the necessity to learn, to free thernselves from the tenets of ideological dogmas and traditional phraseology. They strove to become part of the world cultural process, being acutely aware of the unrealized cultural potential of their own nation.6 They wote about love, nature, human existence, explored Ukrainian history and mythology, and reevaluated the world around them. The creators of the literature of the 1960s and 1970s might be divided between those who remained on the "outside" (e.g., V. Symonenko, V. Holoborod'ko, 1. Drach, L. Kostenko) and those who found thernselveç incarcerated for political reasons (e.g., 1. Kalynets', M. Osadchyi, etc.). The boundaries between the two groups are often fluid because many writers who avoided arrest were treated by society as outcasts, their ability to publish severely restricted. V. Syrnonenko, for example, became a cult figure arnong young Ukrainians soon after his death in 1963. His poetry is marked by strong lyricism, an uncornpromising tone and satire which expose the vestiges of Stalinisrn. Written in a fairly traditional style and expressing deep love of Ukraine, Symonenko's works betray the influence of Shevchenko's writing.7 Lina Kostenko was never 5 George S.