The Ukrainian Literary Scene Today Author(s): George S. N. Luckyj Source: Slavic Review, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Dec., 1972), pp. 863-869 Published by: Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2493768 . Accessed: 16/06/2014 12:33

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This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 12:33:29 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions REVIEW ARTICLES

GEORGE S. N. LUCKYJ

The UkrainianLiterary Scene Today

The past decade was a timeof intensechange in the intellectualclimate of the Soviet .The rootsof the changego back to the TwentiethParty Con- gress and Khrushchev'sde-Stalinization policy. After 1964, when the political course hardenedconsiderably, Ukrainian writersand intellectualswere still carriedon by thewave of discontentreleased by earlierevents. The discontent withStalinism was coupledwith a searchfor new values and ideas, and in the world of art,for new formsand expressions.Despite reimposedcontrols, this searchin the 1960s was successfuland leftits markon contemporaryUkrain- ian literatureand literarycriticism. During the last seven years it has also given birthto a widespreadmovement of dissent. In orderto understandthe currentliterary situation in the Ukraine one mustcast a glanceover the past decade and detectthe natureof the intellectual fermentduring that period. One need not dwell here on those featuresof in- tellectualdiscontent with Stalinismwhich were also apparentin Russia, since theyare generallywell known.Demands formore creative freedom and voices raisedin oppositionto the steriledoctrine of socialistrealism and partycontrol over the arts were heard throughoutthe . In the Ukraine,how- ever, the "thaw" had a distinctiveflavor. National awareness-sternlysup- pressed under Stalin-reasserted itself,and a partial rehabilitationof the Ukrainianliterature of the 1920s intensifiedthe feelingof national identity. Yet-at firstat least-the nationalelement in Ukrainianliterature was rather subdued.Not onlybecause "nationalism"was stilla dangerouslabel forthose to whom it mightbe applied, but also because nationalismis assertedmore subtlytoday than it was halfa centuryago. The mostnotable literary event of the 1960s was the rebirthof Ukrainian poetry.A groupof youngpoets who were called shestydesiatnyky("") came into existence.Among themwere ,, Vitalii Korotych, Mykola Vinhranovsky,and .Their greatest achievementwas the rediscoveryof thefunction of poetry.Stripped of socialist realistcliches, the poem was re-establishedas an essentiallylyrical expression of the individualperson. True, philosophicaland social overtonesare occasion- ally present,but the poem is judged firston its artisticand linguisticmerits, not on any ideology,which indeed is absent. Some of the youngpoets (espe-

This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 12:33:29 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 864 Slavic Review ciallySymonenko, Vinhranovsky, and Drach) show strongnational sentiments. Their concernwith the Ukraine is combinedwith the themeof nature or of social justice. The popularityof the "sixtiers,"great as it was, was short-lived.From 1962 on theywere attackedas "formalists"and treatedwith suspicionin the press.Symonenko died in 1963,Kostenko was rarelypuLblislhed, and the others in the groupchose "safer"themes. Yet theirimpact on literaturecould not be erased. Aftertheir successful reinvigoration of the poetic language,a return to socialistrealist verbiage proved impossible.They had kindredspirits in Ukrainian prose (Ievhen Hutsalo, Valerii Shevchuk,Volodymyr Drozd), whichwas experiencinga renewal. That the new wave of poetryand prose rose out of a sea of mediocrity and conformismproves the vitalityof Ukrainianliterature. It also raises im- portantproblems in relationto the past and future.Older writers,on the whole,remained aloof fromnthe strivingsof the youngergeneration. Most of themremained loyal to socialistrealism, fearing no doubtthat the "thaw" was only temporary.A notable exceptionwas Maksym Rylsky,who on several occasionsbefore his deathin 1964 openlysupported the youngpoets. Another older poet, Mykola Bazhan, suddenlyreturned to his earlier,pre-Stalinist po- eticmanner in "Opovidanniapro nadiiu: Variatsiina temuR. M. Rilke" ("A Tale About Hope: Variationsoln a Theme by R. M. Rilke," 1966). A post- humous publicationof Pavlo Tychyna's HryhoriiSkovoroda (Kiev, 1971) made available a long poem writtenover a period of two decades (1920-40). Early passages in thiswell-conceived but poorlyexecuted "symphony" are of greatpower. However, the attemptto representthe historicalSkovoroda as an active fighteragainst the establishmentis not veryconvincing, unless one ap- plies it metaphoricallyto a more recentsituation. Another older writer,Iurii Smolych,indulged in a spate of memoirsabout the 1920s: Rozpovid' pro ne- spokii (A Tale About Restlessness,1968), Ro vpovid' pro nespokiitryvaie (A T'ale About RestlessnessContinutes, 1969), and Rozpovidipro nespokiinemaie kintsia (The Tale AbouttRestlessness Has No End, 1972). It is a pitythat thesememoirs are not as informativeas theycould be. Much morevaluable is a studyof the greatestUkrainian playwright, Mykola Kulish, who perishedin the purgesof the 1930s (N. Kuziakina,Piesy M4ykolyKulisha, 1970). It is not only the recentpast which holds a fascinationfor the Soviet reader. There has been a floodof historicalfiction, which was always a rea- sonably safe subject for Ukrainian writers.Some historicalnovelists try a more sophisticatedapproach, which often falls flat.A good example is Pavlo Zahrebelny'sDyvo (A M4arvel,1968), whichcombines two plots,one set in the tenthand eleventhcenturies and the otherduring and afterthe Second

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World War. The focusof the book is the cathedralof St. Sophia in Kiev, its erectionin ancientRus', and its defenseby a Soviet art historianduring the Germanoccupation. The work is repletewith false profundity.Is the reader naive enoughto believethat the Sovietscared so muchabout the preservation of St. Sophia? Behinda calculateddrive to show the artisticurge throughthe ages thereis a hollowemptiness. Much less pretentiousare some novels about the Cossack Ukraine. 'sMal'vy (Hollyhocks, 1968) is set in thetime of Khmelnytsky.Stanislav Telniuk's Hraie syniemore (The Danc- ing BliteSea, 1971) is aboutthe Zaporozhians. It reads like a detectivestory. Despitethe gray mass of prose and poetrychurned out by the old socialist realistdream machine, there are today clear tendenciestoward showing more complex,personal points of view and using subtlertechniques. The acceptance of greatersophistication is admittedby literarycritics reviewing the latestpo- etryand prose: MarharytaMalynovska, Liubov do zhyttia (Love of Life, 1968), Vitalii Donchyk,Hrani suchasnoi prozy (Aspects of Contemporary Prose, 1970), AnatoliiDimarov, Rozmaittia tendentsii (Different Tendencies, 1969). Anotherinteresting critical study is H. Syvokin'sKhudozhnia litera- turai chytach(Literature and the Reader, 1971), whichreveals the prepon- deranceof Russian books in Ukrainianlibraries and the relativelylittle interest in contemporaryliterature among readers. While Ievhen Hutsalo remains the best representativeof the "village prose," with his Serpen', spalakh liubovi (Autgust,the Flare-Up of Love, 1970), othershort-story writers concentrate on urban life. Valerii Shevchuk, authorof the novel Naberezhna12 (1968) and the collectionof shortstories Vechirsviatoi oseni (Evening of theSacred Autumn,1969), is themost prom- isingin thisfield. A long storyof his entitled-likeCamus's novel-Mor (The Plague) remainsunpublished. Shevchuk's writing contains a strongantidote to the poetic prose which has always been prevalentin the Ukraine. Another writerin thiscategory is Iurii Shcherbak,a doctorby profession,who gives a good glimpseof the Soviet scientificestablishment in Ifla ncaviini (As During the War, 1966). His latestnovel Barier nesutmisnosti(The Barrier of Incom- patibility,1971) has attractedmuch attention. Simplistic ideology, so common in earlierSoviet literature,is absent.In the words of the criticDonchyk, "The new approachto the depictionof negativephenomena shows itselfin the fact thatwriters are not so preoccupiedwith a balance of good and evil, knowing fullwell thatpositive ideas may also be expressedby negation,by criticism." Indeed,less attentionis paid to ideas and more to personalexperiences. Two otherprose writers with good prospectsfor the futureare Roman Andriashyk, authorof Foltva (1969), and HryhirTiutiunnyk, who wrote the long short storyObloha (Siege, 1970). Andriashyk'snovel, especially,offers new types

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of narrationand characterization.It is set in the interwarperiod in Galicia and portraysvery well the radical intellectualmilieu in Lviv, withoutin the least sacrificingthe complexityof humanrelations for politicalends. Amongthe younger generation of poets who are continuingthe tradition of the "sixtiers"the followingones enjoy a high reputation:Borys Necherda, Barelefy(Bas-reliefs, 1967), Roman Kudlyk, Vesniany biliard (Spring Bil- liards,1968), and VolodymyrMordan, Den' (Day, 1968). But the bestpoetry writtenin the Ukrainetoday remains unpublished. A signalachievement of the 1960s was in the fieldof translation.Classics of West European literaturehave been masterfullytranslated into Ukrainian, some of themfor the firsttime. The translatorsare Mykola Lukash (Fautst, Decatmeron,Madame Bovary), Borys Ten (Homer, Aristophanes,Sophocles, Shakespeare),and HryhoriiKochur (Hamlet, Tuwim, Czech and Slovak po- etry). The impactof the 1960s on thecontemporary literary scene was, above all, in the fieldof intellectualdissent. The firstdissenters were foundamong the original"sixtiers," who oftenorganized informal literary gatherings, sometimes in commemorationof nineteenth-centuryUkrainian poets such as Taras Shev- chenkoor Lesia Ukrainka.Some of themmay have been instrumentalin smug- glingout the diaryand some unpublishedpoems of Vasyl Symonenko,an idol of Ukrainianyouth at thattime. These were later publishedabroad as Bereh chekan' (Edge of Anticipation,New York, 1965). Symonenko'sstance epito- mizedthe Ukrainianintellectuals' strivings for cultural freedom, social justice, and de-.These demandsbecame widespread in theeastern Ukraine and especiallyin Galicia and Volhynia,where nationalist sentiments were quite strong.To counteractthis movement the Soviet authoritiesconducted a series of arrestsearly in 1966. Among those arrestedwere the literarycritics Ivan Svitlychnyand , thehistorian Valentyn Moroz, and thewriter Myk- hailo Osadchy,as well as scores of journalists,artists, young scholars,and students.Although secret trials of these men held in 1966 (the year of the Siniavsky-Danieltrial) attractedlittle attention abroad, theyproduced an im- portantcollection of documents,similar to Ginzburg's"white book," by Via- cheslav Chornovil,under the titleLykho z rozumu1,(Woe from Wit, Paris, 1967; translatedas ChornovilPapers, New York, 1968). The mostinteresting part of the collectiondeals with Soviet justice. The literaryparts (poems by MykhailoMasiutko and Osadchy) are of littlemerit. Most strikingis the con- trast betweenthese early literaryworks of Ukrainian samz'ydav(saniizdat) and thoseappearing now. The repercussionsof thetrials (most of the accusedwere deportedto con- centrationcamps in Mordovia) werewidespread. Protests in theform of letters and appeals were made by manywriters and scholars,as well as by ordinary

This content downloaded from 62.122.73.250 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 12:33:29 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions UkrainianLiterary Scene Today 867 citizens.One otherpublication was smuggledto the West. This was a long treatiseby Ivan Dziuba, Internatsionalizmchy r-usyfikatsiia (translated as In- ternationalismor Rtissification,London, 1968). Arguing fromMarxist and Leninistpremises, Dziuba dissectedthe Sovietnationality policy in theUkraine withfine sclholarly acumen. Like Chornovil,he is primarilyinterested in secur- ing civil libertiesand culturalfreedom, as promisedby Lenin. They both call for drasticreform, not fora revolution.Dziuba's style,free of Soviet jargon, is very refreshing.His publishedarticles on Skovoroda and Shevchenkoare among the finestin modernUkrainian criticism.Another dissenting literary criticwhose works have found their way throughclandestine channels is Ievhen Sverstiuk,author of a criticalarticle on Oles Honchar's novel Sobor (Cathe- dral, 1968). Publishedabroad as Sobor u ryshtovanni(Cathedral in Scaffold- ing, Paris, 1970), it discussesmany historical,sociological, and ethicalprob- lems in a reappraisalof Honchar's remarkablenovel. Sverstiuk'smore recent essay "Ivan Kotliarevskysmiietsia" ("Ivan KotliarevskyIs Lauglhing,"1969) is an attemptto reinterpretthe beginningsof modernUkrainian literature. To him Kotliarevsky'sEneida, the Ukrainian travestyof Vergil, appears more complexin its allegorythan scholars have thoughtup to now. In a brilliantar- gumentSverstiuk points to the true foundationof Ukrainianculture, which, he believes,is as threatenedby Russian centralistpolicies today as it was in Kotliarevsky'sday. A writerwho occupies a special place in Ukrainian dissentis Valentyn Moroz. His long essay "A Report fromthe Beria Reservation"(available in English in MIichaelBrowne, ed., Fermentin the Ukraine,London and New York, 1971) alone putshim in the frontrank of contemporaryprotest writers. Reminiscentof GeorgeOrwell, the "Report" offersa superbanalysis of totali- tarianism.The chapterdealing with the "cog," theman-automaton produced by the Soviet system,is particularlyOrwellian. Moroz ends his essay optimisti- cally.He claimsthat a greatawakening has takenplace in theUkraine and that the authoritiesare powerlessto suppressit. This was writtenin 1967. Since then Moroz spent several years in jail and in 1971 was once again arrested and sentencedto a new prisonterm of fourteenyears. Between1967 and 1971 Moroz's outlookchanged. In the beginninghe was chieflyconcerned with hu- man freedom.Later he focusedmore on nationalidentity, until he became a fanaticalnationalist. In 1970 he wroteclandestinely three short essays "Khron- ika sprotyvu"("Chronicle of Resistance"), "Moisei i Datan" ("Moses and Datan"), and "Sered snihiv" ("Amid the Snows"). The central theme of theseworks is the reiterationof Ukrainiannational identity and culturalfree- dom in the face of Russification.An incidentconcerning Soviet nmisappropri- ation of an old village ikonostasis,a Belorussianwriter's too friendlyfeeling forRussia, and thelack of steadfastnessamong Ukrainian intellectuals provide

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an opportunityfor Moroz to preachthe gospel of integralnationalism. He even attacksother dissenters (Dziuba) fornot beingmilitant enough. There is great vigorin Moroz's writing,and he may yetbecome a spiritualleader of Ukrain- ian youth,if the channelsfor reformremain blocked as they are at present. Moroz is not a bad poet (see "Soniachna chervin',""Sunny Redness," Su- chasnist',1972, no. 2), but his main strengthlies in prose. There is not much clandestinefiction in the Ukraine. The only noteworthywork is Osadchy's Bil'mo (The Cataract,Paris, 1971), an autobiographicalnovel abouitconcen- trationcamp life. It is undergroundpoetry which best expressesthe spiritof contemporary Ukrainianliterature. Several of the "sixtiers"have founddifficulty in publish- ing theirwork, and some of theirpoems have been circulatedclandestinely. First among themis Lina Kostenko,although there are rumorsin Kiev that her latestcollection is to appear soon underthe titleKniaozha hora (A Printcely Mountain). The Sovietcensorship forces poets to publishunderground because of two considerations.First, the critical boldness of the "sixtiers"was followed by a new wave of experimentation,which in officialeyes anmountsto "empty trickery."Second, there has been a noticeableretutrn to "meaningful"and even civicpoetry, and thisnew trendwas considereddangerous because of the ques- tionsit raised. Of the fiveleading youngpoets whose poems are disseminatedthrough undergroundchannels none is mentionedin the latestreference book on Soviet Ukrainian writers (Pys'mtennykyradians'koi Ukrainy: Biobibliohrafichnyi dovidnyk,Kiev, 1970). Althoughofficially they do not exist,their works are eagerlyread in clandestinepublications. All of themhad some poemspublished in Soviet journals in the late 1960s, and some had separatecollections appear in book form.The mostprolific of themis (b. 1939), whose first collection,Vohon' Kitpala (Ku palo's Fire), was publishedin Kiev in 1966. Since then two collectionshave appeared abroad: Poezii z Ukrainy (Poems fromthe Ukraine,Brussels, 1970) and Pidsinmovuiutchymovchannia (Sum- ming-upSilence, Mullich, 1971). The firstof them imitatessomewhat the structureof the old Ukrainian puppet theatervertep in interweavingthree serious "acts" with two "intermedia."With great poetic virtuosityKalynets evokesnostalgia for the past (the strikingimage of the dilapidatedwell in his firstpoem "Water Well") and reflectson religion,love, and the process of history.His latestcollection, which he calls a "book of lyricson contemporary themes,"thouglh dedicated to ValentynMoroz, is freeof overtpolitical themes. The agony of suffering,imprisonment, betrayal (Judases), corruptionof the spirit,hypocrisy, the poet's role, and some Christianallusions fill the best of his poems. They are usually laconic,pervaded by a spiritof confidenceand peace. Mykola Vorobiov (b. 1941) is the authorof the collectionZolota lypa

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(The GoldenLime Tree, in Suchasnist',1971, no. 11). He recreatesa world of his own timeand place. Much more"relevant" is the poetryof Vasyl Holo- borodko (b. 1942), whose firstcollection, Letiuche vikontse (Flying Win- dow), was to have been publishedin Kiev in 1965. It appeared eventuallyin Paris in 1970. Dziuba was the firstcritic to pointout Holoborodko'sachieve- mentas a lyricist,which is based on the revelationof the unconsciousworld of man. Images of natureand of childhood,reminiscent sometimes of Bohdan Antonych(1909-37), are partof thatworld. The feelingof wonderat creation only occasionallygives way to contemporaryallusions ("we pray to the fire whichis dead . . ., we want to lend our embersto others,but findonly ashes . . ."). Altogetherdifferent is the poetryof HryhoriiChubai, whose long poem "Vidshukuvanniaprychetnoho" ("Search for an Accomplice,"Suchasnist', 1970,no. 11) is a meditationon thethemes of guiltand suicide.His poemshave a strongintellectual undercurrent. (b. 1938) is the authorof Zy- movidereva (Winter Trees, Brussels,1970). Less sophisticatedthan the other fourpoets, he excels as a lyricist,although occasionally historical and social themesappear in his poems (cycle "Kostomarovu Saratovi"). Undergroundpoetry in the Ukraine is predominantlylyrical, although thereis some interestin a returnto civic and historicalthemes. Its main achievementis its revitalizationof the poetic language and the enrichmentof human sensitivity.Both are dangerouscommodities under a totalitarianre- gime,and are thereforeespecially banned in a countrywhose culturalpolicy is geared to mediocrity.As in the 1930s, so today repressionof the Ukrainian dissentersis carriedout ostensiblyto crush "bourgeoisnationalism." In both instances,however, nationalism played a secondaryrole. To be sure,the asser- tion of nationalrights is demandedin the Ukraine today. But, above all, the fightof the dissidentsis forthe goals of civil libertiesand universalityin litera- tureand art.The protestis essentiallyagainst both national discrimination and culturaldeprivation. Early in 1972 a new wave of arrestsin the Ukrainereached its peak. Over a hundreddissenters were jailed. Among themwere Dziuba, Chornovil,Svit- lychny,Sverstiuk, Osadchy, Chubai, and Stus. The KGB made a deternmined effortto suppressand incriminatethe oppositionby alleging actual contacts witheSmigres from the West (Ia. Dobosh fromBelgium) and to suppressthe undergroundperiodical Ukrains'kyi visnyk (Ukrainian Herald). As usual, the Sovietpress carriedno reportsof thesepolice measures.It is too earlyto say whatrepercussions the latestarrests will have. It is not impossiblethat Valen- tyn Moroz mighthave been rightwhen in 1970 he wrote,admonishing the KGB: "You only add freshoil to the fireyou want to extinguish."It is hard to believethat afterthe currentupheaval in the Ukraine literarylife will be quitethe same.

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