UKRAINIAN LITERATURE A Journal of Translations Volume 2 2007 Ukrainian Literature A Journal of Translations Editor Maxim Tarnawsky Manuscript Editor Uliana Pasicznyk Editorial Board Taras Koznarsky, Askold Melnyczuk, Michael M. Naydan, Marko Pavlyshyn www.UkrainianLiterature.org Ukrainian Literature is published by the Shevchenko Scientific Society, Inc., 63 Fourth Avenue, New York, NY 10003, U.S.A. (tel.) 212–254–5130; (fax) 212–254–5239. Ukrainian Literature publishes translations into English of works of Ukrainian literature. The journal appears triennially both on the internet (www.UkrainianLiterature.org) and in a print edition. A mirror of the internet edition appears at www.shevchenko.org/Ukr_Lit. Ukrainian Literature welcomes submissions from translators. Translators who wish to submit translations for consideration should contact the editor by e-mail at [email protected]. Correspondence relating to subscriptions and the distribution of the printed journal should be addressed to the publisher (Shevchenko Scientific Society, Inc., 63 Fourth Avenue, New York, NY 10003, U.S.A.; tel.: 212–254–5130; fax: 212–254–5239). In matters relating to the content of the journal, its editorial policies, or to the internet version, please contact the editor by e- mail at [email protected]. ISSN 1552-5880 (online edition) ISSN 1552-5872 (print edition) Publication of this volume was made possible by a grant from the Ivan and Elizabeth Chlopecky Fund of the Shevchenko Scientific Society (USA). Copyright © Shevchenko Scientific Society, Inc. Contents Introduction: Maxim Tarnawsky 5 TARAS PROKHASKO The UnSimple Translated by Uilleam Blacker 7 VOLODYMYR DROZD “The Seasons” “Fame” “Everything All Over Again” Translated by Anatole Bilenko 59, 71, 79 VALERII SHEVCHUK Eye of the Abyss (Part 2) Translated by Olha Rudakevych 87 IVAN FRANKO Poem 20, 2nd Cycle from Ziv’iale lystia Translated by Ivan Teplyy 201 IVAN FRANKO “Khmelnytsky and the Soothsayer” Translated by Marta D. Olynyk 203 IURII IANOVSKYI “The Return” Translated by Marta D. Olynyk 207 EMMA ANDIJEWSKA “Tale About the Vampireling Who Fed on Human Will” “Tale About the Man Who Knew Doubt” Translated by Uliana Pasicznyk 213, 217 YURI ANDRUKHOVYCH “India” Translated by Nina Shevchuk-Murray 221 VASYL GABOR “Hunting in Lost Space” “Night Obscures the Way” “Finding the Way to the Garden” Translated by Patrick Corness and Natalia Pomirko 227, 231, 237 OLEH HOVDA “The Curse of … Love” “Going My Own Way” Translated by Oksana Bunio and Patrick Corness 243, 247 IRYNA VILDE Three Miniatures Translated by Khrystyna Bednarchyk 251 OLEKSANDR ZHOVNA “The Lame Mermaid” Translated by Patrick Corness and Natalia Pomirko 255 MARTA TARNAWSKY “Ukrainian Literature in English: A Selected Bibliography of Translations. 2000–” 261 Introduction This issue of Ukrainian Literature has been a long time in the making. The delay is unfortunate but not entirely unexpected. A journal such as this is a labor of love and, like all non-commercial ventures, it is dependent on the available time of individuals who must complete the required tasks. In the case of this journal, those individuals are the journal’s manuscript editor, Uliana Pasicznyk, and I. Our time is limited by our professional obligations which were too extensive to allow this issue to appear sooner. This new volume of the journal appears three years after the first, just in time for the sixteenth anniversary of Ukraine’s independence. Despite the delay in its appearance, I give my assurance that the journal is an ongoing publication that will exist for many years into the future. I sincerely hope that the publishers, the editorial board, our manuscript editor, and I will find the wisdom and the organizational skill not only to continue publishing the journal but to increase its frequency. Our plans for volume three call for it to appear no later than three years from now, perhaps sooner. The first issue of the journal met with a mixed response. Some critics, misunderstanding biennial for semi-annual, complained that a second issue did not appear within six months. Oh dear! Other critics addressed our content. There were complaints that the selections in our journal did not reflect a particular taste or profile. This eclecticism is deliberate on our part, as I outlined in the introduction to the first issue. The editorial board and I do not dictate to translators: we encourage them to translate what they consider worthwhile. In our editorial decisions, we do not select a particular profile. We do not favor post-modernism, or short stories, or intellectual literature. Our aim is to reflect the wide array of Ukrainian literature— stretching across time, genres, themes, styles, and even quality. For a culture that is still seeking its rightful place, not only in the global community of readers but even within the borders of its own country, such an approach is the only one that can give an honest appreciation of the current state of affairs. The journal reflects Ukrainian literature not in its totality but in its particularities. It is my hope for this journal that readers who cannot read Ukrainian will find in it individual works that thrill them, move them, and speak to their feelings and desires, for that is the purpose of all literature, including the works that appear on these pages. Many individuals have contributed in various ways to this journal and they all deserve credit. I thank the members of the editorial board for their Ukrainian Literature. Volume 2. 2007 6 Introduction cooperation and shared expertise. I also thank the translators whose works appear in this issue for their extraordinary patience and commitment through the long process of preparing for publication. I especially thank Uliana Pasicznyk for her professionalism, patience, and personal support, which have played an enormous role in keeping me and this journal on track. Without her efforts, this issue of the journal could not have appeared. Maxim Tarnawsky Toronto, 2007 ½ — www.UkrainianLiterature.org — ¾ The UnSimple Taras Prokhasko CONTENTS Sixty-eight accidental first sentences 8 Chronologically 11 Letters to and from Beda 12 Genetically 15 The first old photograph—the only undated one 18 Physiologically 21 Walk, stand, sit, lie 25 Situation in color 29 The second old photograph—Ardzheliudzha, 1892 35 The temptations of St Anthony 37 Abundance of days 52 Ukrainian Literature. Volume 2. 2007 8 Taras Prokhasko. The UnSimple SIXTY-EIGHT ACCIDENTAL FIRST SENTENCES 1. In the autumn of 1951, it would not have seemed at all strange to head west. At that time even the east had begun slowly to move in that direction. Nevertheless, in November 1951, Sebastian and Anna left Mokra and went east. There was, after all, a lot more of it. To be more precise, they headed for the eastern south, or south-easterly. 2. It wasn’t the war that delayed the journey for so many years. The war could do little to change anything in their lives. Sebastian had decided on the bold step of breaking with his family’s tradition of showing the children important places from family history when they turned fifteen. That was because when Anna turned fifteen, Sebastian understood that everything was repeating itself and that Anna was the only possible woman in the whole world for him. And not just that he could be only with her but also that he couldn’t be without her. Meanwhile, in Ialivets, that place in family history that he was meant to show her, the Unsimple were waiting for her. And Sebastian knew that they would easily persuade his daughter to stay with them. After all, at the moment of her birth they had predicted that she would become one of them. 3. In April 1951, Anna began to sense that her father, Sebastian, was the only man she could be with, and they began to make love. That spring there was no lack of wanderers traveling by hitherto unheard-of roads and carrying fantastic rumors. This was how Sebastian found out that the Unsimple had vanished from Ialivets. After that nothing more was heard of them. Sebastian and Anna spent the summer submerged in their love-making, oblivious to the various armies flowing back and forth around them. Nothing blocked them from going east, south, or southeast. When it got really cold and the roads contracted into tight, well-defined lines, they finally left Mokra and planned to be in Ialivets within a few days. The journey had been put off for three years. But Sebastian feared nothing—he had once again found a real woman. Of the same kind as always. 4. He had no idea how he would actually show his daughter all the places in the mountains between Mokra and Ialivets. Instead of four days the journey would need to have lasted four seasons. Only in this way and at all times of day—by day, by night, in the morning and in the evening—would Anna be able to see how different this road looked in its collective totality. He looked at the map, read the names aloud, and immediately began to feel better. Even the fact that the map meant nothing to Anna could not dampen his ½ — www.UkrainianLiterature.org — ¾ Taras Prokhasko. The UnSimple 9 mood. He was, however, a little disturbed by the trees along the way, which he hadn’t seen for so many years: the growth of trees is what most often makes a landscape unexpectedly unrecognizable. And that is proof beyond doubt that significant trees should never be abandoned to the whims of nature. And as for the actual trip—no journey knows what might become of it, what its true reasons are, or what consequences it may have. 5. Franz once told Sebastian that there are things in the world much more important than what is called fate.