Miscellanea Posttotalitariana Wratislaviensia

Душа летить у посвіті епох… Wybrane wiersze

Lina Kostenko — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Poetycka alchemia Liny Kostenko

Agnieszka Matusiak — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

The presented text is an attempt to define the key poetic coordinates of the works of Lina Kostenko — the most outstanding representative of the Ukrainian generation of the 1960s.

Взяти інтерв’ю у „легенди”: Ліна Костенко та колективна пам’ять шістдесятництва

Simone Attilio Bellezza — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

A feeling of discomfort and disappointment towards the collective memory of the shistdesiatnytstvo in Ukraine emerged during the interview with Lina Kostenko, as well as with other shistdesiatnyky. The public discourse, including many scholarly studies on the topic, usually ignores the ethic and “affective” components which were so important to the members of this movement, whose behavior and universe of values radically differed from the Stalinist Soviet respectability. The function of the shistdesiatnytstvo as the detonator of a positive nationalism is thus neglected. Some important stages in the formation of Lina Kostenko’s personality are then analyzed: the family upbringing based on the love for Ukrainian and worldwide culture, the traumas of childhood during World War II, the importance of building friendly bonds with other shistdesiatnyky, especially with Vasyl’ Symonenko.

Between poetology and nation building: complex identities in Ukrainian underground poetry of the 1960s–1980s

Alessandro Achilli — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

In this essay, I analyse how identities are constructed in Ukrainian underground poetry of the late Soviet period. On the basis of selected poems by Mykhailo Hryhoriv and Vasyl’ Stus, I explore the complex dynamics between the explicit commitment to fostering national identity that is often regarded as a standard duty of Ukrainian writers and the pursuit of a transnational, purely literary identity as part of a wider embrace of the modernist imagination.

Філософія поетичної мови Ліни Костенко

Svitlana Yermolenko, Galyna Siuta — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

The article reveals the meaning of the concept “philosophy of Lina Kostenko’s language,” characterizes the features of individual style as a way of poet’s creative thinking. Lexical-semantic and textual analysis of the defining token “word” is carried out, its semantically attractive connections with the tokens “soul” and “thought” are revealed. Expressive means of transmitting a person’s preverbal emotional state have been recorded. The semantics of the concept of “time,” available in different linguistic and structural units of the text, is traced. Cognitive-linguistic, structural and linguistic analysis of Lina Kostenko’s aphorisms is a testimony to her creative innovation in the formation of aesthetic treasures of the Ukrainian literary word from the second half of the 20th to the beginning of the 21st century — a cultural code of the nation, which organically combines historical sources of language, connections with the Ukrainian classic poetic texts and reflection of modern life of the Ukrainian language.

Indywidualność, wolność, czas: „język europejski” versus „język sowiecki” (i „postsowiecki”) w poezji Liny Kostenko

Oxana Pachlovska — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Taken together, individuality, freedom, and time are three fundamental categories in the value system of European civilization. The dissident discourse in Lina Kostenko’s poetry, which covers not only the Soviet, but also the post-Soviet period, is structured precisely around these three categories. If under the Soviet totalitarian regime these categories were subject to strict controls, nowadays they are losing meaning. In the meantime, the issue of Ukraine’s European integration (both political and cultural) is far from being solved. Poetry responds to these challenges through a complex “transformation” of ideas into images, symbols, metaphors. This article examines how different temporal dimensions — cosmic, historical, individual, and ancestral — have been interiorized in Kostenko’s poetry, reaching the dimension of authentic freedom in an existential (and existentialist) sense and the sublimation of this freedom through language-logos. In these forms in which time is being interiorized, one can recognize various philosophical references (especially the conceptions of time in Heraclitus and Saint Augustine, but also in Camus through the image of Sisyphus as well as that of the intellectual’s dissident and rebel nature). During various historical periods, Kostenko’s poetry reclaims the subjectivity of human existence, the right to sovereign existence in cosmic and historical time for an individual person as well as for an entire nation.

Риторика мовчання як стратегія виклику

Lyudmyla Tarnashynska — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

The author considers the strategy of silence in the works of the leading Ukrainian poet Lina Kostenko (born in 1930), a representative of the rebellious generation of the Ukrainian sixties, is considered. Her first (1961–1977) creative silence dates back to the years of totalitarianism when there were strict conditions of censorship; the second one (1999–2010) was already at the time of Ukraine’s independence, and it represents the communication crisis between the writer and authorities as well as writer and reader. The phenomenon of silence is interpreted as a behavioral strategy burdened by external circumstances, and in the case of Lina Kostenko — as communicatively significant and strategic silence. It is emphasized that silence as a “missing presence” of the writer in society stands out among other behavioral models that “work” on reputation, with its particular ambiguity. This prolonged form of challenge, having the “nature of keeping distance” (Martin Heidegger) by an author from authorities and a reader, maintains a “curve” of interest in him. Therefore, the periods of Kostenko’s silence are marked by a particular intrigue: they are perceived as a certain challenge to society, a kind of marker of the artist–power relationship when it is impossible to express one’s uncompromising position other than with silence. Actually, her “principled non-publicity,” which she interpreted as “unnecessary vanity” (which resulted in refusing interviews, participating in literary events, etc.), has other deeper motivation. By looking for analogs of a similar behavior model in the world literature history, the researcher compares the silence of Lina Kostenko with the literary silence of Paul Valéry and finds both similarities and differences.

Доля як архетип і як вибір

Mykola Ilnytskyi — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

We analyse lyrical texts by Lina Kostenko with historiosophical character and these containing the ontological and, at the same time, autobiographical elements. The author of this study assumes that each of these lines has its own sources, image system, and content dominants. The poetess constructs the life model of the lyrical hero using the topos of bazar as seen in historical songs and dumas, where the fate is decided by the internal conscious choice. The choice of the fate, paid by the life, is interpreted as a modification of the situation such as the “Cossack Freedom.” This interpretation of the mythologem of the freedom in lyrical texts by Lina Kostenko is based on the works by Mykola Kostomarov, Oleksandr Potebnia, Mylhailo Hrushevskyi, as well as on Taras Shevchenko’s poetry. At the same time, we see the image of the fate as containing a sociological aspect — as a type of protest against suppressing the freedom of the will and action in a totalitarian system. The historiosophical line in the lyrics is analysed when considering the verse “The Heraclitus’ River,” which embodies the ideas of fluidity of water and constancy of a shore. These are later formulated into the aphorism: “Everything flows but not everything disappears upon the river shores.” We also pay separate attention to the fact that the poetess sees herself as the heir and the follower of the philosophy of Hryhoriy Skovoroda with his concept of self-knowledge and his creation of “The Garden of Divine Songs.” Lina Kostenko inscribed an individual human fate, that of the family/tribe, people, mankind — into a world flow.

„Митцю не треба нагород, його судьба нагородила”. Мотив долі в ліриці Ліни Костенко

Anna Horniatko-Szumiłowicz — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Motif of fate is an inherent part of Lina Kostenko’s works. Kostenko, one of the leading representatives of Sixtiers, is suprisingly diverse in her approaches to this motif, i.e. fate both predestined and as a free choice of a human being (understood as both personal fate and the fate of others, the nation and fate as a poet’s calling). Despite multiple perspectives on the problem of fate, Kostenko points out that the artist needs no admiration or reward. Instead, their very fate can be considered an award. This fact determines their entire existence as both poet and a human being, implicating a moral imperative in life and in their works — a theme and artistic creed. This paper utilizes a hermeneutic approach in research.

Poeta wobec systemu. Duchowy świat poezji Liny Kostenko

Albert Nowacki — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

This paper is devoted to the analysis of selected poems by Ukrainian poet Lina Kostenko in the context of the sphere of spirituality and numerous references to biblical themes. The conducted analysis allows us to conclude that the world of religion and human spirituality allowed the poet to show a clear contrast between humanistic values and the dehumanized and oppressive reality of the communist system. The writer, who remains a symbol of the Ukrainian generation of the 1960s, reminded us that more important than conformist submission to the apparatus of power is maintaining her own dignity and fidelity to the values she professes, even when it is necessary to pay a high price, which the ban on publishing her works must have been for her.

The beginning: The poetry of Lina Kostenko during the Thaw

Radomyr Mokryk — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

A short period of time after Khrushchev’s Secret Speech in 1956 was characterized by relative freedom of speech, plurality of cultural approaches and the easing of censorship in Soviet Ukraine. Under these favorable conditions, a new generation of young writers, artists and intellectuals emerged in Ukraine, known as the Generation of the Sixties, or “the Sixtiers.” Despite the fact that they were part of Soviet culture, they gradually formed a kind of cultural opposition to the official culture. Lina Kostenko played a significant role in this process, and some opposition motifs in her works appeared from the very beginning of her career. This study traces the emergence of some of these motifs, which later became the basis of Kostenko’s literary career: anthropocentrism, solidarity among the oppressed and national issues.

„Душа в мені розгойдана як дзвін!”: романи у віршах Ліни Костенко як драматична історія народу

Ivan Dzjuba — Tue, 10 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Dramatic moments of national history can be traced through the prism of famous verse novels Marusya Churai and Berestechko by Lina Kostenko. It is emphasized that the poetess is characterized by leaving the theme of art for the theme of the people, their existence in the world. Revealing the originality of her poetry, in particular in the context of her great predecessors, the author of the article reveals through the structure of the writer’s poetic thought and the architectonics of the work the historiosophical, moral and ethical, and aesthetic layer of Marusya Churai. It is emphasized that the perfection of architecture appears here as a “material” expression of the fullness of self-development of a great poetic idea. The image of the legendary folk singer in the tragedy of her fate helps the poet to show not only the Liberation War led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky, but also the full depth of the dramatic history of Ukraine. Motives of invincibility of the people, sovereignty, love of freedom, greatness of soul, and good morals of ancestors are prominent in this work. By actualizing the inseparability of the past, present, and future, Kostenko draws from history not the past, but the eternal. This is also characterized by the epic poem Berestechko, where in the context of the same historical events, the poet, focusing on the image of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, philosophically solves the problem of national defeat: no victory teaches so. There is also a pervasive opinion of Kostenko that Ukraine should establish itself in the world not only by deeds, but also by the Word of the highest standard.

Ліна Костенко: вітер з Італії

Volodymyr Panchenko — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Italian motifs in the works of Lina Kostenko are examined. Her imagination, overcoming time and space, often “revives” the figures of great masters to see in their stories an eternal meaning of life. Through the optics of these figures, timeless themes and problems are revealed: the conflict of genius and crowd (Dante), ethical maxims of a self-demanding artist, always dissatisfied with his creative work (Michelangelo Buonarroti), the problem of broken / steadfast artist (dramatic poem Snow in Florence: Rustichi). The author examines the universal collisions developed by the poet at a high artistic level, which leads to seeing parallels and analogies in eternal plots, as Florence and Tour are “pseudonyms” of Ukraine of the totalitarian times, when poet/subject had to choose between conformism / nonconformism. It is emphasized that the analyzed works of Lina Kostenko on Italian themes confirm the idea that compromise, ethical instability, duality of soul, work to please the crowd are detrimental to the artist, who is called to sacrifice to establish high art in the world. Dramatic tension in the development of the plot, psychology of characters, dynamic dialogues, vivid figurative words — all this makes the works of the writer especially deep and artistically perfect.

Про зелень птиць, про виникнення контрканону та про один вірш Ліни Костенко

Marko Pavlyshyn — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

In 1962–1965, the publication in the Ukrainian émigré journal Sučasnist' and in several anthologies of works by a group of poets termed “Shistdesiatnyky” (“People of the Sixties”), including Lina Kostenko, established among Ukrainians in the Western diaspora a literary countercanon conceptualised as oppositional to the values prevailing in the officially endorsed literature of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The Sixtiers, according to émigré critics, manifested aesthetic excellence, an affinity with modernist movements of the West and of Ukrainian letters of the 1920s and early 1930s, and demurral from the ideological tendentiousness and formal traditionalism of Soviet writing. A reading of Lina Kostenko’s poem “Paporot”, (“Ferns”) demonstrates the capacity of a particular poem from the new countercanon to respond to Western expectations shaped by principles and methods derived from New Criticism.

Szaleństwem jest marzyć o społeczeństwie szczęśliwym… „Записки українського самашедшого” Liny Kostenko i „W roku 2000. (Z przeszłości 2000–1887)” Edwarda Bellamy’ego

Katarzyna Jakubowska-Krawczyk — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

The article reflects on dreams about social life, disappointments and finally the belief in breakthrough moments. Two novels, Zapysky ukrainskoho samashedshoho by Lina Kostenko and Looking Backward: 2000–1887 by Edward Bellamy were used as research material. I based my analysis on the sociological concepts of the lifeworld and the theory of transformative learning. I showed that the subject of both novels was not only the critique of contemporary society and political life, but, most of all, the weakness of interpersonal relations. Thus, both of these novels not only are narratives about a specific social, political or ideological situation, but also acquire a universal dimension.

Lina Kostenko jako scenarzystka „Sprawdźcie swoje zegarki — kto powróci, pokocha do końca”. Scenariusz i film

Larysa Briukhovetska — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Why did Arkady Dobrovolsky and Lina Kostenko, the talented authors of the critically-acclaimed screenplay Check Your Watches, take their names out from the credits of Leonid Osyka’s film Who Return, Will Love to the End based on their screenplay? Using archival materials analysis, this article shows collisions that revolved around Kostenko’s notorious work between 1964–1966 at the Dovzhenko Film Studios in Kyiv.

Кінематографічне вилюднення як різновид культурного імперіялізму

Yuri I. Shevchuk — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

The article analyzes a specific strategy of appropriation of the colonized by the colonizer widely used in the Soviet and post-Soviet cinema made in Ukraine and Russia and, until now, never discussed in Ukrainian film studies. The cinematic depopulation is a particular mode of filmic representation whereby a given ethnoscape (Ukraine) is cleansed of the national community (Ukrainians) which has always considered it its ancestral homeland, and instead is populated by the colonizer (Russian characters) as if it were an integral part of their historical territory. As a form of Russian cultural imperialism, this strategy continues to be widely used in both Ukrainian and Russian film production today to promote the idea of Ukraine that is conceivable outside of and without the Ukrainian language, culture, and other traditional attributes of Ukrainian national identity.

Про сповідь, написану серцем

Valentyna Sobol — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

The author analyzes the poetic and prose works of Natalia Zamulko-Dubushe (1948–2020). The Ukrainian emigrant writer, who has lived and worked in France since 1989, is the author of the Ukrainian-language poetry collection Storks of the Native Land (2004), prose books Alien Nation (2012), Rain Border (2018), and others. The aim of the article is to analyze the confessional beginning of Natalia Zamulko-Dubushe’s works. In order to comprehend the weight of the author’s personal experience in the poetic and prose narration, Valentyna Sobol compares the defining motives of the poetic and prose works of the writer. As a result of a comparative reading, the researcher draws a conclusion about the dominance of the autobiographical discourse of the entire creative work of the writer. It is shown how the motives of her poems resonate differently in prose each time. In fact, memory is the driving force in all emigration works. Returning mentally to her Ukrainian roots, the writer at the same time exposed herself as a person of the world.

Literatura, tożsamość i historia. Szkic o twórczości Liny Kostenko

Bogusław Bakuła — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

The article concerns famous Ukrainian female poet, literary critic and writer Lina Kostenko (born 1930). It is a synthetic approach, which presents the important position of Kosteno in the life of Ukrainian literature and culture as well as politic life over the past 60 years as: 1. author of revealing lyrics and poems; 2. author of high-profile journalism on current topics, especially those related to the Chernobyl tragedy; 3. participant of the dissident movement in Ukraine; 4. author of the famous novel depicting the Ukrainian intelligentsia on the eve of the Orange Revolution of 2004 – Zapysky ukrajinskogo samashedshogo (2010); 5. a moral authority speaking on matters important for Ukrainian identity and historical heritage.

Najmniej znany wybór przekładów Liny Kostenko z 1990 roku

Bogusław Bakuła — Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

The article concerns the volume of poetry by Lina Kostenko entitled Poems, which was to be published in Poland in 1990. The selection was edited by Aleksander Ziemny. The volume was published only in 25 copies by the publishing house “Iskry.”