An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Elena Marinicheva (Community Fellow).
Contemporary Ukrainian literature is typically considered to have originated at the end of the 20th century, after Ukraine became an independent state. Its explosive development was fueled by the energy of the rejection of Soviet heritage. The leading authors, in the first place Oksana Zabuzhko and Yuri Andrukhovich, explored themes of freedom, emancipation, and the building of national identity. This new literature acquired a vivid language of street conversations and teenage slang, with Moscoviada by Andrukhovich and Field Studies of Ukrainian Sex by Zabuzhko some of the key examples. In the early 2000s, Russian translations of this new literature started to appear, and attracted a lot of attention in Russia. However, as Ukraine was drifting more and more away from Russia's influence, it became increasingly difficult to publish this new literature in Russian: Ukrainian authors were getting rid not only of all Soviet influences, but also of Russian imperial discourse. Russia, on the contrary, was moving backwards to a glorification of the imperial spirit, and exoneration of Stalinism, to the literary cliches of the Soviet period. Works by Serhiy Zhadan, Maria Matios, Tanya Malyarchuk and others in Ukraine reflected on these contradictions that became truly tragic in 2013-2014. Currently, in time of an open horrific war started by Russia, Ukrainian literature is undergoing another deep transformation, in particular revising its relations with the Russian language as such. The talk will discuss important processes in Ukrainian literature. Towards the end, notes from the current wartime diaries of Ukrainian authors will be presented in English.
Click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/86535202023
Passcode: Vr8f3ew2