The defined and redefined
HISTORY OF RECEPTION OF THE KEY FIGURES IN UKRAINIAN LITERATURE
A separate direction of the Literary Laboratory of Mystetskyi Arsenal activities is collaboration with secondary school teachers. One of the goals is to familiarize teachers with the latest trends in approaches to the study and interpretation of writers' texts and biographies. We called this direction “Understanding literature”.
One of the first results of our work was the lecture project “The defined and redefined”. We have suggested that professional literary critics should not be restricted to the university audience, but share knowledge with the teachers of Ukrainian literature. Such a format involves stories about little-known facts from the life of classical authors, new reading or interpretations of well-known works of the school curriculum, as well as an overview of the main theses of the key scientific monographs needed to understand the identity of each writer. This is a presentation in the popular form of aspects, the coverage that you often cannot find in texbooks.
Each of the ten lectures that cover the school canon of literature from Skovoroda to Stus is an author's creation; it is unique every time, because the lecturer collaborates with the audience, responds to it and, accordingly, is not limited to the text prepared, but continues his or her monologue according to the reaction of the listeners, their level of preparation, questions and answers during the presentation of the material.
Video recordings of lectures are available online – and therefore, accessible to professional audience and everyone who wants to learn new things regardless of geography and time of day.
Our lecturers:
Vira Aheieva
Professor, Doctor of Philology, lecturer at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, laureate of Shevchenko National Prize
Rostyslav Semkiv
Associate Professor of the Department of Literary Studies at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Candidate of Sciences (Philology)
Oleksii Sinchenko
Associate Professor of the Department of Ukrainian Literature and Comparative Studies of the B. Hrinchenko Kyiv University, Candidate of Sciences (Philology)
Course was held:
October, 17-20, 2017
(in cooperation with the Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education of Kyiv Borys Grinchenko University)
October, 30 – November, 3, 2017
“Not equal to all equality” or how to perceive Skovoroda
Hryhorii Skovoroda. We know him as the most famous Ukrainian philosopher, uncatchable traveler, adventure lover and graduate of Kyiv-Mohyla academy. Why the author of incomprehensible (very easy at first glance?) texts has become a face from the banknote? Is it possible to restore a code to understanding the philosophical researches by Skovoroda, what happens when you read his text in a simple manner and is it reasonable to make the life of the schoolchildren more complicated by offering excessive interpretations? Oleksii Sinchenko tells about these and other issues during the lecture about philosopher that is in a school curriculum of literature.
GOGOL from politics to cultural contexts
Gogol continues to bother. To fascinate and bother. Too many of his characters are still wandering around the world and he had too much impact on Ukrainian and Russian literatures. Yes, Gogol is a Ukrainian author, regardless of the fact it was denied before, and yes, Gogol is a Russian writer, regardless of the fact many people do not want to admit it now. How contemporary theorists and historians of literature are dealing with the multiculturalism of the genius? Which of his works are appreciated more? How does Mykola/Nikolai appear in general in contemporary literary research? Rostyslav Semkiv tells about one of the most ambiguous classical authors, who is in the curriculum of both world and Ukrainian literatures.
Taras Shevchenko as eidos or is there a way out of plato's cave
Taras Shevchenko is a cult figure in history – and not only the history of literature. It seems that there are many volumes written about him, the heritage is collected, and there’s nothing more to add to this. However, no. Literature is attractive exactly because there is always a space for an innumerable set of interpretations. Besides, are people really reading works by Shevchenko? Probably, they are only respectfully learning by heart a canonical list beginning with ‘The Testament’? Oleksii Sinchenko tells about what Shevchenko was reading, what inspired him, what in his not so long life was not accidental, and why Taras Shevchenko lived such a life that he could not avoid becoming an icon.
Ivan Franco. Not kameniar (the stonemason)
Ivan Franko. The intellectual in the service of the people. Author, nominated for the Nobel Prize, scientist, poet-lyricist, and at the same time leader, obsessed with the ideas of socialism and utilitarianism of the arts. He tried to teach and educate – not only the nation, but also young female authors. Why the ‘Withered Leaves’ collection is not about his wife – Olha Khoruzhynska? Should the ‘Moses’ poem be truly the central one that should be learned at school? What contemporary scholars are writing about Ivan Franko? Rostyslav Semkiv outlines the ways to understand the biography and the works of the classics during one lecture.
Lesya Ukrainka as a cultural heroine of the 21st century
Lesya Ukrainka. ‘The only man’ in the Ukrainian literature of her epoch. The female author that was not hesitating for a second in her mission – and she was right. The writer whose creativity outstripped her time – and she appeared in the list of classics right after her death, at the very top of it. However, her best works for a long time remained undervalued or were read so ideologically verified that there was no trace of the original idea. What are the ‘Forest song’ and ‘Boyarynya’ saying to us today and whether Lesya Ukrainka has only become a cultural hero of the beginning of the century today – tells Vira Aheieva, who many years ago was one of the first scholars to revise the heritage and biography of the writer.
Olha Kobylianska. The nature of the princess
Rostyslav Semkiv talks about Olha Kobylianska. Modernism, feminism and, finally, nationalism – how are they combined in the writer’s outlook? Why did she choose not German but Ukrainian language – and became a prominent figure in the canon of Ukrainian literature instead of taking up a place in the second or third row of Austrian literature? And of course, concerning love stories: who did she dream to become and who Kobylianska did not become in her private life?
The evolution of Pavlo Tychyna, Maksym Rylsky, Mykola Bazhan
Tychyna. Rylsky. Bazhan. Three poets who started as bright innovators, no one emigrated, they all became the classics of Soviet literature during their lives, received major state awards and took high administrative positions. But what is actually a measure of success in terms of eternity? Could these writers, becoming court singers of the empire, retain talent and ability to genuine creativity? Which of their works before and after the proclamation of socialist realism passed the test of time? Vira Aheieva reflects on how the heritage of such ambiguous figures of the literary canon should be revised and at the same time tells about the life crises and the various stages of art of each of the artists.
Groundless romantics by Mykola Khvylovy
Being seriously imbued with the idea of an ‘ultramontane commune’, Khvylovy could not withstand the pressure of circumstances and put a dot in his own life earlier than the party did in his place. How to deal now with the assessment of his personality and views – and, most importantly, what to read from his writings? And how to read experimental prose, how a teacher with students can choose the best of works and try to understand the style and method of the author? Vira Aheieva tells about the Ukrainian literature between the two world wars and the fact that there is Soviet literature beyond social realizm.
Oleksandr Dovzhenko: double-bottomed texts
Who is Oleksandr Dovzhenko primarily: a filmmaker or a writer? How it feels like – to live with the awareness of the split of own identity? What films by Dovzhenko should we watch again, reconsider and rethink something about them? What was the end of ‘flirting’ between Dovzhenko and Stalin? And, of course: what is his best prose piece: ‘The Enchanted Desna’, ‘Ukraine in Fire’ or another one? Is it included in the ‘golden list’ of the school curriculum? Vira Aheieva talks about the secrets of Dovzhenko’s biography.
How Vasyl Stus is ‘made’: sociocultural principles of being incorporated in the literary field
Vasyl Stus: the last prophet and poet. What he was moved by and how did it happen that the ingenious artist, the deep intellectual became the symbol of the nation? What are we as readers sacrificing in return? How are we reading his works now – and how do we really need to read poems by Stus? What are the keys to understanding his works, and what remains on the pages of little-known memories and scientific monographs? How to tell pupils about Stus so that they read his lyrics again as adults? Oleksii Sinchenko is looking for answers to these and other questions.