Chapter Neomodernist trends in Russian and Ukrainian poetry of the second half of the 20th century: theoretical problems and the European context

This article considers the presence of modernist elements in poetry from the second half of the 20th century, focusing in particular on Russian and Ukrainian examples. We argue for the necessity of properly recognizing and analyzing modernist phenomena in a period (1960s-1980s) when these have often been eclipsed by a tendency in literary criticism to overstate the role of Postmodernism. We also examine differences in the Western and Soviet cultural contexts and in the roles that Neomodernist poetics played in the poetry of various authors, groups and texts

Vasyl’ Stus and Russian Culture: A Complex Issue

This article is part of a larger project, aimed at studying the many influences and intertextual connections of Vasyl’ Stus, a key figure for contemporary Ukrainian cultural identity, with writers of both Western, Ukrainian and Russian literature. Scholarship on Stus is growing rapidly, yet on the whole it fails to grasp the breadth of his knowledge of foreign literatures. More specifically, studies on the difficult last twenty years of his life often tend to obviate a truly scientific approach to his literary heritage. For fairly obvious reasons, one of the most neglected aspects of his biography as a poet is the role of Russian language, culture and literature in his artistic development. This article argues that a detailed study of the writer's Russian readings and of the possible influence they might have had on his work would help better understand his literary genealogy, his way of thinking and his poetic work. Discussions of works and authors of Russian literature constitute a significant part of Stus's letters. Russian (Soviet) reviews and translations were often for him the key to various foreign literatures and cultures. Russian writers and thinkers aroused his interest in a particular, “privileged” way. Special attention is also paid to the role of Donbas culture in shaping the identity of the young Stus

Rethinking Tradition, Rejecting the Past: Ukrainian Poetry of the 1910s and 1920s in the Search for Europe

In my contribution, I analyze texts by Mykola Zerov, Mychajl’ Semenko, and Mykola Chvyl’ovyj, three leading Ukrainian writers of the 1910s and 1920s, that thematize Ukrainian literature of the first years of the twentieth century, criticizing its alleged backwardness and lack of artistic quality. With their rejection of recent tradition, Zerov, Semenko, and Chvyl’ovyj were pursuing an ambitious program of cultural renewal aimed at elevating Ukrainian poetry and prose to the same level as classical and contemporary European literature. A recurrent name in their poems and pieces of criticism is that of Mykola Voronyj, a key figure of early-twentieth-century Ukrainian culture, whose controversial reception sheds light on the extent to which Zerov and Semenko were eager to radically renew Ukrainian literature after its first modernization attempts, which they deemed unsatisfying

Beyond War: Russia, Ukraine and the State of the Field

The dramatic developments devastating Ukraine since February 2022 represent a true watershed not only for social and political dynamics in both countries, but also for Russian and Ukrainian studies. In this article, the authors aim to contribute to a preliminary review of the most relevant issues touched upon by the academic debate emerging in the months following the start of the war of aggression waged by the Russian Federation in Ukraine

Beyond War: Russia, Ukraine and the State of the Field

The dramatic developments devastating Ukraine since February 2022 represent a true watershed not only for social and political dynamics in both countries, but also for Russian and Ukrainian studies. In this article, the authors aim to contribute to a preliminary review of the most relevant issues touched upon by the academic debate emerging in the months following the start of the war of aggression waged by the Russian Federation in Ukraine

Uncovering the sources of DNA found on the Turin Shroud

The Turin Shroud is traditionally considered to be the burial cloth in which the body of Jesus Christ was wrapped after his death approximately 2000 years ago. Here, we report the main findings from the analysis of genomic DNA extracted from dust particles vacuumed from parts of the body image and the lateral edge used for radiocarbon dating. Several plant taxa native to the Mediterranean area were identified as well as species with a primary center of origin in Asia, the Middle East or the Americas but introduced in a historical interval later than the Medieval period. Regarding human mitogenome lineages, our analyses detected sequences from multiple subjects of different ethnic origins, which clustered into a number of Western Eurasian haplogroups, including some known to be typical of Western Europe, the Near East, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian sub-continent. Such diversity does not exclude a Medieval origin in Europe but it would be also compatible with the historic path followed by the Turin Shroud during its presumed journey from the Near East. Furthermore, the results raise the possibility of an Indian manufacture of the linen cloth

Chapter Украинская культура Василя Стуса между Европой и Россией

The writings of Vasyl’ Stus (1938-1985) offer an interesting example of some typical dynamics of Ukrainian culture, divided among attraction for Europe and the need to reaffirm its own Europeanness, the autoreferential temptation, and the Russian model – in its turn marked by the Westernism/Slavophilism dichotomy. Stus reflects upon Ukrainian literature in relation to its romantic tradition, European modernism and Russian literature, coming to conclusions that may appear unexpected and paradoxical for an intellectual usually deemed a model of traditional patriotism

La lirica di Vasyl' Stus

Vasyl’ Stus's (1938-1985) poetry is one of the richest and most complex chapters in the literary history of late Soviet Ukraine. His poems are not only born of the author’s talent, but also of his erudition and deep cultural awareness; Stus’s poetry eloquently shows the presence of a significant Modernist trend in the literature of the Ukrainian underground during the Age of Economic stagnation. Stus's Modernism is the ideal evolution of the Ukrainian poetic culture of the first decades of the century, and develops thanks to an intense intertextual dialogue with the European literature. Stus’s reception of Russian and German poetry, in addition to becoming the model for nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century Ukrainian poetry, proves fundamental to fully understand his work’s literary palimpsest, which this volume offers a comprehensive reading of, from the early stages to the maturity’s collections

Taras Ševčenko in the Prose and Poetry of Vasyl’ Stus

The presence of Ševčenko in the poetry of Vasyl’ Stus and Stus’s widespread stereotypical image as a reincarnation of Ševčenko in the 20th century have occupied an important role in both literary studies and popularization. In my article I reconsider this fundamental issue by discussing Stus’s reception of Ševčenko in his critical essays, his letters, and his poetry. My focus is on both Ševčenko’s presence as a ‘fictional character’ in some poems by Stus and the overall influence of Ševčenko’s poetry on Stus’s poetic writing. Moreover, Stus’s representation of Ševčenko is compared with other images of the 19th-century poet in modern Ukrainian poetry from the Avant-garde up to the Seventies. In the conclusion I point out how Ševčenko’s Romanticism should not be confused with Stus’s Modernism. The former should be seen as a part of the complex intertextual mechanism which lies at the heart of Stus’s poetry.The presence of Ševčenko in the poetry of Vasyl’ Stus and Stus’s widespread stereotypical image as a reincarnation of Ševčenko in the 20th century have occupied an important role in both literary studies and popularization. In my article I reconsider this fundamental issue by discussing Stus’s reception of Ševčenko in his critical essays, his letters, and his poetry. My focus is on both Ševčenko’s presence as a ‘fictional character’ in some poems by Stus and the overall influence of Ševčenko’s poetry on Stus’s poetic writing. Moreover, Stus’s representation of Ševčenko is compared with other images of the 19th-century poet in modern Ukrainian poetry from the Avant-garde up to the Seventies. In the conclusion I point out how Ševčenko’s Romanticism should not be confused with Stus’s Modernism. The former should be seen as a part of the complex intertextual mechanism which lies at the heart of Stus’s poetry