"The Great Fires are Burning behind the Rapid River": Olena Kompan’s review of the books of Ya. Ye. Borovskyi "The Origin of Kyiv: Historiographical Essay" (Kyiv, 1981) and "The Mythological World of Ancient Kievans" (Kyiv, 1982)

Abstract

A review of the Ukrainian Soviet historian, doctor of historical sciences Olena Kompan (1916-1986), found in the personal archival fund of the scientist (F. 297) in the Institute of the Manuscript of Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine has been brought to the scientific circulation for the first time. The review deals with two popular scientific works by Kyiv archaeologist Yaroslav Borovskyi: “The Origin of Kyiv: Historiographical Essay” (Kyiv, 1981) and “Mythological World of Ancient Kievans” (Kyiv, 1982). The review article shows one of the many facets of the talent of Olena Kompan: the ability to think broadly and conceptually, to highlight the original aspects of the analyzed scientific work, creating around it a separate, independent work. And finally, it shows a great writer’s talent of an extraordinary researcher. The review, written in the last period of O. Kompan’s life, expands the source base not only for the reconstruction of historical views of the scholar. It is of interest to researchers of the creative heritage of the Soviet scholars who were forced to exist within the framework of the severely regulated Soviet meta-narrative. In the foreword to the publication, the scientific interests of Olena Kompan are briefly analyzed, with an emphasis on those scientific views that distinguished her from the masses of the Soviet historians of the 30s and 70s