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Dr. THOMAS M. PRYMAK ACQUAINTING TWO WORLDS: KRYMSKY AS ORIENTALIST Ahatanhel Krymsky (1871-1942) was an exception among the Ukrainian intellectuals of his time. Not only was he an accomplished Slavist and folklorist who wrote widely on Slavonic philology and the speech and cus toms of his native Zvynohorod district in central Ukraine, but he was also a distinguished orientalist and student of the Islamic world whose many published works — both in Ukrainian and in Russian — introduced the Ukrainian public of his time to the rich cultures of the Middle East which on and off through many centuries had influenced their Slavic neighbours. Ukrainian cul ture was a product of Europe and of Christianity, but Ukraine was a borderland facing Turkey, the Caucasus, and the lands of Islam, and it was this historical fact which gave meaning and direction to the life and work of Ahatanhel Krymsky. Krymsky was both personally and professionally a product of this interplay of geography and culture. He traced his family history to a Mulla or Muslim cleric who in the 1690s had fled the declining Crimean Khanate, which was a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, and taken refuge in the part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that is today known as Belorussia. The Muslim refugee converted to Christianity, married a local woman, and became known as ’’Krymsky” — the man from the Cri mea. Ahatanhel’s father, Vukhim, married a Polish wo man from Lithuania and taught school in Volhynia in central Ukraine where in 1871 the younger Krymsky was born. Ahatanhel grew up in the town of Zvynohorod in Kiev province and was at home amidst the rich folk cul ture of the Ukrainian countryside. Mrs. Cheney explained the work done by the Na tional Endowment of the Humanities in promoting pub lic awareness of the humanities and their scholarly study. She was able to show Mrs. Morozov that among the many books supported by the NEH were those with Ukrainian topics, for instance, the series of translations of pre-secular literature of Ukraine prepared by the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard and the transla tion of Oles Honchar’s Cathedral, edited by Professor Leonid Rudnytsky. Dr. Cheney also pointed out the importance of volunteer organizations in American life, and especially in education. She and Secretary Cheney had been involved in the PTAs of the public schools their daugh- Portrait of Krymsky. Credit A. Krymsky. Poezii, (K. 1965). ters attended. Women’s and ethnic organizations were also discussed — the funds raised by the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America helped in the pub lication of some of the books prepared with NEG support. The tea was a tea in name only. It reflected all levels of diplomacy — state to state, people to people, women to women, but primarily it was an affirmation that genuine values of truth, democracy, beauty know no boundaries. It was a first meeting between Lynne Che ney and Raissa Morozov, but it appeared that it would not be the last one. Americans liked the Ukrainians they met, and hoped to see more of them in Ukraine. ’’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЛИПЕНЬ-СЕРПЕНЬ 1992 21
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