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Lina Kosetenko's Landscapes of Memory: The Selected Later Poetry (Peizazhi pami'iati: Vybrani poezii 1977-1989) Ol'ha Luchuk, ed. Michael M. Naydan, tr. L'viv, Ukraine. Litopys. 2002 (© 2001). 127 pages. $15. ISBN 966-7007-52-2. Lina Kostenko is the premier poet of contem porary Ukraine. Bom in 1930, she is the author of many books, including such well-known poetry collec tions as Prom innia zem li (1957), V itry la (1958), Man- d rivk y sertsia (1961), Nad berehamy vichnoi rik y (1977), Nepovtornist (1980), Sad netanuchykh skulp tur (1987), Vybrane (1989), and two historical novels in verse: Berestechko (1999) and the immensely popular M arusia C hurai (1979, 1982). In the late 1950s and 1960s, Kostenko was severely criticized by Soviet critics for what was called her "formalism," her ideologically nonconformist atti tude, her conscious avoidance of the precepts of the Communist Party-imposed dominant style of socialist realism. Rather than bend to the demands of her cen sors and critics, she chose not to be published. Her silent protest for almost two decades attracted the at tention of anticommunist critics and readers. Lina Kos tenko's poetry began to circulate in clandestibne publi cations in the West, and she became the best-loved poet of the Ukrainian diaspora. Kostenko's forte is her intimate lyrical poetry, on one hand, as well as her social allegorical poetry, most of which deals with the special role of the poet in society. Shelley's dictum about poets as the "unac knowledged legislators of the world" is brought in Kostenko's view to its ultimate conclusion: she sees poets as prophets and national leaders, frequently mis understood and even persecuted, but deserving of spe cial consideration and exceptional treatment. In East ern Europe, where great poets were treated as national prophets throughout history, Kostenko's view fell on fertile ground and found an appreciative audience among her admirers. In Kostenko's social poetry, lit erature is the arena of a continual battle between good and evil, with poets as champions of truth, beauty, and freedom. Landscapes o f Memory, translated by Michael M. Naydan, is the second Kostenko book to be pub lished in English. Garland issued her Selected Poetry: Wanderings o f the Heart, also translated by Naydan, in 1990. The first book included selections from Kos tenko's earlier collections {Prom innia zemli, V itryla , and M and rivky sertsia) as well as a few additional po ems. Landscapes o f Mem ory is, unlike its predecessor, a parallel-text edition, providing originals side by side with translations, and contains selections from Kos tenko's books Nad berehamy vichnoi rik y , Nepovtor nist, Sad netanuchykh skulptur, and Vybrane. Lina Kostenko is not a revolutionary experi mentalist inclined toward linguistic hermeticism. On the contrary, she has, as is pointed out in the preface by Mykola Ilnytskyi, deep roots in traditional poetics. Her poetic voice—direct, natural, conveying genuine emotion—finds an immediate rapport with the reader. The richness of her language and versification, her colorful imagery, and a clever, sometimes sarcastic use of aphorisms make translating her work into English rather difficult. Naydan does not attempt to reproduce Kos tenko's classical meter, and his poetic translations, unlike the originals, are unrhymed. Poetry translations seldom do justice to the originals, but they at least pro vide a glimpse into a foreign poet's world of ideas and images. The selections in Naydan's book are primarily short love poems or lyrical landscapes and do not in c lude any of the longer poems or even the shorter epic poems, which tell a story with an allegorical meaning so characteristic of Kostenko. The inclusion of such poems as "Tsyhanko muzza," Tini nezabutykh pred- kiv," Breihel: Shliakh na Holhofu," and "Liubov Nan- sena" (to name but a few shorter pieces) might have given a better representation of Kostenko's subject matter, her wide-ranging intellectual scope, and her philosophy of life and art. English-language readers interested in the critical reception of Kostenko's poetry will find the translator's introduction and Mykola Ilnytskyi's article "Poetry and Destiny" enlightening and thought- provoking. A special issue of Canadian Slavonic Pa pers (June 1990) was also devoteded to the Lina Kos tenko symposium held earlier that year at the Univer sity of Michigan. Reviewed by M arta Tarnawsky, U niversity o f Pennsyl vania. Previously published in the October-December 2003 issue o f World Literature Today and reprinted here with the author's permission. 18 “НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЖОВТЕНЬ 2004 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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