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Among literary scholars, interest in Barka's work has not waned. At the 23rd Annual Conference on Ukrainian Subjects held at the University of Illi nois in Urbana-Champaign (June 16 through 19, 2004), Dr. Jean-Pierre Cap delivered a paper entitled The Yellow Prince by Vasyl Barka: A Poetic Req uiem for Millions of Ukrainian Peasants Starved to Death by Stalin in 1932-1933. To date, however, there is no published English translation of The Yel low Prince. Notes to Introduction 1 Vasyl Barka was born July 16, 1908 in the Poltava re gion. He will be remembered as a poet, writer, literary critic, and translator. From 1943, he lived the life of an emigre, first in Germany (from 1943-1949) and later in the United States of America where he passed away in 2003. He began to write in Ukraine, but his works were first published in Germany: A postoly ( The A postles) and N a Bilom u sviti (In the White W orld). His vivid descrip tions and sensitive style abound in the collec tions Psalom holubynnoho p o lia The (Psalm o f the D ove F ield) and Okean (The O cean). His Troiandnyi rom an (The R ose L ove-story), along with other collec tions of poetry such as K hliborobskyi O rfei (The P ea s a n t’s Orpheus), P ravda K obzaria (The Truth o f K ob- zar), Lyrnyk (The L yre P layer), and the poem S vidok (The Witness) are recognized as important contributions to the world's poetic literature. His most significant work of prose is his novel, Zhovtyi K niaz or The Yellow Prince, a depiction of tragedy and a condemnation of tyranny. 2 http://0-firstsearch.oclc.org.library.jcu.edu [World Cat List of Records] 3 The book was not copyrighted until 1968. 4 Quoted from film review by Stephen Holden, The N ew York Times, December 15, 1993. The Yellow Prince As noted in the introduction to this series, no complete English translation of Vasyl Barka's poign ant and remarkably human work about one of the most inhumane episodes in history has been pub lished to date. This synopsis hopes to bridge that gap while endeavoring to preserve the flavor of the original literary work. To that end, each chapter is introduced with a translation of the opening sentence penned by Vasyl Barka, setting a tone that begins with anxiety, descends progressively into the realms of despair, and culminates in a resurgence o f hope amidst ruin. Part I Daria Oleksandrivna is getting her daughter ready— she is her own living heart from her own breast destined to live and be happy. The saga of the Katrannyk family begins on a Sunday morning. The setting is a peasant’s cottage where Daria, a mother, is lovingly getting her daughter ready for church. The girl, Olenka, is her mother’s “little flower” (an endearing expression inherent to the psy che of Ukrainian people) and symbolizes the future. The mother, like mothers everywhere, is worried about her child's education. She looks with concern at Olenka's notebook, brought home from a school that frightens her. There are also two sons: Mykola, who is four years older than Olenka, and Andrijko, the youngest child, whose age is never mentioned. Mykola, and Andrijko have gone to the main square of the village to look for their father, Myron Dany- lovych Katrannyk, who has been called to the mu nicipal council (the Soviet) for a general meeting. The specter of an imminent danger is brought forth by an old woman neighbor, Hanna, who stops by the house and reveals a strange dream she had the night before. She remembers see ing something in a leather coat made of lizard skin. She also recalls wanting to touch it and being burnt by ice! As in the old Ukrainian folktales, the Yellow Prince takes the features of a dragon with a snake like skin with several heads at the end of far- reaching necks. We learn that Myron, the head of the house hold, is an ordinary peasant who has refused to join the kolkhoz and has therefore been labeled a kulak, a “rebellious land owner” although his humble country dwelling has nothing more to boast than a little garden and a cherry orchard. As the novel be gins, Katrannyk and many other people with whom he interacts are innocent and helpless people facing the whims of a rapacious Communist Party. ‘НАШ Е Ж ИТТЯ”, ЛИСТОПАД 2005 15
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