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Ukrainian Voices #23
Василь Стус: життя як творчість
Ніхто не знає, в чому полягає загадка слави. Часто трапляється, що про когось, хто все життя перебував у епіцентрі подій, забувають відразу після смерти. До Василя Стуса широка відомість прийшла після перепоховання в 1989-му. Що цьому причиною: поетична творчість? героїка життя? непримиренність позиції? здатність перейматися чужим болем? На ці та інші питання пробує знайти відповіді син поета – Дмитро, який майстерно поєднує об’єктивні біографічні відомості про життя Василя Стуса з власними спогадами і спостереженнями про батька, парадоксально зіставляє контексти, змішує високий науковий та белетристичний стилі. Пропонована книга – це Василь Стус очима дослідника і сина на тлі «запізнілого націєтворення».
Розрахована на широке коло читачів: від учнів до науковців.
Розрахована на широке коло читачів: від учнів до науковців.
- GenresUkraine
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
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79 people want to read
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November 19, 2023
Vasyl Stus is one of the most important Ukrainian poets of the post war era. He was born 1938 in Rakhnivka, a small village in the west of Ukraine, not far from the Moldavian border. His family moved shortly after his birth to Stalino (today Donetsk). He died in 1985 in the Soviet forced labour camp Perm 36. Vasyl Stus spoke and wrote in Ukrainian.
This book seems to be the only book in English about him. It is a very special book, because it was written by Dmytro Stus. He wrote the book as an academic, but also as the only son of Vasyl Stus.
The book has eight chapters. The first one "Life after Death: Reburial and Struggle for Heritage (Year 1989)" is a remarkable way to start a book about Vasyl Stus. After his death in 1985 he was buried in cemetery near the labour camp. His family was not able to see him before the burial. In 1989 his family applied for a reburial of his body in Kyiv. The permission was given to move his body and also the remains of Oleksa Tykhy and Yury Lytvn, but the whole circumstances of moving these remains were absurd. You get the impression that they received permission, but then the authorities made it as difficult as possible to allow the families to remove the remains. In the end Dmytro Stus and his friends had to exhume the remains themselves with their own hands.
The following chapters "Vasyl Stus' Ancestry and Childhood", "The Poet's Youth", "Meetings and Leave-Takings (1961-1963), "The Bastion of Your Own Self (1963-1965) and "And All That is Like the Gifts of the Lord" (1966-1972) tell Vasyl Stus' story and development from his birth until his arrest in 1972. Often excerpts from his poems are included in the text or from letters and essays he wrote. Dmytro Stus also includes in particular in the first chapter about ancestry and childhood a lot of information about Stus' literary place. If I want to criticise anything in the book, then it would be for me these passages which I found difficult to read, mainly because I do not know enough about the other writers and the general background he refers to.
In the whole book it was equally enlightening and depressive to read how many obstacles Vasyl Stus had to overcome or struggle with because of his wish to speak and in particularly write in Ukrainian. I think it shows very vividly that it does not do the situation of the Ukrainian language justice if one only looks at the times when speaking, writing and publishing in Ukrainian was outright forbidden. Such a limited view does not take into consideration the times when an avowal of the Ukrainian language was considered to be a "slander of the socialist order" and as a sign of suspicious "bourgeois-nationalistic activities".
For me the last two chapters "Creativity / Dichterszeit" and "Epilogue: A Chronicle of Resistance" were most moving and heart breaking. The chapter "Creativity / Dichterszeit" focuses on Vasyl Stus' pretrial detention after his arrest on 12 January 1972. The arrest was based on trumped up charges and the authorities tried to find material which could justify a conviction. The chapter deals with the difficulties and humiliations he had to endure, but also his strong will to resist and keep his dignity. I was in particular touched that he keep himself busy during this time by translating poems by Goethe from German into Ukrainian. Also this chapter includes a lot of quotes of letters and other materials from this time, but also material which was used as evidence in the trial against him. On 7 September 1972 he was sentenced to five years in a special labour regime camp and three years of internal exile. In November the Supreme Court uphold the verdict.
The last chapter "Epilogue: A Chronicle of Resistance" has two parts. In the first part Dmytro Stus writes about his initially difficult relationship with an absent father, but also how he began to understand his father after his release in August 1979. In May 1980 he was arrested again and in October 1980 he was sentenced to 10 years in a special regime camp and 5 years in exile. The family saw him the last time in spring 1981. The second part of the chapter is a laconic timeline between December 1972 and September 1985 and it is called "A Chronicles of Resistance". It includes his notes "From the Camp Notebook". These were published in a Russian translation in 1982 and Vasyl Stus was additionally punished by one year of solitary confinement with a reduction of ration for the publication. He died in the night of 3-4 September when he was again in solitary confinement. The exact circumstances of his death are unclear.
The book ends with Vasyl Stus' last poem which was rewritten in the letter of 12 June 1983
"We are circling tightly
and keep falling out of step.
The world is growing dark. We are brightening
when there is neither strength nor force."
This book seems to be the only book in English about him. It is a very special book, because it was written by Dmytro Stus. He wrote the book as an academic, but also as the only son of Vasyl Stus.
The book has eight chapters. The first one "Life after Death: Reburial and Struggle for Heritage (Year 1989)" is a remarkable way to start a book about Vasyl Stus. After his death in 1985 he was buried in cemetery near the labour camp. His family was not able to see him before the burial. In 1989 his family applied for a reburial of his body in Kyiv. The permission was given to move his body and also the remains of Oleksa Tykhy and Yury Lytvn, but the whole circumstances of moving these remains were absurd. You get the impression that they received permission, but then the authorities made it as difficult as possible to allow the families to remove the remains. In the end Dmytro Stus and his friends had to exhume the remains themselves with their own hands.
The following chapters "Vasyl Stus' Ancestry and Childhood", "The Poet's Youth", "Meetings and Leave-Takings (1961-1963), "The Bastion of Your Own Self (1963-1965) and "And All That is Like the Gifts of the Lord" (1966-1972) tell Vasyl Stus' story and development from his birth until his arrest in 1972. Often excerpts from his poems are included in the text or from letters and essays he wrote. Dmytro Stus also includes in particular in the first chapter about ancestry and childhood a lot of information about Stus' literary place. If I want to criticise anything in the book, then it would be for me these passages which I found difficult to read, mainly because I do not know enough about the other writers and the general background he refers to.
In the whole book it was equally enlightening and depressive to read how many obstacles Vasyl Stus had to overcome or struggle with because of his wish to speak and in particularly write in Ukrainian. I think it shows very vividly that it does not do the situation of the Ukrainian language justice if one only looks at the times when speaking, writing and publishing in Ukrainian was outright forbidden. Such a limited view does not take into consideration the times when an avowal of the Ukrainian language was considered to be a "slander of the socialist order" and as a sign of suspicious "bourgeois-nationalistic activities".
For me the last two chapters "Creativity / Dichterszeit" and "Epilogue: A Chronicle of Resistance" were most moving and heart breaking. The chapter "Creativity / Dichterszeit" focuses on Vasyl Stus' pretrial detention after his arrest on 12 January 1972. The arrest was based on trumped up charges and the authorities tried to find material which could justify a conviction. The chapter deals with the difficulties and humiliations he had to endure, but also his strong will to resist and keep his dignity. I was in particular touched that he keep himself busy during this time by translating poems by Goethe from German into Ukrainian. Also this chapter includes a lot of quotes of letters and other materials from this time, but also material which was used as evidence in the trial against him. On 7 September 1972 he was sentenced to five years in a special labour regime camp and three years of internal exile. In November the Supreme Court uphold the verdict.
The last chapter "Epilogue: A Chronicle of Resistance" has two parts. In the first part Dmytro Stus writes about his initially difficult relationship with an absent father, but also how he began to understand his father after his release in August 1979. In May 1980 he was arrested again and in October 1980 he was sentenced to 10 years in a special regime camp and 5 years in exile. The family saw him the last time in spring 1981. The second part of the chapter is a laconic timeline between December 1972 and September 1985 and it is called "A Chronicles of Resistance". It includes his notes "From the Camp Notebook". These were published in a Russian translation in 1982 and Vasyl Stus was additionally punished by one year of solitary confinement with a reduction of ration for the publication. He died in the night of 3-4 September when he was again in solitary confinement. The exact circumstances of his death are unclear.
The book ends with Vasyl Stus' last poem which was rewritten in the letter of 12 June 1983
"We are circling tightly
and keep falling out of step.
The world is growing dark. We are brightening
when there is neither strength nor force."
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