What do you think?
Rate this book
Bloodlines: A journey into Eastern Europe
Book by Kostash, Myrna
Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
22 people want to read
About the author
Myrna Kostash
18 books11 followersBorn and raised in Edmonton, AB, award-winning non-fiction writer Myrna Kostash is the author of nine books, including All of Baba’s Children and The Doomed Bridegroom. In addition to contributing articles to various magazines, such as Geist, Canadian Geographic, and Legacy, Kostash has written radio documentaries and theatre playscripts. Her creative non-fiction has appeared in numerous Canadian and international anthologies, such as The Thinking Heart: Best Canadian Essays, Edmonton on Location, Literatura na swiecie (Warsaw), and Mostovi (Belgrade).
A founder of the Creative Non-Fiction Collective, Kostash has taught creative writing workshops across Canada and in the US. She has served on several award juries, including those of the Governor General’s Awards, the CBC Literary Non-fiction competition, and the Writers’ Development Trust’s Pearson Award for Literary Non-fiction. In 2008 the Writers Guild of Alberta presented her with the Golden Pen Award for lifetime achievement, and in 2009 she was inducted into the City of Edmonton’s Arts and Culture Hall of Fame. Her upcoming book, Prodigal Daughter: A Journey into Byzantium, will be released in 2010.
A founder of the Creative Non-Fiction Collective, Kostash has taught creative writing workshops across Canada and in the US. She has served on several award juries, including those of the Governor General’s Awards, the CBC Literary Non-fiction competition, and the Writers’ Development Trust’s Pearson Award for Literary Non-fiction. In 2008 the Writers Guild of Alberta presented her with the Golden Pen Award for lifetime achievement, and in 2009 she was inducted into the City of Edmonton’s Arts and Culture Hall of Fame. Her upcoming book, Prodigal Daughter: A Journey into Byzantium, will be released in 2010.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 11, 2020
I recall reading about "Bloodlines" by Myrna Kostash way-back in 1994 in the Edmonton Journal (typically left-wing Ukrainian-Canadians seemed to get alot of reverent worship in Northern Alberta for some reason - maybe as they are all related somehow).
So when I came across it in the new Downtown "BattleStar Galactica" Library (formerly Milner) I was very interesting in skimming thru to see what it was all about. What a disappointment!
In the Introduction we discover that Kostash herself found her journey back into Europe as a "new Left Socialist/Feminist" was "turbulent and very upsetting". Much of the solidarity she thought she felt with former Eastern European nations newly released from the yoke of the USSR "was illusory, or at least ambiguous".
This disillusionment appears similar many of the Old Left of the West felt when they discovered to true actions and betrayals to the common man Stalin had carried-out after he came to power.
"La Plus ca change"!
Basically this "Second Generation Ukrainian Canadian, a feminist, a writer, an alumna of the 1960's" discovers that she has nothing in common with her peers who were ecstatic to see the "Fall of the Wall in 1989" and eager to forge their own national identities under capitalist freedom!
One of the few positives in this collection of visits to speak with contemporaries in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, and Ukraine was the summary of main critical events that surrounded them from 1945 until 1995. Also the perspectives and thoughts of all her subjects on the grim imposition of bleak Marxist ideology and impact on their lives over 50 yrs.
So when I came across it in the new Downtown "BattleStar Galactica" Library (formerly Milner) I was very interesting in skimming thru to see what it was all about. What a disappointment!
In the Introduction we discover that Kostash herself found her journey back into Europe as a "new Left Socialist/Feminist" was "turbulent and very upsetting". Much of the solidarity she thought she felt with former Eastern European nations newly released from the yoke of the USSR "was illusory, or at least ambiguous".
This disillusionment appears similar many of the Old Left of the West felt when they discovered to true actions and betrayals to the common man Stalin had carried-out after he came to power.
"La Plus ca change"!
Basically this "Second Generation Ukrainian Canadian, a feminist, a writer, an alumna of the 1960's" discovers that she has nothing in common with her peers who were ecstatic to see the "Fall of the Wall in 1989" and eager to forge their own national identities under capitalist freedom!
One of the few positives in this collection of visits to speak with contemporaries in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, and Ukraine was the summary of main critical events that surrounded them from 1945 until 1995. Also the perspectives and thoughts of all her subjects on the grim imposition of bleak Marxist ideology and impact on their lives over 50 yrs.
February 9, 2017
wow, what a powerful read. am so grateful to be in canada.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews