Shevchenko Scientific Society holds scholarly conference in honor of patron (04/15/01)

Shevchenko Scientific Society holds scholarly conference in honor of patron

by Dr. Orest Popovych

NEW YORK - On March 10 the Shevchenko Scientific Society of America hosted the 21st annual scholarly conference dedicated to Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine's national bard and the society's patron.

The conference, held at the society's headquarters in New York City, was co-hosted by the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S. (UVAN), the Ukrainian Research Institute of Harvard University and the Harriman Institute of Columbia University. It was organized and chaired by Dr. Anna Procyk, a vice-president of the Shevchenko Society.

The program was opened by Dr. Albert Kipa, a vice-president of UVAN. Dr. Procyk then introduced the first speaker, a guest from Kyiv, Dr. Pavlo Hrytsenko of the Institute of Ukrainian Language at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

In his lecture titled "The Language of Shevchenko in the Light of Dialectology," Prof. Hrytsenko, who is a leading authority on Ukrainian dialects, shared with the audience his scholarly findings about the influence of dialects in Shevchenko's works. Far from being confined to the lexicon of central Ukraine, Shevchenko's language drew upon the riches of many Ukrainian dialects, including some from far-flung regions, such as the Carpathian area.

Dr. Hrytsenko has already published two volumes of a unique atlas of the Ukrainian language, which displays on maps the distribution of the usage of words from various dialects as well as the literary language throughout the territory of Ukraine and the contiguous areas beyond its borders. A third volume is ready for publication, pending acquisition of the necessary funds.

The second speaker was Dr. Volodymyr Karpynych of UVAN, who lectured on "Shevchenko and Goethe." Prof. Karpynych has discovered some remarkable parallels between the poetry of Shevchenko and that of the great German poet and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. These were illustrated by quotations in the original languages and in translation.

A third scheduled invited speaker, Prof. George Grabowicz of Harvard University, unexpectedly, was unable to attend.

Dr. Larissa Zaleska Onyshkevych, the president of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in America, closed the conference with some insightful remarks about the reasons Shevchenko has remained relevant to Ukrainians of all generations no matter where they happen to live. For Ukrainians, the genius of Shevchenko transcends time and space because each of us perceives a "different Shevchenko," thus deriving sustenance from his words in a manner that nourishes our particular needs and aspirations, she observed.

Prior to the lectures, the officers of the society held a business meeting. After the lectures, there was a social hour at which Olha Kuzmowycz, the society's recording secretary and an editor of Svoboda, was presented a certificate of appreciation from the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Lviv for the gift of her family home to the society.

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