BOOK REVIEW: New compilaton provides keys to Ukrainian literary treasures (09/22/02)

BOOK REVIEW

New compilaton provides keys to Ukrainian literary treasures

"Kliuchi do Tsarstva" by Marta Tarnawsky (Keys to the Kingdom). Liudmyla Tarnashynska, ed. Kyiv: Helikon. 2001. 400 pp.

by Wolodymyr T. Zyla

The appearance of a handsomely produced and meticulously prepared edition of Marta Tarnawsky's "Keys to the Kingdom" (in Ukrainian) is a welcome event. Liudmyla Tarnashynska has added a very useful introduction to Ms. Tarnawsky's important project, thus providing the keys to Ukrainian literary treasures which still are terra incognita to most of the world.

Marta Tarnawsky was well-prepared for this task. She served for 27 years as a librarian at the University of Pennsylvania, holds degrees in sociology and anthropology, studied English and American literature extensively, and is a bibliographer with a master's degree.

Her competency in the field has been proven by two bibliographic works, one on the subject of the national revolution in Ukrainian poetry (1969) and the other titled "Ukrainian Literature in English: Books and Pamphlets." This latter work was first published in the Journal of Ukrainian Studies, and in 1988 it appeared as a separate book. Both publications were well-received in scholarly reviews. Furthermore, Ms. Tarnawsky is well known as a tireless worker in assembling research material from rare books and from the Internet.

In "Keys to the Kingdom," Ms. Tarnawsky thoroughly discusses the lives and works of over 40 Ukrainian poets, prose writers and literary scholars. In an interview with Ms. Tarnashynska, the author noted: "I need poetry, but Ukraine more clearly needs the bibliographic work that I am engaged in." She continued:

"I think that we have many poets and writers in Ukraine, but only time will show which of them will be mentioned in literary history. At present none of our scholars do this bibliographic work which I am doing. This is hellish work, but I am somehow performing it, because I must do it without fail.

"All cultured nations have literary bibliographies. This certification of Ukrainian literature badly needs to be represented in the English-speaking world in translations, in research and in reviews. I am sure this work will be historically important. I truly believe in this work despite the fact that it is almost beyond my strength. In Ukraine such a work would be a task for a whole institute. But I am doing it in portions, and if I am destined to live for a few more years, I will succeed in finishing something."

Probably with this in mind, Ms. Tarnawsky began her difficult task in 1966. It took her about 20 years to prepare some 40 research articles. Reading her work carefully, I admire the quality of her research. Each sentence indicates that this is work by a professional bibliographer and a bibliophile by vocation. She highly respects facts and numbers. Her interpretations are accurate.

Discussing Ukrainian verse, Ms. Tarnawsky observes that even such outstanding Ukrainian poets as Taras Shevchenko, Lesia Ukrainka, Ivan Franko and Maksym Rylskyi, have seldom been translated into English.

Prose writers also are lacking good translations. For example, Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi has seven translations (two in German, one in French and four in English). But not all these translations of Mr. Kotsiubynskyi's work are of high quality. Soviet translations deprived the work of its original beauty; they are merely simplistic interpretations, and Kotsiubynskyi himself is portrayed as a "realist" and a "revolutionary democrat." The reason for such a situation is obvious when one takes into consideration the more than 260 years of tsarist Russian oppression and over 70 years of courageous struggle by Ukrainian intellectuals against brutal Soviet Russification.

We must congratulate Ms. Tarnawsky for her optimistic attitude in "Keys to the Kingdom." In addition, she should be thanked for stressing the need for good translations of Ukrainian literary treasures into English and other languages. The power of her writing lies as much in her soft-spoken intelligence and lucid style as in her persuasive approach.

Lucidity and a constructive manner of presentation are characteristic features of any good writing. These features are apparent in "Keys to the Kingdom," and therefore the project is as worthwhile today as it will be in the future. Ms. Tarnawsky's work will doubtless be greatly appreciated by students and scholars of literature. It also may find a receptive audience beyond academia.

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