LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (06/29/03)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Back to "us/them" literary discussion

Dear Editor:

Ah, if only the difficulties between Ukraine and its diaspora were due to my personality. You could get rid of me and everything would be peachy-creamy. Alas, things aren't so simple. I am referring to Taras Hunczak's letter to the editor "Do not speak on my behalf" (June 8), in which he excoriates me for the statements I make in Volodymyr Tsybulko's interview with me (April 13 and 20) and equates the difficulties I talk about with my "personal problems."

To start with, the existence of the chasm between Ukraine and the diaspora was not dreamed up by me but noted and stressed by Mr. Tsybulko himself, who is an established figure in the cultural life in Ukraine. As his questions make clear, he feels this is a real issue and that it should be discussed in public. Furthermore, the responses I got from the interview supporting my position tell me that mine is not a voice calling out in the wilderness, but that many people have had similar experiences and feel as I do. And that there are difficulties is not a secret.

How many tries did it take for George Shevelov to get a Shevchenko Prize? And didn't Vasyl Barka die without getting one, which he certainly deserved? Has Jurij Solovij had a retrospective show in Ukraine? And what about Jacques Hnizdovsky? Roman Babowal tells me he has tried for two years to get his poetry published in a Ukrainian journal to no avail. Another member of the New York Group had a similar experience with an article. Such examples of exclusion are numerous and extend beyond the field of art.

If I talked in the interview mainly about myself it was because the questions asked were about my personal situation. But my experience, unfortunately, isn't unique.

Prof. Hunczak interprets my claim that the diaspora changed the nature of Ukrainian culture as referring "obviously" to the New York Group, "of which [Tarnawsky is] a founding member." He goes on, "His message, bordering on messianism, tells the reader that [his way of writing] is the only correct way for the Ukrainian culture to develop. Obviously it would be unfair to accuse the author of modesty." I obviously don't say anything of the sort. If this is what I'd had in mind, that's what I would have said.

What I obviously did have in mind was that for some 40 years, from 1945 until 1991, with the brief thaws in the 1960s and '80s, a good part of what is valuable in Ukrainian culture was developed in the West. The MUR (Ukrainian Arts) movement in the DP camps, the later writings of Todos Osmachka, Vasyl Barka, Oleh Zuyevsky and others, including those of the New York Group; the theater of Volodymyr Blavatsky and Yosyp Hirniak; the paintings of Oleksander Hryshchenko, Mykola Cholodny, Jacques Hnizdovsky, Jurij Solovij, Liuboslav Hutsaliuk, Arcadia Olenska-Petryshyn, Nina Klymovska; the sculpture of Alexander Archipenko, Hryhor Kruk, Mychailo Czereshniowskyj, Mykhaylo Dzyndra, Mykhaylo Urban; the music of Yuriy Fiala, Ihor Sonevytsky, Virko Baley, Lubomyr Melnyk; and many other contributions, are an inalienable part of Ukrainian culture and have indeed changed its face forever.

Prof. Hunczak is "shocked" at my being shocked by the illiteracy of the Ukrainian literary "elite." He suggests that, "His speaking in such harsh terms about individuals with who he should be debating various literary issues tells me that he is restricted to his imaginary creative world." I don't know what "imaginary creative world" is supposed to mean, but what is it that I should be debating with people who claim that free verse retains traditional rhyming and stress or that Vasyl Barka and Oleh Zuyevsky are Surrealists? There's nothing here to debate. These are examples of gross incompetence and all you can do about them is to point them out. But I do, in fact, engage in what Prof. Hunczak suggests - the interview is a literary discussion.

And most importantly, it is Mr. Tsybulko who brings up the topic of incompetence among Ukrainian literary elite and I merely comment on it. He says: "I remember one conference where two home-baked 'experts' preached for over an hour about the nature of post-modernism until one of the foreign guests put them to shame by pointing out that post-modernism in the rest of the world meant something quite different from what they'd been saying." Is Prof. Hunczak chastising Mr. Tsybulko, too?

As proof of the supposedly cordial relationship between Ukraine and the diaspora, Prof. Hunczak cites the friendships and cooperative projects he and his friend Bohdan Boychuk have established in Ukraine. Well, I have done the same, as I point out in the interview. This doesn't change the overall unsatisfactory picture, however. Big changes are needed in the relationship, and they must happen on the other side.

Yuriy Tarnawsky
White Plains, N.Y.

Another comment re "us/them" issue

Dear Editor:

My comment to Taras Hunczak: Herr professor, I wasn't speaking "for you." I was speaking "to you!"

Zenon Mazurkevich
Philadelphia

Attention, Forum: it's Kyiv, not Kiev

Dear Editor:

The latest issue of the popular, English-language magazine Forum has just come out. I always look forward to its fascinating articles on Ukrainian history, art and other issues, and I am never disappointed. But I'm definitely troubled by Forum's stubborn insistence on using the Russian spelling of "Kiev" rather then the more appropriate Ukrainian "Kyiv."

Incredibly, the venerable Andrew Gregorovich, Forum's editor-in-chief once remarked that he liked "Kiev" better because it sounds more natural and it's easier to pronounce. Really, Mr. Gregorovich? The use of "Kyiv" is good enough for the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, the Michelin map company, the Thomas Cook rail guide, the Let's Go and Lonley Planet travel guides, and The Ukrainian Weekly. Indeed, that's also the spelling used by the government of Ukraine.

So why is Forum still using "Kiev"? The use of "Kyiv" epitomizes the very idea of Ukrainian independence, and its profoundly symbolic importance must not be lost on Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians alike. How about joining the rest of us, Mr. Gregorovich? We need all the help we can get.

Nestor Wolansky
Berkeley, Calif.

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