The Executed Renaissance

The Executed Renaissance: Anthology from 1917–1933: Poetry—prose—drama—essay (Ukrainian: «Розстріляне відродження: Антологія 1917—1933: Поезія—проза—драма—есей») is an anthology of works from Ukrainian poets and prosaists from 1920-1930. The term's origin is attributed to the Ukrainian emigre and literary critic Yurii Lavrinenko, who published the anthology in 1959 in Paris with the support of Jerzy Giedroyc, a Polish writer and activist.

The Executed Renaissance: Anthology from 1917–1933
EditorYurii Lavrinenko
Original titleРозстріляне відродження: Антологія 1917—1933
CountryFrance
LanguageUkrainian
Genreanthology
PublisherKultura, Smoloskyp
Publication date
1959

The anthology itself is based on the concept of the "Executed Renaissance," which Giedroyc coined to describe hundreds of writers - both Ukrainian literati and intellectuals - who were executed under Joseph Stalin.[1] This cultural elite became the target of the Soviet purges because they were in a position to expose oppression and betrayal and could quickly become targets of treason themselves.[2] During the revolution, the works of the poets were popular features and rallying chants. The body of literature was also recognized for its contribution to the emergence of the modern Ukrainian national idea.[3]

From history of publishing

Lavrinenko had been recommended to Jerzy Giedroyc by Yurii Shevelov for compilation of an anthology of Ukrainian literature of 1920-1930.

A book appeared in the library of Parisian magazine Kultura in 1959. The term 'Executed Renaissance' is accredited to Giedroyc. This wording as a suggestion for the name of a book first appeared in Giedroyc's letter to Shevelov from August 13, 1958: "And what about name. It would be better to give as a common name “The Executed Renaissance: Anthology from 1917–1933” etc. Name would sound effectly. On the other hand, humble name “Anthology” only can take the sting out of propagation through the Iron Curtain. What do you think about it?"

After the book's publication, Giedroyc sent, at the editorial staff's own expense, copies to the Writers' Union in Kyiv and magazines of Ukrainian SSR. Moreover, he used their ability (legal or not) to send books through the Iron Curtain. After publishing the anthology, the term "Executed Renaissance" garnered widespread notoriety in Ukrainian public language.

Materials for anthology were found in contemporary periodicals, libraries and archives, such as the Archive-museum of Ukrainian Free Academy of Sciences, the Department of Slavic Studies of New York Public Library, and the private collections of Sviatoslav Hordynsky, Hryhorii Kostiuk, Volodymyr Miakovsky, Yosyp Hirniak, Oksana Burevii and others), and in handwritten copy, etc. Additionally, Shevelov, Leonid Lyman, Ivan Koshelivets, Vasyl Barka, Vasyl Hryshko, Yar Slavutych and others aided with seeking materials and offering advice.

Structure of anthology

Ina preface to the edition, Lavrinenko, its editor, wrote about principium and the technique of choosing:

In this collected edition appeared only material, which had been publishing (rarely — only wrote) in Ukraine — mainly in USSR — for period 1917—1933 and which had banned and destroyed after 1933 due to new Moscow's course and turning Ukraine into colonial province.

Lavrinenko noted that part of the banned works had been printed during the occupation of Eastern Ukraine—between 1939-1946 and between 1956-1958—but it contained some corrections. The main principum was "to give only works, which had withdrew after Moscow's terroristic and famine crack-downs on Ukraine." Works that were written in emigration were not represented because "this is anthology of works, which was in UkrSSR before 1933."

The anthology consists of four chapters: poetry, prose, drama and essay. Poetry was represented most fully: Firstly, because it "was in vanguard of contemporary literature;" and secondly, because "it is unpossible to cover even the most important examples of prose, drama and essay." Authors were placed «"n order of appearance of their first book after 1917."

Poetry
  • Pavlo Tychyna — poems from collections «Sun Clarnets» (Ukrainian: Сонячні кларнети), «Instead of Sonnets and Octaves» (Ukrainian: Замість сонетів і октав), «Plough» (Ukrainian: Плуг), «A Wind from Ukraine» (Ukrainian: Вітер з України), «In the Cosmic Orchestra» (Ukrainian: У космічному оркестрі), poems «To the Memory of Thirty»[4] (Ukrainian: Пам'яті тридцяти; published in Nova Rada, 1918), «From the Crimean Cycle» (dedicated to M. Rylsky) (Ukrainian: З кримського циклу; «The Life and the Revolution», 1926), «Mother peeled potato...» (Ukrainian: Чистила мати картоплю...; almanac «Vaplite», 1926)
  • Maksym Rylsky — poems from collections «Under Autumn Stars» (Ukrainian: Під осінніми зорями), «A Blue Distance» (Ukrainian: Синя далечінь), «Poems» (Ukrainian: Поеми), «Through the Windstorm and Snow» (Ukrainian: Крізь бурю і сніг), «Thirteenth Spring» (Ukrainian: Тринадцята весна), «Where Roads Cross» (Ukrainian: Де сходяться дороги), «The Sound and the Echo» (Ukrainian: Гомін і відгомін); translation of preface of Adam Mickiewicz's «Pan Tadeusz»
  • Yakiv Savchenko — poems «He Will Come on Mad Horse at the Night»(Ukrainian: Він вночі прилетить на шаленім коні…; «Poetry», 1918), «He Stands as a Wax and Cries Mournfull...» (Ukrainian: Стоїть. Як віск. І скорбно плаче…; Bohdan Kravtsiv's anthology «Strings, Putted Down», 1955), «A Sun Under Heads» (Ukrainian: Сонце під голови; Yar Slavutych's martyrology «The Executed Muse», 1955)
  • Dmytro Zahul — poems «On the Other Side of Impenetrable Cover» (Ukrainian: За непроглядною заслоною; Literature and Science Herald, 1919), I am Listening a Song as through a Dream... (Ukrainian: Я чую пісню, мов крізь сон...; Bohdan Kravtsiv's anthology «Strings, Putted Down», 1955)
  • Mykhayl Semenko — poems «Bronze Body» (Ukrainian: Бронзове тіло), «Conductor» (Ukrainian: Кондуктор), «Ocean» (Ukrainian: Океан) («Strings, Putted Down», 1955), «Unavoidable Days» (Ukrainian: Дні неминучі; «Piero peacocks», 1918)
  • Oleksa Slisarenko — poems «Walt Whitman» (Ukrainian: Волт Вітмен), «In the Apiary» (Ukrainian: На пасіці)(«Strings, Putted Down», 1955), «To the Memory of Hnat Mykhailychenko» (Ukrainian: Пам'яті Гната Михайличенка; «An Alarm», 1921), «A Rime» (Ukrainian: Іней; «Vaplite», 1927)
  • Mykola Zerov — poems from collections «Camenae» (Ukrainian: Камени, 1924) and «Sonnetarium»[5] (1948) and single poem «HOI TRIAKONTA» (Yurii Klen (Oswald Burghardt) «Remembrance about Neoclassіcists», 1947)
  • Vasyl Chumak
  • Maik Yohansen
  • Volodymyr Sosiura
  • Volodymyr Svidzynsky
  • Pavlo Phylypovych
  • Todosii Osmachka
  • Geo Shkurupii
  • Dmytro Phalkivsky
  • Vasyl Bobynsky
  • Mykhailo Drai-Khmara
  • Yevhen Pluzhnyk
  • Leonid Chernov (Maloshyichenko)
  • Stepan Ben
  • Mykola Bazhan
  • Marko Vorony
  • Vasyl Mysyk
  • Oleksa Vlyzko
  • Kost Burevii (Eduard Strikha)

Prose

Drama
  • Mykola Kulish — «People's Malachii» (Ukrainian: Народний Малахій; appeared in Stanislav Hordynsky's «Real People's Malachii» (Ukrainian: Справжній народний Малахій), 1953[6])
  • Kost Burevii — historic drama «Pavlo Polubotok» in five acts (Ukrainian: Павло Полуботок; Kost Burevii «Pavlo Polubotok», 1948[7])

Essay
  • Andrii Nikovsky — «Vita nova» (fragments; 1929)
  • Yurii Mezhenko — «The Individuum's Creativity and the Collective» (Ukrainian: Творчість індивідуума і колектив; fragments; «Muzahet», 1919), «A VAPLITE's Proclamation» (Ukrainian: Відозва ВАПЛІТЕ; saved in Apkadii Liubchenko's archive)
  • Mykola Khvylovy — fragments from pamphlets «Quo Vadis» (Ukrainian: Камо грядеши), «Upstream Thoughts» (Ukrainian: Думки проти течії) (appendix of «News of VUTsVK» «Culture and Life», 1925), «Apologists of Pysarism» (Ukrainian: Апологети писаризму) («Culture and Life», 1926), «Ukraine or Little Russia?» (Ukrainian: Україна чи Малоросія?; Andrii Khvylia «From the Flank — to the Abyss», 1928)
  • Mykola Zerov — «Eurasian Renaissance and Poshekhonye Pines» (Ukrainian: Евразійський ренесанс і пошехонські сосни)(«Culture and Life», 1926)
  • Volodymyr Yurynets — «Dialogs» (Ukrainian: Діялоги; Interludes to 135th book of «Literature Fair», briefly) («Literature Fair», 1929)
  • Oleksander Dovzhenko — «To the Problem of Visual Arts» (Ukrainian: До проблеми образотворчого мистецтва; «Vaplite», 1926)
  • Les Kurbas — «Ways of „Berezil”» (Ukrainian: Шляхи «Березоля»; «Vaplite», 1927)
  • Mykhailo Hrushevsky — «In Shameful Memory» (Ukrainian: Ганебній пам'яті; «Ukraine», 1926)

See also

References
  1. Onyshkevych, Larissa; Rewakowicz, Maria (2015). Contemporary Ukraine on the Cultural Map of Europe. London: Routledge. p. 186. ISBN 9780765624000.
  2. Grinchenko, Gelinada; Narvselius, Eleonora (2017). Traitors, Collaborators and Deserters in Contemporary European Politics of Memory: Formulas of Betrayal. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 145. ISBN 9783319664958.
  3. Zaharchenko, Tanya (2016). Where Currents Meet: Frontiers in Post-Soviet Fiction of Kharkiv, Ukraine. Budapest: Central European University Press. p. 22. ISBN 9789633861196.
  4. For remembrance about a battle of Kruty
  5. A posthumous book, which consists of 85 original and 28 translated sonets.
  6. С. Гординський. Справжній народний Малахій. — Філадельфія: Київ, 1953. — ч.4, с. 191—195.
  7. Кость Буревій. Павло Полуботок: Історична драма на 5 дій. — Мюнхен: вид-во «Орлик», 1948. — с. 31-33, с.88-97.

Literature
  • О.С. Рубльов. Енциклопедія історії України : у 10 т. / редкол.: В. А. Смолій (голова) та ін. ; Інститут історії України НАН України. — К. : Наук. думка, 2012. — Т. 9 : Прил — С. — С. 265. — ISBN 978-966-00-1290-5.

Bibliography
  • Лавріненко Ю. А. Розстріляне відродження: Антологія 1917—1933: Поезія — проза — драма — есей / Підгот. тексту, фахове редагування і передм. проф. Наєнка М. К. — К.: Вид. центр «Просвіта», 2001. — 794 с.
  • Розстріляне відродження: Антологія 1917 — 1933: Поезія — проза — драма — есей / Упорядкув., передм., післям.  — Ю. Лавріненка.; Післямова Є. Сверстюка. — К.: Смолоскип, 2008. — 976 с.: портр.
  • Простір свободи. Україна на шпальтах паризької «Культури». Підготувала Богуміла Бердиховська. К.: Критика — 2005 р., 528 с.
  • Єжи Ґедройць — українська еміґрація. Листування 1952—1982 років. Упорядкування, переднє слово і коментарі Боґуміли Бердиховської. — Київ: Критика, 2008 (див. листування з Юрієм Лавріненком у справі підготовки антології «Розстріляне відродження»)
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