Atonement for the prophets we did not hear

Francois de La Rochefoucauld, a French thinker and noted author of maxims, wrote 340 years ago: “There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not.” Though we are living in the time of simulated (hence artificial) values – and it is no mere chance that in a certain circle of journalists and experts the expression “rules of the game” is used when one speaks of the society laws and life spiritual norms, not about a cardsharper’s game – though in present Ukraine many authorities resemble the frog from Jean de La Fontaine or Ivan Krylov’s fables, which wants to turn into an ox, but how it ends is everyone’s knowledge, it is still impossible to imitate the scope of personality where in fact there is only meanness and emptyness.

What is a scope of personality? Maybe, this is an inner, hidden, not compatible with public “stance” (intimate, if you like, and so genuinely powerful) belief in what existed before us, exists now, and will outlive us, living now, belief in Ukraine (very far from idealization), good, freedom, and truth? Maybe, it’s an ability to refuse to shake hands with a villain, liar, and brute, not thinking about the consequences? Or superencyclopedic erudition, when people seem to know everything about Ukraine (how is it, to reach the horizon)? Or the gift to feel other’s pain like your own, so kindred and close to the poetic gift? Or life, lived in compliance with your beliefs (like breathing)? Maybe the scale of a personality (let’s use namely this definition instead of the overused one, “spiritual authorities”) is all abovementioned things combined? Plus, the will, wisdom, and patience.

The opinion that it’s not the material resources Ukraine is lacking, it lacks people whom the whole nation would believe, is everyone’s knowledge. But let’s not speak in such terms, because it is wrong, and there are such people. On April 9, the people present at the Mystetsky Arsenal, who managed to get into the full hall, had an opportunity to communicate with two great Ukrainians, Lina Kostenko and Ivan Dziuba. The Arsenal hosted a thematic presentation of Dziuba’s book There are Poets Meant for Ages, dedicated to the creative path and unique artistic individuality of Lina Kostenko; it will be added that an essential part of the book is made by Lina Kostenko’s autobiographic story (a confession) addressed to her dearest person, daughter Oxana Pachlovska, which gave grounds to Ivan Dziuba, who is naturally modest (which is an absolute criterion of the personality’s scope) to note that not only his name should have been written on the cover of the book There are Poets Meant for Ages, but the names of three of them.

It should be stated at once that neither Kostenko, nor Dziuba (there are reasons to assume this) think they are “prophets” or “nation’s conscience” etc., namely because they are people of a specific spiritual level, where self-laudation or self-promotion are unacceptable both in terms of ethics and aesthetics (it is not without a reason that Dziuba replies to all eloquent compliments in a simple, clear, and business-like manner: “We are working.”) This does credit to our heroes. But it does not do any to the misguided, degraded, and panic-stricken society (especially present-day Ukrainian intelligentsia) who has not heard and, to tell the truth, remains fatally deaf to the voice of these people (fine, they may not be the prophets, but visionaries of national scope for sure). Back in the 1960s both Kostenko, and Dziuba clearly warned us about the threats Ukraine was facing and the fact that the forceful Russification coordinated by the state (a sly term, “internationalization”) would inevitably lead to losing the vital spiritual values of our nation; the fact that “rationally grounded, inevitable” compromise with the evil (a despotic system) would inevitably lead to malicious tumors in the entire immune system of the society; the fact that spite, hatred, envy, intellectual meanness are harmful for our future; the fact that “spine’s flexibility” is a synonym to slave’s baseness, and by no means career “farsightedness.”

They were telling the truth in the grimmest times. They are barely heard nowadays, in the time of so-called “independent” Ukraine (yes, the Mystetsky Arsenal’s hall was full, but only when the nationwide platform is given to these people, the situation will alter). What does it mean, nobody hears them? The undisguised rule in the society of anti-Ukrainian (overall, anti-national, because hostile to all Ukrainian nations by no exception) brutes with a strong political-criminal ground; loss of the largest part of the society of an ability to distinguish between good and evil (because, say, there is nothing, but our private interests); cynical disappointment in everything, dead apathy (and our heroes, by the way, have preserved in them the belief in Ukraine, the belief of the highest rate, because it’s critical, skeptical, and not blind); “glamour” toadying before those in power (Kostenko and Dziuba name things their names, specifically politically motivated processes). So, Ukraine is atoning for the prophets it did not hear.

However, let’s get over with our “general contemplations” and give the floor to the main acting heroes of the thematic presentation (more precisely, the intellectual feast with a great deal of civic uneasiness). Of course, dear readers, you are presented not with a verbatim record, but the quintessence of the meeting.

Ivan DZIUBA: “It is not fair that the book’s cover carries only my name, there should be the names of three of us. We have, in a sense, an essay book. What I wrote about Lina Kostenko is one of the possible versions. But I must admit: I think it was my merit that I succeeded in persuading Lina Kostenko to give an interview, later Oxana Pachlovska joined us to ‘torment’ (‘tried’ would be a more appropriate word) her mother. Without doubt, the result is the groundwork for Lina Kostenko’s future autobiographic novel, and now she has no other way out than writing it. Those are not just pages from Kostenko’s life, everything is full of the extremely deep emotions and thoughts of the author. You see a thin fabric of living impressions turning into the wickerwork of art. There is a wonderful phrase: ‘A sky with one star is not a sky. There should be many stars.’ I also would like to add to these words: ‘Lina Kostenko’s star impresses with the calm stability of its light and reliability.’ Namely in Lina Kostenko’s creative work poetry is in fact a reflector of human life.”

Lina KOSTENKO: “To tell the truth, I did not want to go to the launch, because the book which is being discussed is about me, which poses a certain psychological discomfort. But out of respect to the people who gathered here and these ancient walls, I decided that I had to go. Moreover, I was assured that the presentation would gather people of the same ‘solidarity field.’

“People often mention the line I wrote: ‘The future has an absolute ear.’ By the way, this is how we called our presentation. And I want to add: yes, if we have any future. The past, by the way, has an absolute ear too, because it has taken place at least, and as for the future, nobody knows whether our state will have any, if the things proceed this way. In this connection, I want to allude to Gottfried Leibniz’s expression: ‘Every present state of a simple substance is a natural consequence of its preceding state, the present is pregnant with the future.’ But look around: we are living in a deaf mute time. Back 100 years ago Lesia Ukrainka knew this and wrote about this, and now we seem to have returned to where we belong. It impresses me how some members of our society cover themselves with ears like elephants in heat and hear nothing. This seems to be Ukraine’s major problem.

“Two years ago, in March 2010, while I was delivering a speech in the Ukrainian Home, I said that I was coming back to literature. I have come back, but where? To what literature? To ‘SuchUkrLit’ which does not need me and frankly speaking, I don’t need it either. I have been many years reproached of my silence; but a writer is silent when he writes, and I did write, I was working, I was living a normal life (according to Ivan Mykhailovych’s brilliant statement, ‘I was living within the coordinates of my independence’). As for the scandalous relations that are reigning in a certain milieu, I am not ready and I don’t want to be ready for this.

“To tell the truth, Ukraine is now a zone of ethic danger (one detail: during the book fair ‘Medvin,’ which has recently taken place in Kyiv, the writers brothers Kapranov begged the participants: let’s arranged at least one day without bad language). And everyone needs to be offended, covered in mud. That is why I, frankly speaking, wanted to come back to the ‘coordinates of my independence.’ But I saw people’s eyes in front of me. The people who came to meet with me in Rivne, in ‘Russian-speaking’ Kharkiv (that was a very strong, unforgettable impression). Makiivka has a really interesting band called Ukrainian Bel Canto, its repertoire includes 50 songs using my verse as lyrics. Can you imagine? And boys and girls who have recently arranged a flesh mob dedicated to my birthday? I am extremely thankful to them all.

“Many people write and debate on what Sixtiers were like and what Sixtiers’ thinking is. In my opinion, this is a high-volt line of spirit. It has sagged, someone wants to defame it. But looking at the youth, at this audience, I can say: there are people to pick up the baton, so we have hope.

“We need to do something to have a future. Our road is extremely encumbered and our business and duty is to clear it. Then the youth will build something new, something of their own. I am very grateful to Lybid Publishers for this book. I am grateful to Oxana (figuratively speaking, she was sent to me, and though I don’t like to speak about this, I felt extremely interested in this kind of cooperation), and of course, I am extremely grateful to Ivan Mykhailovych. I want to thank all people sitting next to me in this presidium [Kostenko found personal, sincere words of gratitude for Volodymyr Panchenko, Larysa Ivshyna, Vitalii Portnykov, Serhii Hrabovsky, Ihor Losiev, Serhii Trymbach, Sviatoslav Tsyholko and other guests of the event. – Authors]. I want you to be sure: my soul hears you all.

“But I want to tell Ivan Mykhailovych: I have found one inaccuracy in the book. It says that I end the plot of Notes of a Ukrainian Madman (pay attention, this is a diary, not a novel) with the Orange events of late 2004, because as an author I was influenced by later disappointment of Ukrainians in the leaders of Maidan and the events that followed. I think that the thing is not about this. Andrii Shevchenko, our respectful journalist and MP, will confirm that in November 2004 I took part in a program on the Fifth Channel and said about the ‘pendulum effect,’ which went abruptly in one direction, but may go in the same abrupt way in the opposite direction. Speaking about the Notes, some people on the Internet discerned some ‘huge destructive potential.’ So, Ukrainians turned out to be very tender: you are telling them the truth and they are screaming that this is the ruin.

“Speaking about the truth and conscience. They speak about ‘nation’s conscience’ and so on. You know, I have conscience and that is why I dislike these lofty words. As for the truth, it is not interesting to tell lies, so it’s not that I can’t lie, I simply don’t want to.

“I bow low before you and thank you all.”

Larysa IVSHYNA, editor-in-chief, Den/The Day:

“Those who came to listen to Dziuba and Kostenko are not just some passersby. But when they are asked what they know of the generation of the 1960s, I am afraid the answers will be full of gaps.

“When I was a kid, I always asked myself, ‘Have I learned everything I wanted from the older generation? And I had the feeling I never learned the most important things... Let us consider this book to be the beginning of an essential conversation of the young and middle-aged generation with the ‘older ones’ we have. And also think over the meanings we need to extract from this rich spiritual source.

“Recently we have held a roundtable dedicated to Herzen’s 200th birthday at The Day. We discussed a number of questions, among them: who are Herzen’s spiritual heirs? What kind of Russia would we like to see? And what kind of Ukraine? If due to some miracle Russia became a democratic country, what kind of Ukraine would it deal with? These questions were barely touched upon in the media. Sometimes I ask people who work for television companies, ‘Do your bosses prohibit showing smart people?’ I never get clear answers.

“I have a proposition for the participants of this presentation: let us not wait for someone in the government to do things for us, but start promoting a program of a general spiritual and historical education. There is plenty of work to do in this field; for example, sometimes young journalists-to-be, participants of Den’s Summer School of Journalism, need to receive an explanation on who General Petro Hryhorenko was... And here ‘the older in the house’ (Kostenko and Dziuba) play a crucial role. What are they to do within this role? They are to tell the youth: here is a list of books, children, go read them and work on them, and in a year we will see if you have learned the lesson or not. And as a conclusion, I want to say, as I understand it, the 1960s generation is the one of love and solidarity. Just look how full of love Ivan Dziuba’s glances at Lina Kostenko are!”

Ihor LOSIEV, philosopher, publicist, James Mace Award winner:

“You can sense an extremely powerful ethic dominant in Kostenko’s life and creative work. This is natural for a poet who continues the great classic tradition of our literature. Eternity by Kostenko is not timeless, it is bound to certain historic period. She sees the tragedy of the situation in Ukraine, when there still are a few moral authorities, but the society, and especially the intellectuals, are disoriented, split, and set at variance with each other.”

Volodymyr PANCHENKO, professor of National University Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ph.D in philology:

“This book is a story about the poet who managed to preserve internal freedom in the conditions when there was no external one. The essence of the book, its ‘motto’ could be expressed with the help of Albert Camus’ words: ‘The main thing is not to shift to the side of the plague!’ Not shifting to the side of the plague means maintaining dignity in any circumstances. Let us remind Skovoroda’s words: ‘The world tried to catch me, but it never did!’

“The intellectual situation in the society is rather complicated now. According to social scientists, 30 percent of Ukrainians want to move towards both Russia and Europe (!) at the same time. Even if it is not schizophrenia, it is a collision in people’s consciousness at the least. The society is very quick to accumulate the hatred potential. And if the government does not want a real dialog to take place, it takes a large risk: you should read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Garcia Marquez, it has it all laid out about Ukraine.”

Vitalii PORTNYKOV, journalist:

“We are in a desperate need of a proper civilized culture that would let Ukraine develop freely. Once when I was on a plane, I noticed that almost a half of passengers read a book about Stanislaw Lem’s creative work, written by some young journalist. And I wished someone would write a book like that about Lina Kostenko! And so, the ‘young journalist’ was found. It happened to be Ivan Dziuba.”

Vitali KLITSCHKO, boxer, leader of the party UDAR:

“Lina Kostenko teaches us to orientate ourselves in the modern world. Her style and taste in literature and journalism urge Ukrainians to be considerably selective with the information in the oversaturated world.”

Serhii HRABOVSKY, publicist, philosopher, James Mace Award winner:

“The generation of the 1960s took over and continued to develop the spiritual heritage, which was left abandoned during the tragic 1930s. And even now those people continue to advance our intellectual space. Kostenko wrote a poem about the Sisyphean toil of poets and artists. Their work is not completely fruitless though, there are the results, it is just we do not notice them fully.”

Oxana PACHLOVSKA, philology scientist, culture expert, professor, publicist, Lina Kostenko’s daughter:

“The evenings I spent talking to my mother opened a whole another Universe to me: the poet talks about history. The poet is always the medium of history, and I felt this very keenly. There are two categories that are always first to be destroyed in the totalitarian systems: word and memory. And it makes sense: it is the easiest way to destroy the society.

“I have talked to my mother recently, and she said she had this tragic feeling that the society did not hear her and Ivan Dziuba.”