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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Mykhailo Hrushevsky in English

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

After presentations in Canada, US, Germany, and Belgium the English version of Mykhailo Hrushevsky’s History of Ukraine-Rus’ published in Canada last year has finally reached Ukraine.

The delay was caused by the lack of enthusiasm in official Kyiv, especially about the financial aspect of the project. In other words, this presentation was nothing other than a polite gesture. The book has a print run of 1,500, financed mainly by Petro and Ivanna Stelmakh contributing $100,000, which immediately turned the edition into a rarity. Ukraine received only three copies officially, addressed to the Teacher’s House, Verkhovna Rada’s library, and the Vernadsky Central Reference Library. This, however, did not stop the President contributing an article to the accompanying booklet. In this article Mr. Kuchma shows that his interests after hours extend not only to Russian pop music, but also to history. The Chief Executive appears to be well read in the subject, using professional cliches, referring to ancient manuscripts and works by Western historiographers, demonstrating an extraordinary ability of abstract cognizance. And we can only feel happy about the appearance of Marta Skorupska’s Ukrainian translation.

Incidentally, this is the second attempt to publish Hrushevsky’s History in a foreign language. The first such edition came off the presses in German during the author’s lifetime, but that was that. The Day’s Roman Kostrytsia sincerely hopes that the Canadian initiative will be followed by others.

 

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