Ukraine is losing information war
He is the one who notices, studies, memorizes, ascertains, and generalizes the most essential things and educates people. Mykhailo Slaboshpytsky is the executive director of the Ukrainian Patrons League, head of the Yaroslaviv Val Publishing House, co-chairman of the coordination council of the Petro Yatsyk International Ukrainian Language Competition, and secretary of the council of Ukraine’s National Union of Writers. Among his numerous activities and duties, he manages to be an active prose writer, literary critic, and publicist — he has authored nearly 40 books. Slaboshpytsky takes a specific niche in literature, writing biographic novels about famous Ukrainians.
Mr. Slaboshpytsky, why have you taken up the publishing business?
“At the moment, the publishing business in Ukraine is conducted mostly in untalented way. There are few creative people like, for example, the A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA Publishing House headed by Ivan Malkovych. For a while, I have financed my books in different publishing houses from my own pocket. But later I understood that this was incredibly expensive, and that it would be better for me to publish them on my own. So, the Yaroslaviv Val Publishing House has been in existence for 10 years, and I have seen that it is an interesting artistic work and continuation of my writing; My literary sympathies and beliefs find direct expression here. We publish books like Ukraina – zemlia kozakiv (Ukraine is a Land of Cossacks) by Pavlo Khalebsky and Pravda pro Rosiiu, which is a Ukrainian version of Astolphe de Custine’s La Russie en 1839 (Russia in 1839). And, although many projects are being realized, it is a very hard time today, because book sales plummeted as compared with last year.”
What ideology is professed by your publishing house?
“Our publishing house targets at nationally aware readers. We have undertaken the mission to publish, above all, the must-read books for Ukrainians. They include the Ukrainian version of Robinson Crusoe – Zhyttia ta pryhody kozaka Mykoly na bezliudnomu ostrovi (Life and Adventures of Cossack Mykola on a Desert Island), Ukrainsky slid u rozvidtsi (Ukrainian Footprints in Reconnaissance), both by Skypnyk, Viiskova sprava ta ukrainska dyvizia ‘Halychyna’ (Military Science and Ukrainian Galicia Division) by Roman Kolisnyk, Tykha pravda Modesta Levytskoho (Modest Levytsky’s Silent Truth) by Ivan Korsak.
I dream of publishing Ukrainian historical thrillers, and in general I want the publishing houses to bring up Ukrainian Sienkiewiczes, authors of historic novels. Patron Yevhen Chykalenko once said, ‘It was good for Poles to have the brilliant liar Henryk Sienkiewicz, whose novels were bringing up the nation, with his historical works stirring patriotism and love for the past.’ I have heard many Polish writers speaking with irony about Sienkiewicz, but God forbid you from telling this to a common Pole — these are sacred things for them. We published the historical book Konotop by Yurii Tys (Krokhmaliuk) from the US, and it sold like hotcakes. Konotop is an extremely interesting historical adventure story.”
Ukrainian books are poorly known abroad. Kazakhstan, for example, takes care of the country’s image, allocates money for publishing Kazakh writers’ books, and launches their presentations abroad.
“Normal civilized countries of the world give grants to publish books in Ukrainian, for example, the works by Polish, Hungarian, Spanish, German, French, and British authors. This is a positive moment of cultural intervention, which strengthens the country’s positions in the world. This is its image. For example, reading the book by a great French writer will give you the image of France. Ukraine is doing nothing in this respect. Statesmen only ask, ‘When will a Ukrainian writer win the Nobel Prize?’ We have the great poet Lina Kostenko, who deserves a hundred times to be Noble Prize winner. But the Nobel Prize Committee regulations say that only works translated into main European languages, at least four or five of them, are submitted for consideration. The Ukrainian state should take care of this, say, in France, Great Britain, Germany, and finance the publication of translations of her works.
“This is being done everywhere: the states lobby and help by using all means, including financing translations, because this is a state cause, the state’s grandeur. That is why our neighbors (Poland and Russia) already have Noble Prize winners. And we have 10 writers who could easily compete for this honorary title. At the moment, the highest echelons of power acknowledge that Ukraine is losing the information war in every direction. But instead of mere ascertaining of this fact, we should get down to work.”
