An Odesa native has made a brilliant career in the United States.
We met Vitaly Chernetsky, professor of Columbia University in New York, in an ultra-modern way-through the Internet. A few months ago, after The Day published a brief summary of his article on contemporary Ukrainian literature, we received a thank you note from the author that also contained fair criticism of some inaccuracies in the publication. This way we were able to witness once again the power of the Internet and the ubiquity of The Day in the global information network.
Q.: Prof. Chernetsky, since many of our compatriots face the urgent problem of finding a job, could you tell us how you, a Ukrainian citizen, managed to get a job offer that many Americans would envy?
A.: I think you know the universal recipe: aspire to be one of the best experts in your field and master foreign languages to the best of your ability. When I was enrolled in Moscow University, I went to the United States for training. There I turned out to be a rather good student and later was admitted to graduate school. Starting my work on the doctoral dissertation, I decided to take a closer look at post-modernism and, more generally, at the changes in literature and culture that have occurred over the last 10–15 years. I chose Ukraine and Russia as two examples of different changes, although I also had to examine many events in other East-European countries.
It happened so that when I was finishing my dissertation, Columbia University in New York opened a new position for a Slavic specialist in the field of Ukrainian studies. Requirements also included knowledge of other Slavic literatures, which reflects the general tendency on the modern job market for Slavic studies – it is extremely difficult for a narrow specialist to get a decent teaching position.
Q.: And what does the job market look like?
A.: It is rather centralized. The American Association of Modern Languages publishes announcements of new and vacant positions in its newsletter, and every last week of December its members gather for a large conference where they not only discuss their research but also interview applicants for new positions. As a rule, authorized representatives of universities select about fifteen candidates for the first round of interviews at the conference and then invite several winners to the universities for the second round. It is a difficult and sometimes unpleasant procedure, especially since competing finalists often happen to know each other very well.
Q.: In other words, to win or lose is equally bad?
A.: Yes, to a certain extent. Several years ago, for example, I lost such a competition to my good colleague, although we are still friends. The interview at Columbia University went on for two days. The requirements were tough: knowledge of several Slavic literatures, a non-trivial approach to teaching and research. Over the last two years at Columbia, I had to teach a wide range of courses – from lectures on history of Ukrainian literature to surveys of twentieth century East-European literature and cinema.
Q.: Some people say that Slavic studies are losing their popularity in the West.
A.: Not exactly. Indeed, after the dissolution of the USSR the number of students specializing in Russian started to decline sharply and reached its bottom in 1993, when, as it turned out, fewer students were enrolled in Russian courses than in Latin. And even though the number of students studying other Slavic languages, including Ukrainian, was growing, it did not compensate for the lack of interest in Russian. This caused significant curtailing and in some cases even complete shut-down of Slavic programs in many universities and colleges. Of course, the older and stronger centers of Slavic studies, like Columbia University, did not face this prospect, although the general crisis in Slavic studies forced them to revamp the structure and goals of both teaching and research.
Q.: So Ukrainian studies are still afloat in the West.
A.: I would even say they are quite popular. Essentially, Ukraine for the first time appeared on the world map as a political entity, and thus also as a cultural, historical, economic, and linguistic entity. It turns out this entity has to be studied because for the most part it used to be simply ignored.
Q.: And what prospects do you think this new entity has?
A.: I am literally stunned by the energy of Ukrainian literature that, barring all hardships-harsh colonial oppression in the past and various post-colonial syndromes in the present, still produces works that without any discounts can be considered some of the most interesting in the Slavic world and, more broadly, in modern global literary process.
One of the most fatal and senseless obstacles on the way of Ukrainian literature to its domestic and foreign reader is a disastrous collapse of the Ukrainian book distribution network both in Ukraine and abroad. My search for new Ukrainian books in Kyiv last summer could make an excellent plot for a detective story. For example, I could not find Yuri Andrukhovych's Recreations in any bookstore in downtown Kyiv, even though the shop assistants did admit that there was a demand for the book in the sense that people asked for it every now and then. It is obvious that given such a saturation of the book market with Ukrainian books, only a few of them can become part of two or three American library collections.
Contemporary Ukrainian writers do not lack talent, and, perhaps, there is some higher sense in the hardships that Ukrainian literature is going through – the artist, as the saying has it, "must suffer." Still, I would like to see the Ukrainian book breaking through both to the domestic and foreign reader now and not in some distant future. Unfortunately, at present we are experiencing a disastrous lack of high-quality, professional translations of Ukrainian texts, both classical and contemporary. I think we should do our best to make up for it.
Q.: Please excuse my curiosity, but do you ever feel drawn to Ukraine – closer to, so to say, the "object" of your research?
A.: Of course, I am drawn to Ukraine – I was born and raised in Odesa, my parents and relatives live there, and even now I try to visit them regularly. At the same time, I have a feeling that I am of more use here, in New York, where I can do more for Ukraine. I think the more Ukraine and its culture are known in America and in the West in general, the more seriously and respectfully we will be treated. You are not publishing The Day in three languages, including English, only to make money, are you?
Perhaps, by joining our efforts we will have enough luck to change the situation in Ukrainian culture for the better. In any case, I am grateful to The Day for its interest in my work and sincerely wish the paper not to lose its energy in following the current developments in Ukrainian literature, which certainly helps it a lot.
Photo by Ormand Zhyhli:
Those who study Ukraine in American universities are more than attractive







