Mykola Riabchuk's thought-provoking essay on the state of Ukrainian
literature and Oksana Zabuzhko's sharply worded polemic against an earlier
article of his making some of the same points should be taken as a major
intellectual event. Although few would guess it from how Oksana writes,
the two are actually old friends (of each other's and mine) and comrades-in-arms
fighting to save Ukrainian letters from traditionalist banality and marginalization.
Mykola is right about the postcolonial syndrome affecting a broad segment
of the population. It is perhaps best expressed by Kievskie Vedomosti
wannabe critic Oles Buzyna, whose credo seems to be that in its entire
history, Ukrainian literature has failed to produce anything worth reading
and should be studied only as an example of how not to write. Such puerile
nonsense expresses precisely the sort of national inferiority complex Mykola
describes, and the fact that its author enjoys popularity means that such
attitudes are widespread. The works Oksana cites that have sold normally
are merely the exception to the rule. Moreover, I doubt she will take issue
when I state that I suspect that had she been born in Poland and written
a similar literary gem on Polish sex, she would have sold ten times as
many copies as here. After all, Suchasnist, the flagship journal
of the Ukrainian literati in which we have all three published, has a press
run on only 1300 - pretty small potatoes in a land of 50 million.
The tax noose strangling Ukrainian literature (and so much else in Ukraine)
to which she points is a clear and present danger to a culture that can
and should develop a European literature second to none. Some extremely
talented writers are at the height of their creative powers, and more are
sure to emerge. Is it too much to ask of even this state to do what it
can to guarantee such national treasures as Oksana Zabuzhko access to those
capable of appreciating her unique style by doing what Russia, the Baltic
states, and Poland have all done, exempting books from the VAT?






