«Z lupoyu literaturnoho detektyva» (Do problemy identyfikatsiyi utayemnychenykh tekstiv)

The article “Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry” by Oleh Olzhych has been given the status of an authoritative source in domestic literary criticism in recent decades, in particular, in the study of the genesis of emigrant poetry of 1920-1930 and in general on the interpretation of the state of national literature in eastern and western countries, which in the interwar period were respectively under the rule of Russia and Poland. Only the “textual coincidences, general concept and intonation” of the article and Olzhych’s related texts were taken as the basis of identification. Such a technique contains elements of pre-programming of the final result and can lead to erroneous conclusions in identifying the author of the publication. It draws attention to the analogies of text construction, subject matter, lexical and stylistic coincidences, etc., but distracts from what is the main in the objective establishment of the publication of a particular person - the (internal) content of the text. The example of Olzhych’s attitude to the process of development of national literature in the interwar period and especially to the work of his father (Oleksandr Oles) shows that he can’t be the author of a politically quite controversial article “Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry”.

Graniczne kształty ukraińskiego dramatu. Nataliia Maliutina, Ukraińska dramaturgia końca XIX i początku XX wieku. Redakcja naukowa Bogusław Bakuła, Agnieszka Matusiak, Toruń: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, 271 s.

The review analyses the new book of professor Natalia Maliutina Ukrainian Drama of the End of XIX and Beginning of XX Centuries (Toruń 2020). The discussed book offers a systematic view of the Ukrainian drama. The author is interested in the process of the appearance of the new drama’s forms and genres on the borders of mentioned ages at the time when in Ukrainian literature period of modernism was beginning. The main attention in the book is dedicated to literary works of outstanding writers such as Ivan Karpenko-Karyi, Lesia Ukrainka, Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Oleksandr Oles. Therefore, the researcher also appeals to the creativity of less known and even forgotten writers of that time, between them Spyrydon Cherkasenko, Liubov Yanovska, Hnat Khotkevych etc. The monography of Natalia Maliutina evidences the influences of European culture on Ukrainian drama and appeals to the wide comparative problems of Europe of the mentioned period.

Vidznachennya yuvileyu Maksyma Rylʹsʹkoho v Instytuti mystetstvoznavstva, folʹklorystyky ta etnolohiyi im. M. T. Rylʹsʹkoho NAN Ukrayiny

The article is devoted to the events of the M. T. Rylsky Institute of Art History, Folklore and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the poet-academician Maksym Rylsky, who was its director for many years, as well as analytical coverage of the issues of the international scientific conference, which took place in Kyiv on December 28, 2020, co-organized and participated by Polish scientists.

Olha Morozova "Doslidzhennia istorii Ukrainy pershoi polovyny XX st. v suchasnii polskii istoriohrafii: napriamky, kontseptsii, dyskusii / Badania historii Ukrainy pierwszej połowy XX wieku we współczesnej historiografii polskiej: trendy, koncepcje, dyskusje", Vydavnytstvo CzNU im. Petra Mohyly, Mikolaiv 2020, ss. 432

This paper analyses the state of contemporary Polish historiography about the history of Ukraine in the first half of the 20th century, a very dramatic period in Polish-Ukrainian relations, with a high emotional charge, influenced by political and ideological elements. Olha Morozova’s book is an important voice in the historiographic Polish-Ukrainian discourse. The author indicates different aspects linking the history of both nations, but without passing over the difficult or even dramatic moments of their common history. The book enriches contemporary knowledge about Polish historical thought, prompts Ukrainian and Polish historians to reflect and perhaps reorient their findings and assessments. Olha Morozova takes the position of continuing the calm Polish-Ukrainian dialogue, eliminating the emotional and ideological elements as much as possible.

Rolʹ rukopysnoyi spadshchyny Lesi Ukrayinky u pidhotovtsi povnoho zibrannya yiyi tvoriv

Th e article discusses the preparation of the academic edition of the complete works by Lesya Ukrainka for publication carried out by the staff of the Volyn National University named aft er Lesya Ukrainka (Lutsk, Ukraine), with the involvement of leading literary critics of Ukraine. Th e implementation of this large-scale project (a collection of 14 volumes) became possible due to the fact that the university is the owner of the electronic archive of Lesya Ukrainka. Th e manuscript heritage of the writer has become available for detailed study by a wide range of researchers, in addition to remotely. Th e article states that careful processing of manuscripts revealed many problems in studying Lesya Ukrainka’s work, in particular, ideological interference in the process of publishing and interpreting manuscripts, especially draft manuscripts. Th e comparison of rough and clean autographs proved to be especially fruitful for commenting on texts, for an in-depth, and oft en completely new understanding of classical works. Th e organizers set a goal to fully refl ect the handwritten legacy of Lesya Ukrainka in comments and notes. Unfortunately, not every work of the writer received such an in-depth discourse, because many texts are presented in the collection of fi rst editions, as neither draft nor fi nal manuscripts were found. But even the available autographs allow us to interpret the writer’s manuscript heritage as a self-suffi cient object of science, to which it is necessary to apply not only the textual and genetic method but also many other methods of modern literary criticism.

Fragment Dziennika Nepalskiego

In Diary, the author describes a journey through a mysterious land, the Lo Kingdom in Upper Mustang, in northern Nepal. She compares her impressions to observations of the heroes of James Hilton’s famous book “Lost Horizon”. The fascination with the legendary land, the mythical Šambhai (Shangri La) has a huge impact to this day and attracts many travellers to visit the former Kingdom. Hiking the Himalayan trails from Kagbeni to Syanboche to the capital of Lo Manthanang brings many different reflections to everyone. Six hundred years of tradition and modern history overlap there and interact with each other. From 2008, the Kingdom of Lo is no longer formally established. Nepal is a Republic along with the Northern Mustang.

Pylyp Orlyk sam pro sebe

This article explores various forms of self-presentation of the hetman on the path of self-knowledge in the conditions of hopelessness caused by emigration. Pylyp Orlyk’s handwritten diary of 1725, 1726, and 1727 is dominated by motives of accustoming to emigration conditions, protection of privacy, discourses, illness and recovery, friendship, solitude with reading, and finally, more clearly than before, the self-awareness of the soul. “Peregrine”, as Orlyk calls himself in 1727, after eighteen years of emigration. He orders two or three services at once for the children on their birthdays, for the health of his wife Anna of the Hercyk family. Orlyk visits all the churches in Thessaloniki, is a good Christian, but nowhere emphasizes his denomination. He believes in the power of praying for the health of his family and friends. Sincere prayer becomes medicine. One of the described disasters of that time is perceived today in a very modern way - “bad air”. This euphemism is repeated in the manuscript when it comes to the plague pandemic in Thessaloniki, Smyrna, Istanbul.

Revealing the Rationality of Myth: Contribution of Bronislaw Malinowski

The article is focused on the intellectual significance of the theory of myth developed by prominent Polish anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski within his anthropological approach known as functionalism. The author argues that Malinowski already in the first half of the 20th century anticipated the main trend within the later studies on myth. Like many influential myth-theorists of the next generations, Malinowski recognized the elements of rationality within mythical thinking. Both his emphasis on the integrity of culture as well as his opposition to diffusionism and evolutionism resonate with the perspective of structuralists in the second half of the 20th century. According to Malinowski, myth and science as the parts of culture serve mainly for the basic biological needs of the human body. The more elaborated vision of the functionality of myth has been proposed later in the philosophy of mythology of German poststructuralist Hans Blumenberg. Despite that, Malinowski’s attention to the function of myth reflected and formed the general tendency of contemporary science of myth. This tendency presupposes the “de-archaization” of myth in contrast to the progressivist vision of myth as entirely “irrational” or “paralogical” thinking. The author also analyses how the intellectual heritage of Malinowski is used in the recent studies made by contemporary Polish and Ukrainian scholars.

Profesor Ihor Skoczylas (5 IV 1967 – 20 XII 2020)

This article is written in memoriam of Ihor Skochylas, a historian and outstanding researcher. In 1993 he graduated from the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. He worked at the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and then at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. He was visiting professor at the Ukrainische Freie Universität in Munich. He is the author of 250 scientific publications on the history of the Ternopil region and, above all, the history of the Church in Ukraine in the broader perspective of the history of the First Republic and in connection with the universal Church. Innovative research by Ihor Skoczylas is related to the search for a “mental map”. The book by Ihor Skoczylas, co-authored with A. Gil, entitled “Eastern Churches in the Polish-Lithuanian state”