(book review)

Oksana Pakhlovska, one of the authors of this book, is the daughter of Lina Kostenko, and Ivan Dzyuba is a brilliant literary critic who is highly respected by the poetess. So I can tell from the cover that the book will be very personal and sincere. And I was completely right.

I first read this book at the beginning of the first coronavirus pandemic. At the time, I didn’t know how many trials lay ahead of me, so it seemed to me that I was in the apocalypse. The sincerity and hope with which Lina Kostecko looks to the future calmed me down and helped me feel more confident in scary and completely incomprehensible times.

“The whole history of art is a picture of this game. Ennobled in spirit. For thousands of years. Inventive, enterprising, sometimes joyful, and sometimes (maybe even more often) self-denying and self-sacrificing. With the separation of the artist from the public and conflicts between them. With the service of art to society and its opposition to the same society.”

This quote was written by Ivan Dzyuba about one of Lina Kostenko’s poems, but in fact it describes the whole essence of the author’s poetry, and probably reveals a little about her personality.

The first chapter, “There are poets for eras.” Here are literary reviews of Lina Kostenko’s work. This section will help you spot interesting works that you may not have noticed before.

The second section is Lina Kostenko’s conversations with Oksana Pakhlivska. A very sincere and warm interview.

Then there are many more interviews, articles, memories of Lina Kostenko, memories about Lina Kostenko.

Sometimes these memories are from loved ones, and sometimes just from those who were able to work with the poetess or attend one of her performances.

This book helped me remember several events from history, learn more about Lina Kostenko’s world-view and see the sixties as living people, not as a set of facts from a textbook.

Also, this book once again reminded me of the cycle of history. When I was flipping through this book to refresh my memory of the text and write this article, I found the following quote:

“Putins come and go, but russia remains, the russian people remain. And we live with them next to us. As he is with us. On equal footing. And even if today, under the influence of Kremlin telegoebbelsianism, the “electorate” or even some intellectuals in russia prefer not to understand this, over time they will have to understand and recognize it. It is not good for us to take an example from them, to respond with “adequate” malice, to forget about the “other russia,”even if it is shadowed today — and we should not do or say something that we will be ashamed of one day. Shame on them. Evil remains evil, and good is always good: both in them, and in us, and between them and us. Only by realizing this can one maintain the state of mind in our disastrous times that will help to worthily resist the imperial frenzy. History will not stop today. ‘

My rating: 11 people followed my Twitter account with a quote pf Kostenko while I was reading this book. So 11 out of 10. Looks like a paradox…