OBITUARY: Dokia Humenna, 88, writer active in Ukraine, diaspora

NEW YORK - Dokia Humenna, one of the most colorful and outspoken members of the Ukrainian émigré literary scene, died here on April 4. She was 88.

Ms. Humenna was born on March 10, 1904, near Zhashkiv, about 120 kilometers south of Kyiv, and studied at the Institute of People's Education in the capital.

Her first literary sketch, "U Stepu" (In the Steppe, 1924) secured her a place in the major Soviet Ukrainian literary journals of the day, and paved the way to membership in the massist peasant writers' association Pluh.

Ms. Humenna's travel reports, "Lysty z Stepovoyi Ukrainy" (Letters from Steppe Ukraine, 1928) and "Ekh, Kuban Ty Kuban Khliborodnaya," (Eh, Kuban, Kuban, You Bountiful Land, 1931) provoked harsh censure from the regime, and she was silenced, although she escaped more dire punishment. In 1940, the publication of a short story collection, "Virus," led to another round of harsh criticism.

Upon the German invasion of the USSR, Ms. Humenna fled to Lviv, where she contributed to the local journals and press there. She emigrated to Austria then Germany following the war, and during her internment in displaced persons' camps in 1946-1949, she joined the artistic-literary organization Mystetsky Ukrainsky Rukh (MUR).

Ms. Humenna also published the collection "Kurkulska Viliya" (The Kulak's Christmas Eve, 1946) and embarked on her famous four-volume work, "Dity Chumatskoho Shliakhu" (Children of the Milky Way, 1948-1951), which she completed after moving to New York City.

The move to the U.S. did nothing to slow Ms. Humenna's literary career or her travels. Her abiding interest in feminism, prehistoric life, mythology and archaeology are evident in works such as "Mana" (Delusion, 1952), "Velyke Tsabe" (The Great Tsabe, 1952, an accessible exposition of Trypillian culture), "Zolotyi Pluh" (The Golden Plough, 1968) and others.

Her travels are reflected in the collections of essays "Bahato Neba" (A Lot of Sky, 1954) and "Vichni Vohni Alberty" (The Eternal Flames of Alberta, 1959), and in the short stories in "Sered Khmaro-siahiv" (Among the Skyscrapers, 1962).

Ms. Humenna was laid to rest at the St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cemetery in South Bound Brook, N.J., on April 6.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 28, 1996, No. 17, Vol. LXIV

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