Dr. Sofia Parfanovych's literary legacy (06/13/99)

Dr. Sofia Parfanovych's literary legacy

Dr. Sofia Parfanovych actively contributed to Ukrainian literature. She inherited writing talent from her father and entered the literary field with a collection of short stories and novellas titled "Tsina Zhyttia" (The Price of Life), devoted to medical themes. This collection, edited by her husband was published in Lviv in 1937.

As a physician, utilizing her experience and powers of psychological observation, she illuminated the life of a sick person. As an artist, she peered into the soul of a person doomed to die, or of person who is about to lose someone dear. This collection became a master work and a revelation for the average reader, as well as for literary specialists.

Dr. Parfanovych's second collection of short stories and vignettes, "Inshi Dni" (Other Days), was published in Augsburg, Germany, in 1948. The theme of the book is war events and the sense of mission on the part of a Ukrainian emigrés outside their homeland, as well as the problems of a nation fighting for its freedom.

Her third book, also printed in Augsburg in 1948, consisted of short stories about the Boyko regions, titled "Zahorila Polonyna" (The Polonyna is Burning). The author described the lives of these mountain people under Polish domination between the two world wars, the great storms and floods of 1941 that devasted the forests in Boykivschyna, the capture and deportation of young people to Germany for forced labor, and about the Boykos, who resisted three occupying forces. The dialogues are written in pure Boyko dialect.

In her last book to be published in Germany, in 1950, was "V Kyevi v 1940 Rotsi" (In Kyiv in 1940), the author writes about a trip to Kyiv, where she encountered communist reality with its lies, deception and systematic Russification of cultural life.

In 1949, Dr. Parfanovych emigrated to the U.S. where, besides professional articles, she continued published two works in 1954: "Pages of an Unread Novel," in memory of Natalia Rudnytsky-Chaplenko, and "At the Forest Reserve," on one of her favorite themes: nature.

In 1959 Dr. Parfanovych published a new book "Liubliu Dibrovu" (I Love Dibrova), about the holiday resort near Detroit, followed in 1964 by "Charivna Dibrova." The theme of both novels is people and wildlife on a small plot of land near a small lake. She also describes the life of Plast members, their traditions and their devotion to the Ukrainian heritage.

In 1961 publisher Mykola Denesiuk released Dr. Parfanovych's novel about the life of a domestic cat "Virnyi Pryiatel" (Faithful Friend), the story of a faithful house cat, Bytsia, who, together with people experiences peaceful times, then war and emigration. In the end, the cat is left alone, to die in Lemkivschyna. All of this is described with love and gentleness, and contrasted with dynamic war time events.

A longer novel "Na Skhreschynykh Dorohakh" (At the Crossroads), published in 1963 in Chicago, is filled with the empathy of a Ukrainian woman physician for unfortunate Ukrainian girls called "ostarbeiter." She tries to take care of them, not just as a physician, but as a human being.

Dr. Parfanovych's novel for young people "Takyi Vin Buv" (He Was This Way, 1964) is the story of an ordinary dog named Fik, who is faithful to his masters in good times and in bad. When his first masters are deported to Siberia, he suffers a real tragedy. Fortunately Fik finds a new family with whom he shares his life and their refugee life in Germany: bombings, forced labor on German farms or in factories, DP camps, the process of repatriation. The book won first prize from the Women's Literary Contest Foundation of Mary Beck in Detroit in the category of novels for youth.

In 1967 Dr. Parfanovych published "Karus i My" (Karus and We), an autobiography and biography of her car, Karus. She describes, not so much the car itself, as the people and things she sees and observes while traveling in the car. Over and over again her thoughts drift to her beloved Ukraine, and she dreams how she would travel all over her homeland in her Karus.

Two of her books were published posthumously. One of these "Liudy i Tvaryny" (People and Animals) is a collection of short stories and vignettes released in 1970. As in the previous books, animals occupy a prominent place, as the author was very close to animals, she trusted them and loved them very much.

Her last book "Popid Kycheramy ta Nad Potokom" (Under the Peaks at the Stream), was published in 1974 by Prof. Vasyl Lev. A chronicle of Dr. Parfanovych's family life and that of her father, Mykola, the "staryi pan" (old man) in the region of Rozluchcha near Old Sambir, where he built himself a summer home and kept his animals.

As a physician and humanist Dr. Parfanovych devoted her life to the improving the standard of health of her nation. She used her medical knowledge for the good of her nation, and served her people by working in women's and humanitarian organizations, and via the power of her pen.

- Dr. Pavlo Pundy

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