Non-profit organization promotes Ukrainian-language publishing activity in Ukraine (01/28/01)

Non-profit organization promotes Ukrainian-language publishing activity in Ukraine

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - In the black void of contemporary Ukrainian popular literature, an incandescence may have appeared in the form of the Association of Support for Ukrainian Popular Literature, a non-profit organization that has released several titles in the last month that are receiving recognition among Ukraine's reading public.

The Ukrainian publishing industry, with no support from the government, has been unable to compete with Russian publishers, who have obtained extensive tax advantages from the Russian government and are producing titles for export to Ukraine literally by the trainload. The new Ukrainian association - small in number and even more meager in its resources - just may have the talent, know-how and most importantly, the determination, to begin stemming the tide with its own publications.

The latest offering by the association, which consists of a small group of writers and journalists from the Cherkasy region dedicated to reviving Ukrainian literature in a popular format, is the "Anthology of Ukrainian Horror," a 781-page compilation of horror stories, which tracks the historical development of the genre from the ancient storytellers and 19th century writers such as Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko, Panteleimon Kulish and Mykola Kostomarov through to the current crop of Ukrainian writers who have addressed the topic. Included are such outstanding 20th century writers as Ivan Franko and Vasyl Stefanyk.

The book, which contains 38 offerings of ghoulish fare, recently was a prize-winner at the annual Publishers Forum held in Lviv on September 8.

The idea for the book of horrors came from Natalia Zabolotna, a young journalist from Cherkasy who is the driving force behind the association. Ms. Zabolotna said that Ukraine has a long tradition of writings in the horror genre and that it was quite natural that someone should eventually compile an anthology.

"People say the British invented horror stories, thrillers and detective novels, but Kvitka Osnovianenko was doing it way before that," explained Ms. Zabolotna.

She explained that while the horror story became popular in Britain in the mid-19th century Britain, Kvitka-Osnovianenko produced his stories in the first decades of the century.

The genre remained popular in Ukraine through the first part of the 20th century, after which it was killed off by the Communist revolution and the "proletarian" fight against bourgeois culture. Ms. Zabolotna said the revival of the horror story began in the mid-1980s with the advent of glasnost and has become increasingly popular since.

The young publisher pointed out that the language used in the book is based on the orthography of the Holoskevych dictionary published in 1928, one with which the Ukrainian American diaspora is more familiar.

The book's editor, Vasyl Pakharenko, a 35-year-old professor of literature at the Khmelnytskyi University of Cherkasy, made the decision to go with the un-Russified, "old" language, as a "matter of principle," explained Ms. Zabolotna.

"For him it was most natural," she said. "I was skeptical, initially. No one uses that type of language in Ukraine anymore. But then I decided to go along with it because its uniqueness might just be a plus."

Ms. Zabolotna said that there is a definite interest in the horror and thriller genres among Ukrainians, and that most interested readers get their needed dose from books published in Russia, because Ukraine produces virtually nothing. That, she added, was another reason she got into the publishing business.

"There is no publishing industry in Ukraine," said Ms. Zabolotna. "It simply is not profitable. I am waiting for the day that it will be, and I hope that time is soon."

She said that while the actual cost of the anthology, with its attractive cover and binding and eery graphics, is about 65 hrv ($11.75) per copy, she is charging only 20 hrv ($3.75) for the book because she realizes that people canít afford any more.

Financial backers whom she would not name are covering the losses and are ready to stay in the red right now in the hope that they might turn a profit once the industry gets on its feet.

The first book published by the association, Stanislav Stetsenko's "The Black Shark in Red Water," also was a loss-maker that was subsidized by a grant from the presidential administration. She explained that she obtained the money under the auspices of President Leonid Kuchma, with whom she had a chance to discuss her project after an introduction by the president's press secretary, Oleksander Martynenko.

The book, which Ms. Zabolotna and others claim is the first Ukrainian contemporary detective thriller, is a blood and guts mystery designed along the lines of similar - and very popular - Russian ones, with plots that inevitably include the country's security services, mafia henchmen and corrupt government officials. "The Black Shark in Red Waters" held steadily in the No. 2 position on Ukraine's unofficial bestseller list for most of the summer.

The Association of Support for Ukrainian Popular Literature has several more projects currently on the drawing board, including other anthologies, as part of what it hopes to be a continuing series. The next addition will be "Anthology of Ukrainian Romance and Erotica," which is to be followed by science fiction and then the detective genre.

| Home Page |