BOOK NOTES

Kobylianska text in translation

"On Sunday Morning She Gathered Herbs," translated by Mary Skrypnyk. Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 2001, 180pp., $17.95, (paper).

The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press has published an English translation of Olha Kobylianska's "On Sunday Morning She Gathered Herbs" this February.

Translated by Mary Skrypnyk, it is a very readable translation of Kobylianska's complete text, including the folk song, "Oi ne Khody, Hrytsiu," on which it is based, as well as an introductory essay by Prof. Maxim Tarnawsky of the University of Toronto.

Written in 1909, "On Sunday Morning She Gathered Herbs" expresses Ms. Kobylianska's interest in modernist and feminist issues, particularly in the role of women in society. The novel focuses on the interaction of three beautiful, proud and stubborn women with a society based on social conformity. The book is a fitting example of the influence of new social, political and aesthetic ideas in Ukrainian literature during the first decades of the 20th century.

Ms. Skrypnyk is a prominent translator of Ukrainian literature into English, who for many years was the editor of Ukrainian Canadian. Her best known works include translations of Vasyl Stefanyk's "Maple Leaves," Ivan Franko's "Zakhar Berkut," "When the Animals Could Talk" and "Written in the Book of Life: Works by 20th century Ukrainian writers."

"On Sunday Morning She Gathered Herbs" is available from CIUS Press, 352 Athabasca Hall, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E8, Canada. The CIUS may be reached by telephone, (780) 492-2972; fax, (780) 492-4967; or email, [email protected]. The CIUS Press website is at http://www.utoronto.ca/cius/.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 10, 2001, No. 23, Vol. LXIX

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