Editor/publicist Mykola Ryabchuk begins work on book on contemporary Ukraine (08/01/04)

Editor/publicist Mykola Ryabchuk begins work on book on contemporary Ukraine

by Bohdan Klid

EDMONTON - The well-known Ukrainian editor, publicist and literary scholar, Mykola Ryabchuk, returned to Ukraine in late June following a six-month stay in Canada as John Kolasky Memorial Fellow. The Kolasky fellowship, awarded by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) at the University of Alberta, allowed Mr. Ryabchuk the opportunity to conduct research for his fourth book on post-Soviet Ukraine.

His main research goal was to collect material on the peculiarities of social transformations in post-Soviet Ukraine in the context of post-Communist changes in Eastern Europe and neo-authoritarian mutations in other countries. The Kyiv publisher Krytyka has agreed to publish the book in 2005.

While in Edmonton, Mr. Ryabchuk also taught a course titled "Language Questions in Modern Ukraine" at the University of Alberta's department of modern languages and cultural studies. In addition he wrote a number of articles that appeared in the cultural and political magazine Krytyka (issues 1-2 and 4; available on the website www.krytyka.kiev.ua); the journal Suchasnist (issues 3 and 6); the Moscow bimonthly Neprikosnovennyi Zapas (issue 1; www.nz-online.ru); and the Polish magazine Wiez (issue 6).

During his tenure as a Kolasky Fellow, Mr. Ryabchuk traveled to several North American cities to give talks or participate in academic and community-sponsored events. The most prominent speech given was "From Dysfunctional to Blackmail State: Paradoxes of the Post-Soviet Transition," which he delivered as the 38th annual Shevchenko lecture on March 12 at the University of Alberta. Similar lectures were given at the University of Toronto, the Kennan Institute (Washington), Shevchenko Scientific Society (Philadelphia and Toronto), York University (Toronto), Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex (Montreal), Ukrainian Cultural Center (Los Angeles), University of California at Los Angeles, and the Ukrainian Professional and Business Club (Vancouver).

During his visit to the United States, Mr. Ryabchuk participated in round-table discussions organized by the Shevchenko Scientific Society in New York on April 14, and together with Prof. Yaroslav Hrytsak of Ivan Franko Lviv National University held a seminar for students at Columbia University. While in New York in mid-April he also participated in two panel discussions at the ninth annual Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities.

In Canada, Mr. Ryabchuk joined Dr. Marta Dyczok of the University of Western Ontario (London) to hold a workshop on "Media and Politics in Ukraine" sponsored on April 19 by the Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine and the Center for Russian and East European Studies at the University of Toronto. He also gave a talk and participated in roundtable discussions dedicated to Canada-Ukraine relations, which took place on May 12 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa. In addition, he served as commentator at the graduate students conference "Researching Ukrainian Identity" held on March 13, at the University of Toronto, and at the "Building the Future Conference" (Edmonton, April 24), organized by the Canadian Ukrainian Congress (Alberta Provincial Council).

Mr. Ryabchuk's rigorous pace and prolific activities as John Kolasky Memorial Fellow reflected a determination to engage and participate in scholarly and community events, as well as marked a continuation of his demanding schedule and noted achievements in Ukraine.

He is the author of numerous articles on contemporary Ukrainian politics and culture, and three of his four recently published books (since 2000) are on post-Soviet Ukraine. The first, "Dylemy Ukrainskoho Fausta: Hromadianske Suspilstvo i 'Rozbudovy Derzhavy' " (Dilemmas of the Ukrainian Faust: Civil Society and "State Building"), treats the major quandary faced by Ukraine's democratic forces after the fall of the Soviet Union and the emergence of an independent Ukraine: whether to focus one's energies on civil society formation or participate in building a dysfunctional state controlled by Ukraine's post-Communist elite.

For his second book on contemporary Ukraine, "Vid Malorosii do Ukrainy: Paradoksy Zapizniloho Natsiietvorennia" (From "Little Russia" to Ukraine: Paradoxes of Delayed Nation Formation), Mykola Ryabchuk received a book of the year award in Ukraine. "Vid Malorosii do Ukrainy" has been translated into Polish, Serbian, Belarusian and French.

His most recent book, published in 2003, is "Dvi Ukrainy: Realni Mezhi, Virtualni Viiny" (Two Ukraines: Real Borders and Virtual Wars). That same year he received the Antonovych Prize for his keen analysis of political and cultural processes in Ukraine over the past decade.

Mr. Ryabchuk has been recognized in Ukraine as a talented editor, having served on the country's most prestigious and serious journals, such as the journal of literature in translation Vsesvit (Universe), and the journal of current affairs and culture Suchasnist (Contemporaneity). He was, in addition, co-founder and deputy editor-in-chief of Krytyka in 1997-2000, and remains a member of its editorial board to this day.

While known today largely as a publicist and editor, Mr. Ryabchuk has also written poetry and literary criticism. His collection of poems, "Zyma u Lvovi" (Winter in Lviv), containing poems written in the 1970s and 1980s, was published in Kyiv in 1989, during the perestroika period. His collection of essays and short stories, also written in the 1970s and 1980s, "Deinde, Tilky Ne Tut," (Elsewhere, But Not Here), was published in 2002. These two collections contain works written while he was a member of a group of non-conformist and dissident students and young intellectuals in Lviv. Circulated in typescript among friends and soulmates, they were also read at unofficial gatherings, where at times banned or disapproved music was heard or played, and "illegal" art exhibits took place.

Mr. Ryabchuk completed his formal education in Moscow, at the Gorky Literary Institute, where he received his candidate of science degree in the theory of literature in 1988. Today, he is affiliated with the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, where he is a research associate at the European Humanities Research Center.

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