"Whiskey Priest" by Alexander Motyl is launched at NTSh (12/25/05)

"Whiskey Priest" by Alexander Motyl is launched at NTSh

by Dr. Orest Popovych

NEW YORK - Book presentations at the headquarters of the Shevchenko Scientific Society (NTSh) are frequent events, but the event of October 22 assumed special significance in that the author of the presented work was one of NTSh's own - a member of the society's governing board.

For Dr. Alexander J. Motyl, professor of political science at Rutgers University, this was the launch of his first published novel, titled "Whiskey Priest" (Universe Inc., New York, Lincoln, Shanghai, 2005). Simultaneously, in another area of the NTSh building, there was an exhibit of Dr. Motyl's paintings.

In his brief introduction, Prof. Vasyl Makhno, who emceed the program, remarked that Dr. Motyl belongs to a unique generation of Ukrainian writers who were born in the 1950s outside Ukraine and who write on Ukrainian topics in English. Referring to the exhibition of Dr. Motyl's paintings, Prof. Makhno noted that what was on display at NTSh that day was two out of the three areas of Dr. Motyl's talent and expertise, the third being, of course, political science.

A thorough critical analysis of Dr. Motyl's novel was offered by NTSh President Dr. Larissa Zaleska Onyshkevych, an expert on literature. She started by noting that "Whiskey Priest" contains all the ingredients of a good spy novel: a tense political situation, heroes and anti-heroes, coarse language, intrigue, sex, cruel scenes, murder, etc. She saw evidence that the author was emulating the styles of such well-established exponents of this genre as Graham Greene, Mickey Spillane and Ian Fleming.

However, Dr. Motyl's intense detective narrative is also rich with Ukrainian content, and it is a pleasure, for a change, to read a book by a political scientist where the facts pertaining to things Ukrainian are absolutely correct, continued Dr. Onyshkevych.

The novel written in the tradition of the best who-done-its, is set in post-Soviet times, with a whirlwind of breathtaking events that keep propelling its characters between Kyiv, Lviv, Vienna and New York. Its hero and anti-hero - the "whiskey priest" - is Anatoly Filatov, a Russian Communist, who was brought to Lviv after World War II in order to combat Ukrainian nationalists there. Now he works as a hit man for the Russian mafia. To Filatov, the collapse of the USSR and the independence of Ukraine represent devastating tragedies.

Jane (Ivanka) Sweet, a Ukrainian-American, is an American diplomat whose ancestors came from Lviv and belonged precisely to that group of Ukrainians whom Filatov was sent to persecute. Another major player is Igor Bazarov, a Soviet immigrant to the U.S., who is described as "a cynical Ivy League professor."

The lives of these three main characters - Filatov, Sweet and Bazarov - became entangled in a web of international intrigue and crime, that includes the Russian mafia, larceny, murder, sex and a prostitution ring that exploits Ukrainian women.

Last to speak was the author, who began by remarking that Dr. Onyshkevych had told more about his book that he himself ever could. He admitted to having been influenced by Graham Greene and to having read most of the who-done-it genre. Dr. Motyl said that as a political scientist he was also interested in the Soviet KGB as well as the Ukrainian nationalist Security Service. In his novel, Dr. Motyl said he tried to unite the two worlds of Ukraine - the Communists, as personified by Mr. Filatov, and the nationalists, represented by Ms. Sweet.

Dr. Motyl then read a couple of excerpts from his book, treating the audience to some fascinating story-telling, laced with historical insight as well as humor, and rendered in rich and expressive language.

Following the formal part of the program and a discussion, copies of the "Whiskey Priest" novel were offered for sale.

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