Shevchenko Society hosts launch of new book on Lesia Ukrainka (07/02/06)

Shevchenko Society hosts launch of new book on Lesia Ukrainka

by Lubomyr S. Onyshkevych

NEW YORK - A new book about the life and family of the famous Ukrainian writer Larissa Kosach-Kvitka, who is known under the pen name Lesia Ukrainka, was presented on April 8 at Shevchenko Scientific Society (NTSh) in New York City.

The book was compiled and edited by the literary researcher Tamara Skrypka from Lutsk, Ukraine, who is now living in the USA. Ms. Skrypka has been studying the life of Lesia Ukrainka for many years, and has published several scholarly articles as well as a book on the Kosach-Drahomanov families titled "Aristocratic Nest of the Kosach Family" ("Dvorianske Hnizdo Kosachiv", Lviv 1999).

The new book, is both massive and luxurious, "Larysa Petrivna Kosach-Kvitka - Lesia Ukrainka: Biohrafichni Materialy, Spohady, Ikonohrafiia" (New York-Kyiv Fakt, 2004) contains 450 pages, and includes 172 family photographs of Larysa Kosach-Kvitka and her well-known family, which gave Ukrainian culture not just Lesia Ukrainka, but also her mother, the writer Olena Pchilka, her uncle, the scholar Mykhailo Drahomanov, and other well-known names.

Ms. Skrypka's book presents numerous documents, letters and memoirs, as well as an extensive collection of photographs, many of which have never before been published. Thus, it represents a treasure-trove of new material not just about Lesia Ukrainka, but also about the whole extended family of the Drahomanovs and the Kosaches, as well as leading members of the Ukrainian intelligentsia of the time.

The program at the Shevchenko Society which was chaired by Dr. Maria Rewakowicz, was opened by Dr. Larissa Onyshkevych, President of NTSh. Dr. Oleksa Bilaniuk, the former president of UVAN and co-editor of the publication,, introduced Ms. Skrypka.

Ms. Skrypka herself gave a talk about the new book, stressing the aristocratic lines of the illustrious family, which traced its roots to the Ukrainian Kozak officer class. During the long years of Soviet occupation, members of the family were persecuted and repressed, causing their extensive family archives to be scattered all over the world and numerous important documents to be destroyed or lost. Ms. Skrypka described her odyssey in search of these documents in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union, as well as in Central and Western Europe, and North America.

As a result of her search, numerous materials were located, in particular a large number of photographs of the Kosach-Drahomanov family. However, an unknown quantity of such material remains lost and may never be found. Nevertheless, what is collected in the new massive volume in all probability will be considered the definitive corpus of available biographical material about this remarkable family.

Ms. Skrypka's presentation was followed by a question-and-answer session, as well as by a general discussion.

| Home Page |