"Literaturnyi iarmarok": Ukrainian modernism's defining moment

by Halyna Hryn

This dissertation examines the almanac Literaturnyi iarmarok(The Literary Fair), twelve volumes of which appeared in 1928--29, and the group of cultural figures associated with it. Despite its relatively small size, it is among the most significant Ukrainian literary publications of the modern era. It is analyzed as the culmination of an intensely creative literary decade---"The Twenties" (approximately 1919--1930)---during which the European modernist tradition in Ukrainian culture reached its height and after which a qualitatively new set of aesthetic principles was introduced. The destruction of this pluralistic tradition was brutal and almost absolute, leaving little in the way of intellectual and artistic tools for succeeding generations to interpret it. And yet its exponents recognized its special status, placing at its center the Renascence movement known as VAPLITE. While not the only productive cultural group of the twenties, for its followers and the dominant critical tradition in the emigration (with a distinct echo in Ukraine itself) it became the embodiment of the unique character of this decade.

371 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2005