ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Even for avid supporters of Ukraine, like me, Ukrainian literature remains and undiscovered country. Today I’m speaking with Uilleam Blacker who can guide on a journey of discovery, to engage with Ukrainian culture and identity. Ukrainian literature has a strong tradition of folk tales and oral poetry, and it has been influenced by the country's complex political and cultural history, including periods of colonization and national struggle. Russian literature, on the other hand, has been shaped by its own distinct history, including periods of imperial expansion and revolutionary upheaval. Ukrainian writers were persecuted in the 1920s during the period of Soviet rule in Ukraine, as part of a process to suppress Ukrainian national identity and culture and replace it with a new Soviet identity; literature was a key tool for this, as it is also for Russia today. ---------- Uilleam Blacker is an associate professor in the comparative culture of Eastern Europe at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London. He is the author of Memory, the City, and the Legacy of World War II in East Central Europe (Routledge). He has translated the work of many Ukrainian authors, including Oleg Sentsov’s short story collection Life Went On Anyway (Deep Vellum). His translations of novels by Taras Prokhasko and Maik Yohansen will be published in the Harvard Library of Ukrainian Literature series. His translations have appeared in many anthologies and journals, including The White Review, Modern Poetry in Translation, and Words Without Borders. ---------- LINKS: https://twitter.com/BlackerUilleam https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/people/uilleam-blacker https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/judges/uilleam-blacker https://www.hup.harvard.edu/authors/65551-blacker-uilleam ---------- RECOMMENDED AUTHORS: Taras Shevchenko https://taras-shevchenko.storinka.org/ Nikolai Gogol Lesia Ukrainka https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674291775 Olha Kobylianska https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sunday-Morning-She-Gathered-Herbs/dp/1895571340 Mike Yohansen https://books.huri.harvard.edu/books/maik-yohansen-dr-leonardos-journey Mykhail Semenko Valerian Pidmohylnyi https://books.huri.harvard.edu/books/the-city Yuri Andrukhovych https://www.amazon.co.uk/Moscoviad-Yuri-Andrukhovych/dp/1933132523 Taras Prokhasko https://tarnawsky.artsci.utoronto.ca/elul/Ukr_Lit/Vol02/03-Prokhasko-Unsimple1.pdf and https://tarnawsky.artsci.utoronto.ca/elul/Ukr_Lit/Vol03/06-ProkhaskoUnsimple-Part-2.pdf Yuri Izdryk https://losthorsepress.org/catalog/smokes/ Viktoria Amelina https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/03/poem-about-a-crow-a-work-by-the-killed-ukrainian-writer-victoria-amelina War poetry (pre-2022): https://www.wordsforwar.com/ ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND: Save Ukraine https://www.saveukraineua.org/ Superhumans - Hospital for war traumas https://superhumans.com/en/ UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukraine https://unbroken.org.ua/ Come Back Alive https://savelife.in.ua/en/ Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchen https://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraine UNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyy https://u24.gov.ua/ Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation https://prytulafoundation.org NGO “Herojam Slava” https://heroiamslava.org/ kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyśl https://kharpp.com/ NOR DOG Animal Rescue https://www.nor-dog.org/home/ ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ----------
