International Association of Ukrainian Studies seeks reform in ...

12 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JULY 10, 2005No. 28BOOK NOTESPoetry by Abram Katsnelsonpublished in retrospective edition“Liryka” by Abram Katsnelson. Kyiv: Astarta, 2002. 367 pp. port. ISBN 966-523-170-7.by Marta TarnawskyAbram Katsnelson came to Americawhen he was already 80 years old andhad an established reputation as a wellknownUkrainian poet and a teacher ofaspiring young poets.Born in 1914 in Horodnia, Ukraine,and educated at the University of Kyiv,Mr. Katsnelson was already the author ofsome 20 books – poetry collections aswell as books of literary theory and criticism.Even at an advanced age and in anew foreign language environment Mr.Katsnelson continues to write Ukrainianpoetry. Two collections of his newlywritten lyrics have been published in LosAngeles in 1996 (“Poklyk Vysoty”) andin 1998 (“V Nimbi Syvyny”). The presentbook “Liryka,” published in Kyiv bythe author’s numerous fans and readers,is a retrospective of lyrical poetry selectedfrom all the earlier Katsnelson books.Mr. Katsnelson is not a modernist poet;his frame of reference in Ukrainian literatureis not Antonych, but Sosiura andRylskyi. Maksym Rylskyi, in fact, was oneof Mr. Katsnelson’s revered teachers, andMr. Katsnelson speaks with pride of beingthe recipient of the Maksym Rylskyi Prizefor achievement in Ukrainian poetry.Mr. Katsnelson’s love and masterlycommand of the Ukrainian language, hisimpeccable traditional poetic form, therichness and originality of his rhymes,his preference for laconic miniatures,combined with the sincerity and directnessof his lyricism and his optimistictone, have gained him a considerable followingamong readers of poetry.A few of Mr. Katsnelson’s poems inDorian Rottenberg’s translation have beenincluded in two English-language anthologiesof Ukrainian poetry, i.e. “Anthology ofSoviet Ukrainian Poetry,” published in Kyivin 1982 and “Poetry of Soviet Ukraine’sNew World,” published by P. Norbury inEngland in the UNESCO series in 1986. Notranslation of a poet as dependent on thebeauty of language and traditional form asMr. Katsnelson can do justice to the original,but at least the readers can gain someinsight into the poet’s subject matter and hislife’s philosophy. These anthologies can befound in some American libraries.Among the translated poems are“Confession (I’m getting greedier andgreedier for beauty)” – one of the poet’smost effective lyrics which stresses hislife’s philosophy and his exuberant optimism;“A Ballad About A Globe (Theschool was closed. In classrooms horseswhinnied), a poem about a boy who saveda tiny globe from the rubble of war, that isdedicated to the cosmonaut Popovych; “InOur Villages Steep Obelisks” – a poemabout names on war monuments; “I’mEarth (Fair curls peeped from beneath thesaucy beret)” – about a girl-radio dispatcherduring the war who speaks incode, but symbolically on behalf of theplanet earth – a lyric that could have beena propaganda piece but was saved by Mr.Katsnelson’s warm humor and sincerelyricism; and “A Maple Leaf On TheAsphalt” – a brief and effective statementof Katsnelson’s aesthetic philosophy.Some of the best of Mr. Katsnelson’slyrics are love poems – these, unfortunately,are not available in translation.The gravesite of Abram Katsnelson in Los Angeles.The Viking “drakkar” and the Kozak “chaika”by Ihor LysyjDuring my recent sails in the NorthSea and wanderings in the land of theNorsemen, I came face to face with a“drakkar,” or Viking longship (the realthing), and discovered a tangible overlapof Norse and Slavic history.The drakkar in question was theOseberg longship on display at theViking Museum in Oslo, Norway. Thisseagoing vessel was found in a large burialmound on Slagen farm in Vestfold,Norway, and was excavated in 1904.The ship was built around 815 to 820and had been used as a sailing vessel formany years before it was put to use as aburial ship for a prominent woman whoIhor Lysyj is a consulting environmentalengineer and a free-lance writer wholives in Austin, Texas.died in 834. This funeral practice wascommon during the Age of the Vikings inthe eighth through the 11th centuries.Buried within clay mounds, such shipswere well-preserved over time; thus, theyprovide us with a window on history.This Viking ship with a beautifullycarved keel was approximately 71 feetlong and 16 feet wide with 15 pairs ofoars and a nailed-down deck. It was constructedusing the clinker design, whichmeans it was planked, using oak boardsthat slightly overlapped and were thennailed together.Later, browsing through “Descriptiond’Ukranie” (Description of Ukraine) byGuillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan,which was published in 1660 in Rouen,France, I saw a detailed sketch anddescription of a Kozak warship (“chaika”;some sources also use the term“baidak”) used in naval engagements inthe Black Sea against the Turks in the17th century. And Beauplan’s descriptionof the Kozak vessel matched, plank forplank, the design of the Viking longshipthat I saw in the Oslo museum. Here ishow Beauplan describes a Kozak warship(in translation):“... they (the Kozaks) build a vessel 60feet long, 12 feet wide, and 12 feet deep.The hull of the vessel was finished withwooden planks from 10 to 12 feet long andone foot wide, overlapping each other...Usually the vessel is equipped with 10 to15 oars on each side and their speed wasfaster than Turkish oar galleys.”Beauplan also included a detailedsketch of the ship design.With 15 pairs of oars and overlappingplanks, and lengths of 60 to 70 feet, thematch between the drakkar and the chaikawas quite close. According to historians,the Viking Age was over by the 11thcentury. And yet we see their longshipsquite active and doing well in the 17thcentury on the Dnipro River and theBlack Sea.Where was the connection and theoverlap of history between the Norsemenand the Slavs?Much has been written about theViking Age and the Vikings’ dominationover the European continent for over fourcenturies. Norsemen from Norwayentered the North Sea via the calm watersof Skagerrak in their longships and, jointlywith the Danes, began to raid the present-dayEnglish, Scottish and Irish coastsin the eighth century.Eventually, they established majorViking cities in York, England, andDublin, Ireland. At the same time, theyoccupied the north of today’s France,establishing the Duchy of Normandy withRouen as its capital. Then they invadedand defeated the Anglo-Saxons in thesouth of England, establishing Normanhegemony of this corner of Europe.Not satisfied with all of this, theysailed through Gibraltar into theMediterranean, converting it into a virtualViking lake with a stronghold onSicily. They also ventured north toIceland and Greenland, and west toNewfoundland in America.(Continued on page 15)An illustration of a Viking drakkar.A sketch of a Kozak chaika from Beauplan’s “Description d’Ukranie.”