A history of artistic repression in Ukrain

By Aussiegirl

A biographical sketch of poet Lina Kostenko as a dissident:


THE HISTORY OF DISSENT IN UKRAINE
KOSTENKO Lina

(born 1930)

An outstanding poet, her lyric poetry was one of spiritual supports for the generation of the sixties.

Kostenko was born in the town of Rzhishchev of the Kyiv oblast to a family of teachers. In 1956 she graduated from the Moscow Literary institute named after Gorky. She wrote poetry. Her first books, Prominnya Zemli (1957, Rays of the Earth), Vitryla (1958, Sails), Mandrivki Sertsia (1961, Travels of the Heart) contributed a new word to Ukrainian poetry that returned literature from the ideological bonds of the party approach to the sphere of art. Kostenko is a lyric poet prone to philosophic meditation, with an original system of images and exquisite rhymes; on the gray background of the poetry of social realism her individualism and aestheticism became a noticeable phenomenon and provoked acute attacks of the official criticism. (Encyclopedia of Ukrainian studies)).

In early 60s Kostenko took part in the literary meetings of the *Creative Youth Club. Since 1961 she was criticized for her indifference toward politics. Shooting of the film Dorogoy Vetrov (By the road of winds), whose script was written by Kostenko was prohibited. On 8 April 1963, the secretary on ideology of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (CC CPU), criticized her work. "Formalistic tricks with words necessarily lead to the distortion of the conceptual and artistic content of literary works. This general idea is confirmed by some creations of our young poets, such as Vingronovsky, Drach, and Lina Kostenko." It was a signal of the approaching pogrom of the generation of the 60s.

In 1963 the compilation of her book of poems called Zoriany Integral (Stellar Integral) and another book Kniazha Gora (Prince's Mountain) was stopped. A film entitled Perevirte svoyi godynnyki (Check your watches), written by K. and several others, whose script depicted Ukrainian poets killed in the war, was not admitted to the screen. The film was so distorted by editing and a change of title that Kostenko declined her authorship.

In these years Kostenko's poems were printed in Czechoslovak magazines and in Polish newspapers; in Ukraine, Kostenko's poems were published very seldom, mainly they were distributed in *samizdat. (self-published and distributed pamphlets and writings -- samizdat means "self-published")

In 1965 K. signed a letter of protest against the arrests of Ukrainian intelligentsia. She participated in protest actions against the trial of Osadchiy, Zverichevska and the Goryn brothers in Lviv. The protesters threw flowers at them. Kostenko tried to hand a cake of chocolate to Zverichevska. Together with Drach she turned to the editorial board of the magazine 'Zhovten' [October] and to writers from Lviv with a suggestion to protect the arrested. The writers did not wish to risk a protest, but they handed to the court a petition to pass Goryn, as the youngest of the arrested, under observance of the literary organization. All this did not change the verdict, but had a tremendous moral impact.

In May 1966 in the Union of Writers of Ukraine, where 'nationalistic renegades' were criticized, some of the younger writers gave a standing ovation to Kostenko, who defended her position gallantly and protected Svitlychny, Zalyvakha, Kosiv and Goryn. On 15 Nov 1967 K. was present at the court session that tried Chornovil. After the trial Kostenko, and several others, wrote a letter to P. Shelest, the first secretary of the CCCPU, with the protest characterizing the trial as a scandalous violation of the procedural norms.

After this Kostenko's name stopped being mentioned in the Soviet press. What she called 'the passage of silence' became complete. Kostenko wrote without hope of being published, demonstrating hardness and absence of compromises: she never wrote a word glorifying the Communist party or Lenin.

Kostenko's name was mentioned among non-trustworthy figures of culture in the Resolution of the CCCPU of 3 March 1969.

By and by Kostenko reduced direct contacts with human rights protection movement. Nonetheless, when in 1972 *the second wave of arrests of Ukrainian creative intelligentsia began, when, in particular, I. Dziuba, already driven away from the Union of Writers of Ukraine, was arrested, V. Nekrasov, L. Kostenko and other Ukrainian writers went to CC CPU with a petition to release the arrested.

In 1973 K. got to the 'black lists' compiled by V. Malanchuk, the secretary on ideology of CC CPU. It was only in 1979, when V. Malanchuk left his post, that a new collection of poems Nad Beregamy Vichnoyi Reki (On the Banks of the Eternal River) was published. And after a special resolution of the Presidium of Union of Writers of Ukraine the historical novel in verse Marysia Churay, that had been unpublished for six years, was finally released. The novel brought Kostenko national-wide fame. This novel, together with the selected poems Nepovtornist (1980, Uniqueness), received the Shevchenko state prize in 1987. Other of her new books were published: Sad Netanuchikh Skulptur (1987 , The Garden of Unmeltable Sculptures), a children book Buzynovy Tsar (1987, The King of Elder) and Vybrane (1989, Selected poems).

I. Svitlychny regarded K. as "a star of the first magnitude. Kostenko is a laureate of Petrarka's premium (1994).

She lives in Kyiv and has two children.


This article comes from the website entitled: "Human Rights in Ukraine" at:
http://www.khpg.org/index.php?r=18