Poisk novych jazykov v sovremennoj ukrainskoj poezii: puti chudozestvennoj novizny mezdu naciestroitel'stvom i kul'turno-jazykovym pljuralizmom = Contemporary Ukrainian poetry in search of new languages: approaching literary innovation between nation building and cultural pluralism

Achilli

2021-01-01

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Abstract

In this article I trace and analyse metaliterary themes such as dissatisfaction with poetic tradition, the search for a new poetic language and bilingualism in contemporary Ukrainian poetry. I pay particular attention to texts linked to the 2014 events in Ukraine in 2014 on the basis of examples by Ukrainian-language poets including Boris Humeniuk, Liubov Iakimchuk and Pavlo Korobchuk. Such poems show how recent political and social changes in Ukraine have led to the feeling that Ukrainian poetry needs a new poetic language, since the traditional one is unable to properly convey the new reality. Other texts thematize language undergoing a process of decay. In the second part of my article, I focus on young bilingual poets, writing in both Ukrainian and Russian, in whose poetry nation building plays a lesser role, while the defence of the artist’s freedom in dealing with language and languages comes to the front.