Ukrainian Bookshelf
- Katya Reimann
- Apr 23, 2022
- 2 min read
It's Saturday, April 23, as I'm writing this. There are still Ukrainians holding out in the steel plant in the ruins of Mariupol. In today's NYT headlines: "Ukraine Destroys Russian Command Post in Kherson, Kyiv Official Says." But over all, we seem to have entered another phase of expectation that Ukraine is simply going to be flattened by the ongoing war.
As the weeks pass, my personal feelings about "all this" are so confused. It is just so different from the International reaction in 2014. Which I remember, perhaps inaccurately, as being along the lines of "Really, we can't let this interrupt the Olympics. Our athletes have worked so hard for this."
What is Ukraine? Is it a country? Does it have a language? Are there any features, really, that distinguish it from Russia or Polish-Lithuania or Belarus?
Together and Apart in Brzezany
So--my mentally highly sophisticated daughters found this book "crude."
Myself, I found it fascinating.
It's Shimon Redlich's attempt to understand the "Polish-Jewish-Ukrainian" triangle of Eastern Galicia. Born in Brzezany (part of Ternopol Oblast) Redlich suffered tragedy and displacement during WWII and the German invasion.
His descriptions of the "simplicity" of the Ukrainian character are... both infuriating and apt. It's a word that, once you have read a bit about Ukrainians, you will see is rather often applied to their character.
Winter on Fire
My other recommendation to pair with Redlich (less of a time demand, also) is going to be for the 2015 documentary Winter on Fire (available for streaming on a number of obvious sites, including Netflix and Prime).
My mentally highly sophisticated daughters also found this film crude.
Myself, I found it fascinating. It is definitely a biased telling of events, but the bias itself is part of the interest.
Like Redlich's book, it also emphasized the simplicity of the Ukrainian character.
Ivan: Back to the Past
...and a final recommendation. The 2011 documentary, Ivan: Back to the Past.
Really, this would is my FIRST recommendation. It's a highly accessible piece of film-making.
Except that I, too, like my daughters, found this (incredible) documentary also to be crude. And will a viewer have the patience to excuse/see past the occasionally clanky quality of the film-making to experience the transcendentally tragic but beautiful nature of this story? Ivan Boiko—the man is the epitome of simplicity.
I'm falling into a worse mood as I type this. I wish the killing would stop.
I've just hired someone at Rutgers to teach about Ukraine. What "it" is. Who the people are. What the history, sociology, culture, and international connections are and were. And why this is worth knowing. Don't know if he'll use these resources at all.