Renowned Ukrainian poet and writer Lina Kostenko is finishing a new historical novel about the Hetmanate era and preparing it for publication.
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by Suspilne Kultura.
Suspilne noted that during the first part of an interview with Serhiy Zhadan on Radio Khartia for the project “Krugova Oborona” (Circular Defense), Lina Kostenko said that she was working on a new historical novel about the Hetmanate period.
Zhadan recorded the interview last year when he visited the poet together with Ivan Malkovych. After that, Zhadan returned to the writer once again to record a new interview. This is the first major public conversation with the author of Marusia Churai and Notes of a Ukrainian Madman in many years.
The book will cover the Hetmanate period, but not in the usual heroic vein: at the heart of the plot is the complex and controversial issue of Ukrainians’ participation in shaping the ideology of the Russian Empire.
“How did the West know Russia? By the splendor of its facades,” says Kostenko.
In the novel, she is interested in the questions: why did Ukrainians educated at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy become the creators of imperial mechanisms? Were they aware of their role and responsibility? And is it true, as is sometimes said today, that Ukrainians built the empire and now have to destroy it?
“I need to find the real reason, you understand?” she says.
“These Ukrainians — our priest Feofan Prokopovich — gave Peter I ideas that we are now suffocating from…” Kostenko shares.
Among the key figures in the novel are theologian, writer, and reformer Feofan Prokopovich, who created the “Spiritual Regulations” — a document that subordinated the Orthodox Church to imperial power — and Chancellor of the Russian Empire Alexander Bezborodko, a native of the Hetmanate. The characters also include foreign politicians and writers.
“I wrote this book calmly, without rushing,” Kostenko summed up.
Suspilne emphasized that although Lina Kostenko did not name the exact date of the book’s release, it is clear from her words that work on the manuscript is nearing completion.
At the beginning of the first part of the interview, Serhiy Zhadan also noted that Lina Kostenko is currently “finishing her books and preparing them for publication.” Serhiy Zhadan used the plural form, but in the interview, Lina Kostenko speaks mainly about a historical novel.
As reported by Ukrinform, on May 15, the Austrian-Ukrainian Society held an anniversary evening in the Austrian capital Vienna dedicated to the 95th birthday of the outstanding Ukrainian poet Lina Kostenko.
Source: Lina Kostenko completes new historical novel - media
