Igor Kaczurowskyj

Kachurovsky's signature

Igor Kaczurowskyj ( Ukrainian Ігор Васильович Качуровський Ihor Wassylowytsch Katschurowskyj , .. Scientific transl Ihor Vasyl'ovyč Kačurovs'kyj * 1. September 1918 in Nizhyn , Russian Empire (now Ukraine ); † 18th July 2013 in Munich ) was a Ukrainian poet , Writer, literary theorist and broadcast journalist. He wrote, mainly in Ukrainian, but also in Russian and, more rarely, in Spanish, poetry, prose, essays, children's books and parodies, sometimes under one of the pseudonyms: Andrij Veresen '; Chvedosij Čyčka; Françoise d'Erville. In his poems he represented neoclassicism , the trend that is also known as the "Ukrainian Parnassus" and is characterized by adherence to the traditional, classical norms of poetry.

Biography and teaching

Igor Kaczurowskyj (spelling in various reference books, foreign language scripts, etc.) was born on September 1, 1918 in the family of two graduates from Kiev University . His father was a lawyer who also devoted himself to economics and for a time held the post of assistant to the State Secretary of the Ukrainian Central Council (Zentralna Rada) . His mother had studied history at the University of Kiev .

Igor lived in Kruty ( Nischyn Rajon of Chernihiv Oblast ) until he was 12 years old . In 1932 the family settled in Kursk ( Russia ) in order to escape the persecution that the Soviet regime carried out against all non-proletarians. There he studied at the so-called Pedagogical Institute, which he graduated from in 1941. His professors included Petro Odartschenko , and above all Boris Jarcho , the well-known researcher of medieval literature. In 1942 the family returned to Ukraine and in the following year went west, initially to Slovakia; from 1945 Katschurowsky lived in Austria .

He began his literary activity in 1946 with the short story "Der Pass", which was awarded a literary prize. He was one of the editors of the magazine "Litavry" and one of the founders of the Association of Ukrainian Scholars, Writers and Artists in Salzburg .

In 1948 Kaczurowskyj emigrated to Argentina ; There he lived in the immediate vicinity of the capital Buenos Aires and worked as an ordinary port worker, but at the same time, as editor-in-chief, he edited the magazine "Porohy" (Dnipro rapids), participated in the cultural life of the Ukrainian intellectuals in Argentina, was an employee of Periodicals "Novi Dni" (New Days), "Ovyd" (The Horizon), the humorous paper "Mitla" (The Broom) and wrote poems, prose works and textbooks. After he had acquired sufficient knowledge of Spanish, he took on the Argentine citizenship, attended the Instituto Grafotécnico (a literature institute) from 1958 to 1962 and from 1963 to 1964 directed a course in ancient Ukrainian literature at the Catholic University; In 1968 he read a course on Russian literature at the Universidad "El Salvador", both in Buenos Aires.

In 1969 he moved to Munich , but remained an Argentine citizen. In Munich he held the post of program designer for literary and cultural issues at the Ukrainian editorial staff of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty , where between 1970 and 1980 he wrote about 2000 scripts and read them on the radio. At the Ukrainian Free University of Munich (UFU) he received his doctorate in 1973. phil. with his dissertation Davni slovjanski viruvannja ta jich zvj'azok z indo-irans'kymy relihijamy (Old Slavic creeds and their connection with the Indo-Iranian religions).

From 1973 onwards he held lectures every year, from 1982 onwards as a full professor, on the theory of literature (verse theory, style, work structure and genre theory), the history of Ukrainian literature in the 1920s and 30s, the history of European medieval literature, etc. at the UFU (Philosophical Faculty). In addition, he occasionally took over lectures in other cities, e. B. in Buenos Aires , with the Padri Basiliani in Rome and, after the collapse of the Soviet Union , several times in the Ukraine ( Kiev , Nischyn , Poltava and Kharkiv ).

He was a member of the Ukrainian writers 'association Slovo (Das Wort), the Argentine association SADE ( Sociedad Argentina de Escritores ) and, from 1992, the Ukrainian writers' association Spilka pys'mennykiv Ukrajiny .

Igor Kaczurowskyj died on July 18, 2013 in Munich and, at his own request, was buried in his home town of Kruty. The solemn burial ceremony took place on November 22, 2013 with the participation of the Archbishop of Nizhyn and Chernihiv .

Poetic activity

Poetry

He is the author of the following volumes of poetry:

• “Nad svitlym džerelom” (At the light source), Salzburg 1948.
• “V dalekij havani” (In the distant harbor), Buenos Aires 1956.
• “Pisnja pro bilyj parus” (The Song of the White Sail), Munich 1971.
• "Svičada vičnosty" (Mirror of Eternity), Munich 1990.
• An anthology was published shortly before his death with the title "Liryka", Lviv 2013.
• The epic poem “Selo” (The Village), published in Neu-Ulm in 1960, was published in Kiev in 2000 and 2001 together with the collection of poems “Osinni piznjocvity” * (Autumn timeless), most recently in 2006 with the title “Selo v bezodni” ( The village in the abyss).

As a lyricist, Igor Kaczurowskyj was a staunch advocate of the theories and postulates of neoclassicism brought to life by Mykola Zerov and his poetic circle and a follower and master of so-called "second level poetry", in his own words, "transpositive lyricism" whose objects can be works of art of various genres, that cultural poetry which, according to Dmytro Nalyvajko, is one of the main attributes of classicism as a basic form of artistic thought (the section "Stara Evropa" [Old Europe] in the collection of poems "Mirror of Eternity" ). At the same time he was the author of finely felt love poetry ("The Song of the White Sails") and a rare veneration of nature, in which for the first time in Ukrainian literature the kingdom of mushrooms is the subject of deeply felt poetry (the chapter "Hrybna mistyka") [The mysticism of mushrooms], also in "Mirror of Eternity"). In general, Kachurovsky's poetry is characterized by a painful discrepancy between the devotion to eternal nature and the high artistic achievements of past centuries on the one hand and the negation of the contrasting intellectual decline of contemporary civilization.

His poem "Das Dorf" is like an epic canvas depicting the famine from 1932 to 1933.

The main features of his poetry are the tendency towards neoclassical transparency, achieved through the use of open metaphors, an exquisite choice of words, free from any vulgarity, and the absolute granting of the prerogative to classical meter (predominantly Romanesque origin).

His parodies, humorous studies, literary jokes, etc. The like published under the pseudonym Chvedosij Čyčka, most recently “Parodiarium Chvedosija Čyky”, Drohobyč , 2013.

For children he wrote the poem "Pan Koc'kyj" (The Lord of Kotskyj), Kiev 1992, with some illustrations by the well-known Ukrainian painter Boris Kriukow. In 2016, “Pan Koc'kyj” (Der Herr von Kotskyj) was published in a new edition sponsored by the German Embassy in Kiev , with all the illustrations left behind, accompanied by a German-language poetry in verse by Wilhelm Steinbüchler.

"U svynyachomu tsarstvi" (In the realm of the wild boar), Munich, 1997.

prose

• Šljach nevidomoho. (The path of an unknown), Munich 1956, translated into English by Yuri Tkach and published with the title Because Deserters Are Immortal , Doncaster ( Australia ) 1979, translated into German by Lidia Kriukow , "The path of an unknown", Frankfurt am Main 2018 .
• Zaliznyj kurkul '. (Der Eiserne Großbauer), Munich 1959 and Poltava 2005.
• Dim nad kručeju. (Das Haus am Abhang), Munich 1966.

His short story Po toj bik bezodni (Beyond the Abyss), NOVI DNI (January 1978, No. 335) was published in English translation in the Indian magazine URANIA (A JOURNAL OF CREATIVE WRITING AND LITERARY STUDIES), Kanpur , UP, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1987 entitled Beyond the Abyss, a Modern Ukrainian Gothic Story.

His prose works, together with the short stories Oči Atosa (Athos' eyes), Krynycja bez vahadla (Pit without a pendulum), Cybuljane vesillja (The Onion Wedding ) and others. a. published in an anthology with the title Šljach nevidomoho , Kiev 2006.

Some of his memories were published in the volume Kruty moho dytynstva (The Kruty of My Childhood), Nischyn 2007. The full collection of his memoirs was published posthumously entitled Spomyny i postati (Memories and Figures), Kiev 2018.

Translations

His poetry transcriptions appeared in the individual poetry volumes over the decades. The following are to be mentioned as separate expenses:

• “Francesco Petrarca. Vybrane. Poetry scelte ”(approx. 50 sonnets from the Canzoniere), Bilingual, Munich 1982.
• “Zolota haluzka. La rama de oro “(The Green Branch), from Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Buenos Aires - Munich 1991.
• “Stežka kriz'bezmir. A path through the immeasurable ”, Bilingual, 100 German poems, 750–1950. Paris - Lviv - Zwickau 2000.
• “Čoven bez rybalky. La barca sin pescador “(The boat without a fisherman). A play by Alejandro Casona. Buenos Aires 2000.
• “Okno v ukrainskuju poeziju” (A window to Ukrainian poetry). Ukrainian poets in Russian translations. Munich - Kharkiv - Nizyn 2000.
• "Pisnja pro Roljanda" (The Roland song). Complete edition. From the old French while retaining the original syllabic meter, Lviv 2008.

A summary of his poetry transmissions (around 670 poems or poetry fragments by around 350 authors, from around 23 old and new languages) was published with the title "Kruh ponadzemnyj" (The Celestial Circle), Kiev 2007.

In his translations Katschurowsky represented the school of Mykola Zerov , d. H. Striving for maximum accuracy compared to the respective original, not only with regard to the content, but also the retention of the metrics, the stanzas, the choice of words and, last but not least, the respective mood and the emotional character of the original text. For Western European languages ​​he often made use of the linear prose transcriptions from qualified translator Lidia Kriukow .

Periodicals

Some of his treatises appeared in German transcriptions in the Jahrbuch der Ukrainekunde (communications from the Arbeits- und Förderungsgemeinschaft der Ukrainischen Wissenschaften e.V.):

• “Escapism in Ukrainian Literature”, Mitteilungen No. 13, Munich 1975, pp. 30-51. Ibid .: “Pavlo Fylypovyč. Literatura ”(book review, pp. 151–154).
• "Ivan Bahrjanyjs Prosa", Mitteilungen No. 14, Munich 1977, pp. 114-133. Ibid .: “Dmytro Čyževs'kyj” (in memoriam, pp. 208–210); “Neydolannyj duch” (Invincible Spirit), book review, Ss. 211-213.
• Review of the book "Rozstriljane Vidrodžennja" (Born Rebirth), Mitteilungen No. 16, Munich 1979, pp. 279-284.
• “Two poets in battle”, Mitteilungen No. 17, Munich 1980, pp. 41-263. Ibid .: Review of the book “M.Draj Chmara: From the literary estate”, pp. 392-396.
• “Goethe's Faust motifs in Jurij Klen”, Mitteilungen No. 18, Munich 1981, pp. 199-213; Ibid .: Review of the “Anthology of Polish Poetry”, pp. 329-336.
• “The Ukrainian Parnassus”, Yearbook of Ukraine Studies, Munich 1983, p. 189-206.
• “Volodymyr Deržavyn”, Yearbook of Ukraine Studies , Munich 1984, p. 216-223.
• “Devoted to truth and beauty” (Lesja Ukrajinka and her work), Yearbook of Ukraine Studies, Munich 1986, pp. 105-144.

Numerous articles appeared in the following Ukrainian magazines from the early 1950s until his death:

• NOVI DNI (New Days), Toronto
• OVYD (The Horizon), Chicago
• MOLODA UKRAJINA (Young Ukraine), Toronto
• NAŠA BAT'KIVŠČYNA (Our Fatherland), Mountain Dale , N. Y
• ARKAN (The Lasso), Buenos Aires
• VISNYK (The Messenger), Yonkers, New York City
• KRYLATI (The Winged), Brussels
• VYZVOL´NYJ ŠLJACH (The Way of Liberation), London
• ZBIRNYK "SLOVO" (anthology of "Slovo" [The Word]), USA - Canada
• SUČASNIST ' (The Present), Munich-USA- Kiev
• BEREZIL ' (spring moon), Kharkiv
• VSESVIT (Space), Kiev
• DZVIN (The Bell), Lviv
• UKRAJINS'KYJ SAMOSTIJNYK (The Ukrainian self-employed), Munich
• SLOVO I ČAS (Word and Time), Kiev
• SAMOSTIJNA UKRAJINA (Independent Ukraine), Kiev
• KYJIV, Kiev
• DNIPRO, Kiev
• CHRONICLES 2000, Kiev
• DUKLJA, Prešov
• UKRAJINS'KYJ ZASIV (Ukrainian sowing), Kharkiv
• SOBORNIST ' (Unity), Munich
• PRAPOR (The Flag), Kharkiv
• SOVA (The Owl), Ternopil
• UKRAJINS'KI PROBLEMY, Kiev
• KYJIVS'KA STAROVYNA (Kiev in Antiquity), Kiev
• PAM'JATKY UKRAJINY (Monuments of Ukraine), Kiev
• ZERNA (seeds), Zwickau
• VARŠAVS'KI UKRAJINOZNAVČI ZAPYSKY (Warsaw Notes on Ukraine Studies ), Warsaw
• ODNOHOLOSNYK (The Unanimous), Kiev
• LITERATURNYJ ČERNIHIV, Chernihiv
• UKRAJINS'KYJ LITERATURNYJ PROVULOK, Lublin

Articles in Russian periodicals:

• GRANI (Facets), Frankfurt
  • No. 42, 1959 - From contemporary Ukrainian poetry.
• CONTINENT
  • No. 11, 1977 - On the 100th anniversary of the Emser Ukas;
  • No. 13, 1977 - translations of Ukrainian poems into Russian;
  • No. 16, 1978 - Four translations of Ukrainian poems and short biographies of authors;
  • No. 45, 1985 - poems from his collection "In the distant harbor" in Russian translations.
• NOVYJ ŽURNAL (New Magazine), New York
  • No. 141, 1980 - European Poetry the Soviet Way;
  • No. 145, 1981 - The poetry of Jevhen Plužnyk;
  • No. 159, 1985 - Maksym Ryl's'kyj's poetry.

Scientific activity

In the field of literary theory, Katschurowsky follows the principles of Boris Jarcho and Volodymyr Deržavyn. As the first, popular scientific work is

• "Novela jak žanr" (The novella as a genre), Buenos Aires 1958, should be mentioned. It followed:
• “Strofika” (A Treatise on Strophes), Munich 1967;
• “Fonika” (Phonics), Munich 1984;
• "Narys komparatyvnoji metryky" (An outline of the comparative metric), Munich 1985; the last three textbooks mentioned were confirmed in 1994 by the Ukrainian Ministry of Education as being recommended for university students of philology and were reissued.
• "Osnovy analizy movnych form" (basic concepts of the analysis of linguistic forms), Part 1 Leksika, Munich - Nižyn 1994; Part 2 Figures and Tropics, Munich-Kiev 1995.
• “Generyka i architektonika” (structural and generic theory), vol. 1: Literatura evropejs'koho Serednjoviččja (The literature of the European Middle Ages), Kyjiv 2005; Vol. 2: Part 1 Zasady naukovoho literaturoznavstva (Principles of Literary Studies); Part 2 Žanry novoho pys'menstva (Principles of New Literature), Kiev 2008.

The main aim of these writings is to provide evidence of the inexhaustible potential of the foundations of world literature traditionally proven over centuries, the perpetual validity of classical, precise rhymes, the overall structure of literary works and the tried and tested postulates in relation to the various genres.

A summary of his research work as a literary historian is his work "Promenysti syl'vety: lekciji, dopovidi, statti, eseji, rozvidky" (Radiant Silhouettes: Readings, Lectures, Articles, Treatises, Investigations), Munich 2002 - Kiev 2008, whose main concern is the The intention would be to refresh the memory of the half-forgotten outstanding figures in literature and to shed light on them more closely.

Also a (partial) summary, this time in a different area, namely that of his work as a radio commentator and author of radio scripts on literary-artistic topics: "150 vikon u svit: z besid, transljovanych po radio Svoboda" (150 windows on the world: from the radio broadcasts of radio Liberty ), Kiev of 2008.

Kachurovsky's aesthetic views allow us to see in him, alongside Volodymyr Deržavyn, a tireless advocate of the theories of neoclassicism in the West, namely the conviction that beauty should be regarded as the highest ideal, as it were as the synthesis of good and true and that art is not subordinate to any external condition, be it social, political, climatic or any other origin.

He participated in several congresses and literary symposia:

• “Le Parnasse ukrainien”, as part of the Colloque sur LA RENAISSANCE NATIONALE ET CULTURELLE EN UKRAINE DE 1917 AUX ANNEES 30, Paris , 25th and 26th Nov. 1982, organized by the Institut National des Langues et Civilizations Orientales 2, rue de Lille, 75007 Paris.
• "About the Christian elements in the worldview and in the work of Lesja Ukrajinkas",

as part of the symposium LESJA UKRAJINKA AND THE EUROPEAN LITERATURE, Munich, Nymphenburg Castle , November 10, 1988.

• Among other things, he is the author of the popular essay “Putivnyk dlja hrybariv” (A guide for mushroom pickers), published together with V. Baranov's guide “Z Kyjeva do Kačanivky čerez Nižyn” (From Kiev to Kačanivka through Nižyn), Nižyn 2011.

Together with Sviatoslav Hordynsky and Lidia Kriukow , he was the editor and the author of the introductory essay on “Chrestomatija ukrajins'koji relihijnoji literatury, kn. 1 - Poezija “(Chrestomatie der Ukrainian religious literature, 1st vol. - Poetry ), Munich-London 1988, as well as the author of numerous introductions, such as to Mychajlo Orest :“ Pizni vruna ”(Late Buds); “Ukrajins'ka Musa”, Buenos Aires 1973; Jurij Klen : "Tvory" (works), New York 1992; "Italija v ukrajins'kij poeziji" (Italy in Ukrainian poetry), Lviv 1999.

Awards

• 1982 - Prize of the Ivan Franko Fund, Chicago, for the translation of Francesco Petrarch.
• 1994 - Maksym Ryl's'kyj Prize, awarded for his work as a translator.
• 2002 - Prize of the Sučasnist 'magazine (The Present) and the League of Ukrainian Patrons for his treatise "Gotyčna literatura ta jiji žanry" (Gothic literature and its genres).
• 2003 - Volodymyr Vernads'kyj Prize for his significant contribution to the intellectual development of Ukraine.
• 2006 - Volodymyr Svidzins'kyj Literature Prize for his work as a poet and translator.
• 2006 - Taras Shevchenko Prize for his book “Promenysti syl'vety” (Radiant Silhouettes), Munich 2002 - Kiev 2008.
• 1998 - Order of Merit III. Degree.

swell

• Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Paris - New York 1959 (vol. II / 3, p. 989) and 1995 (vol. II / 11, p. 309).
• Ukrajins'ka literaturna encyklopedija, Kyjiv 1990, t. 2, st. 436 (Ukrainian Literature Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 436).
• UNIVERSITAS LIBERA UCRAINENSIS, Munich 2006, p. 127; 2011, p. 277.
• Diccionario de escritores argentinos del siglo XX (Lexicon of Argentine writers of the 20th century), Buenos Aires 2000, p. 70.
• Segunda Antología de Poetas, Escritores y Ensayistas del Tercer Milenio (Second Anthology of Poets, Writers and Essayists of the Third Millennium), Buenos Aires 1999, pp. 75-78.
• Volodymyr Bazylevs'kyj: Šljach do kastals'kych džerel (The way to the Castallian springs), LITERATURNA UKRAJINA, 3 Sept. 1998.
• Olena Brosalina: Chudožnjo-estetyčni zasady neoklasycyzmu i tvorčist 'Mychajla Oresta ta Ihorja Kačurovs'koho (Artistic-aesthetic principles of neoclassicism and the work of Mychajlo Orest and Igor Kaczurowskyj), Kiev 2003 [dissertation].
• Olena Brosalina: Estetyčnyj kodeks Ihorja Kačurows'koho (Igor Kaczurowskyj's Aesthetic Codex), SUČASNIST ' No. 9, 2004.
• Halyna Hordasevyč: Sjomyj z lebedynoho hrona (The seventh from the swan grape), VITČYZNA No. 9-10, 1995.
• Volodymyr Deržavyn: Ihor Kačurovs'kyj: majster noveli (IK: a master of short stories), UKRAJINA I SVIT, Hanover, issue 17, 1957.
• Ivan Dzjuba: Zaprosyny v poetyku Serednjoviččja (invitation to poetics of the Middle Ages). In: “Generyka i architektonika, kn.1, Literatura evropejs'koho Serednjovičča” (Structure and genre, Vol. 1 - The literature of the European Middle Ages), Kiev 2005.
• Caroline Egerton: Travels of Terrifying Futility: Because Deserters Are Immortal, by Igor Kaczurowsky, translated by Yuri Tkach (Bayda Books). In: THE AGE, Melbourne, Sept. 1, 1979.
• Volodymyr Zyla: Nezvyčajnyj pereklad. “Stežka kriz 'bezmir. Sto nimec'kych poezij, 750-1950. A path through the immeasurable. Hundred German Poems, 750–1950 ”. Paris – Lviv – Zwickau 2000.
• Vadym Skurativs'kyj: Ihor Kačurovs'kyj - istoryk kul'tury (IK, a cultural historian). In: SUČASNIST No. 9, 2004.
• Petro Soroka: Psycholohyčna proza ​​Ihorja Kačurovs'koho (IKs' psychological prose), Ternopil 1998.
• Maksym Stricha: Svitovyj sonet u perekladach Ihorja Kačurows'koho (The world sonnet in IK's translations), PRAPOR No. 9, 1990.
• Leonid Čerevatenko: Ihor Kačurovskyj jak perekladač (IK as translator), SUČASNIST ' No. 9, 2004.
• ŠEVČENKIVSKI LAUREATY 1962–2007. ENCYKLOPEDYČNYJ DOVIDNYK, Kiev 2007.

Remarks

1. ^ Diccionario de escritores argentinos del siglo XX (Lexicon of Argentine Writers of the 20th Century), Buenos Aires 2000, p. 70.