Anthology of Ukrainian Poetry “Strings” by Bohdan Lepky as a Text in Contextual Reading

Abstract

The anthology of Ukrainian poetry «Strings», compiled by Bohdan Lepky, not only became an important literary phenomenon, a text for reading, but also reflected the aesthetic and cultural aspirations of the era. The relevance of the study is determined by the attention of modern literary studies to the formation of the canon of Ukrainian literature. The anthology as a text is a representative of the "golden fund" of national red literature. It is also timely to identify and analyze the contexts of the creation of this meta-genre.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the biographical, historical, literary/literary criticism contexts of the anthology of Ukrainian poetry «Strings» as a meta-genre formation and to reveal the reflection of Bohdan Lepky's literary and cultural priorities.

The author of the article represents the anthology as a text that is a means of creating a thematic and genre canon of literature, a document that testifies to the reception and self-understanding of the compiler's literature. B. Lepky's anthology is considered in historical, literary/literary criticism and biographical contexts. The historical context is the consequences of the First World War, which forced many peaceful Ukrainians to emigrate, and those who fought on the fronts as Russian subjects to acquire the status of prisoners of war. Many of them sought to preserve their national identity, they needed educational books, artistic texts, because they wanted to study, learn their native language, and read their literature. Therefore, the publication of such a book was timely.

The biographical context is revealed through the study of B. Lepky's place of residence and sphere of activity: 20 years of the 20^th century, Rastatt, Vetzlar and Berlin. He taught Ukrainian literature in camps for prisoners of war, at teaching courses at the Embassy of the Ukrainian People's Republic and worked in the editorial office of "Ukrainian Word" as a publisher, compiler and commentator of the works of Ukrainian writers. The literary/literary criticism context is the environment in which the book was published: monographs, articles by predecessors, collections of folk songs, existing editions of authors, anthologies.

Reading Bohdan Lepky's anthology through historical, biographical, literary/literary criticism contexts allows us to conclude that this book represents the thematic and genre canon of Ukrainian literature in the author's reception and interpretation.