Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

SLA429, Taras Shevchenko, Spring 2024

Class meets Thursdays from 1:00 – 3:00 PM in TF 101.

Schedule of Assignments. 2024 Spring Term

• Further details will be available in class.
• Some notes on versification (poetic meter) are available by clicking here.
• Rules for transliterating Ukrainian.
• Every week each student must prepare a brief report, an introduction to a particulalr work or to a portion of a work, to be presented orally in class.
• Each student must write a paper, to be turned no later than April 15, 2024. For more details about papers, click here.
• Assignments are designed on a weekly basis. Please be ready to discuss all the works scheduled for a particular week.

Students must have access to a good edition of Shevchenko's works. While there are very many editions of Shevchenko's works, and most of them are reasonably good, the best editions are these:

• Тарас Шевченко: Повне зібрання творів у шести томах. Київ: Академія наук, 1963–64. (The Academic edition)
• Тарас Шевченко: Повне зібрання творів у дванадцяти томах Київ: Наукова думка, 1989- . (New Academic edition, unfinished—abandoned and re-started)
• Тарас Шевченко: Повне зібрання творів у дванадцяти томах Київ: Наукова думка, 2003- . (New Academic edition, this is the re-started version.) Зібрання творів у шести томах (видання, автентичне 1–6 томам «Повного зібрання творів у дванадцяти томах») Томи 1–6, Київ: Наукова думка, 2003–2005.
• Тарас Шевченко: Повне зібрання творів Chicago: M. Denysiuk,1959-63. (The Denysiuk edition)
• Тарас Шевченко. Кобзар, з поясненнями і примітками Василя Сімовича. Winnipeg: Tyktor, 1960. (The Simovych Kobzar)
  Visual art:
• Тарас Шевченко. Повне зібрання творів в десяти томах. — Київ: Видавництво Академії Наук УРСР, 1961-1964. Т. 7-10: Живопис, графіка.



English language editions.

There are two complete editions of Shevchenko's poetry in English. Neither really captures the genius of his poetry, but both are useful in helping students understand his texts. The Andrusyshen/Kirkconnell translations are flowery, old-fashioned, and attempt to recreate the sounds and rhythms of Shevchenko's verse. The Fedynsky translation uses modern language and a more prosaic style.

• The Poetical Works of Taras Shevchenko: The Kobzar, trans. C.H. Andrusyshen and Watson Kirkconnell. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977. Robarts
• The Complete Kobzar: The Poetry of Taras Shevchenko, trans Peter Fedynsky, Hatton Garden, UK: Glagoslv, 2013. Purchase: Glagoslav (ebook available) Amazon

There are also a number of editions with a selection of Shevchenko's poetry in English translation. These are also helpful but, of course, do not have all the works.

• Song Out of Darkness : Selected Poems, trans. Vera Rich, London: Mitre Press, 1961. Robarts
• Selections, trans. John Weir, Toronto: The Ukrainian Canadian, 1961. Robarts
• The Essential Poetry of Taras Shevchenko, trans. Michael M. Naydan, Lviv: Piramida, 2014. Robarts
• Selected Poems, trans. Clarence A. Manning, Jersey City, N.J.: Ukrainian National Association, 1945. Robarts
• Selected works, poetry and Prose, trans. John Weir, et al., Moscow : Progress Publishers, 1979. Robarts

In this course, we shall read Shevchenko's works in Ukrainian. That means we will read translations of his diary and his prose works, which he wrote in Russian. The Denysiuk edition has Ukrainian translations of Shevchenko's Russian works. Ukrainian translations of these works are also available in separate publications. These texts are available on the internet as part of the Electronic Library of Ukrainian Literature. Please check the Shevchenko Prose website for specific texts.

While Shevchenko is not a particularly difficult poet, modern readers do not always understand his allusions, references, and expressions. It is useful to read Shevchenko's works with notes and explanations. The Simovych Kobzar is useful for this specific reason. Some other works that are helpful in this regard are:

• Івакін, Юрій. Коментар до "Кобзаря" Шевченка. 2 томи. Том 1. Поезії до заслання. Київ: Наукова думка, 1964; Том 2. Поезії 1847–1861. Київ: Наукова думка, 1968.
• Andrew Gregorovich. Selected Bibliography of Shevchenkiana in English.
• Олександер Білецький. "Російська проза Т. Г. Шевченка". Зібрання праць у п'яти томах. Том 2. Київ: Наукова думка, 1965. стор. 219–243.
• Vladimir Gitin. "The Reality of the Narrator: Typological Features of Sevcenko's Prose," Harvard Ukrainian Studies, volume IX, Number 1/2, June, 1985, pp. 85–117 (pp. 87–119 in the pdf file, which contains the entire issue of the journal).
• Roman T. Koropeckyj, "Shevchenko's 'Davydovi Psalmy': A Romantic Psalter." Slavic & East European Journal, vol. 27 no. 2; 1983, p. 228-44. This essay is available in the electronic version of the journal in JSTOR
• Шевченківський словник у двох томах. Ред. Євген Кирилюк. Київ: Інститут літератури АН УРСР і УРЕ, 1976.
• Словник мови Шевченка в двох томах. Ред. В. Ващенко. Київ: Наукова думка, 1964.
• Російський (оригінальний) текст Журналу (щоденника) із коментарями і поясненнями (також по-російському) проф. Большакова. Файл у форматі PDF. Шевченко, Тарас Григорович Дневник Тараса Шевченко с комментариями Л. Н. Большакова. [Оренбург]: Оренбург. губерния ,[2001].-311 с.
• В. Анісов, Є. Середа. Літопис життя і творчості Т. Г. Шевченка. Вид. 2-е, доповн. Київ: Дніпро, 1976.
• Оренбурзька шевченківська енциклопедія (по-російському). Довідник біографічних даних про Шевченкове заслання.
• Л. В. Владич. Автопортрети Тараса Шевченка
• Святослав Гординський. <І>Тарас Шевченко образотворчий мистець
• Олександер Новицький. Тарас Шевченко як маляр. Збірник Історично-філософічної секції Наукового Товариства імени Шевченка у Львові, т. XVI. Львів-Москва: НТШ, 1914. стор. 1-35. (Текст статті, без каталогу художніх творів Шевченка і без ілюстрацій).
• Shevchenko and the Critics, 1861–1980, ed. George S. N. Luckyj. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1980. PG 3948 S51S4846
  Contents
  1. Introduction BOHDAN RUBCHAK 3
  2. Graveside Oration PANTELEIMON KULISH 55
  3. Why Shevchenko is a Poet of Our People PANTELEIMON KULISH 57
  4. Excerpts from Shevchenko, the Ukrainophiles, and Socialism MYKHAILO DRAHOMANOV 65
  5. Shevchenko and Ukrainian History VOLODYMYR ANTONOVYCH 91
  6. Foreword to Shevchenko's 'Perebendia' IVAN FRANKO 96
  7. What were Shevchenko's National Ideals? BORYS HRINCHENKO 115
  8. Shevchenko as a Poet MYKOLA IEVSHAN 128
  9. Shevchenko's'Abandonment' KORNEICHUKOVSKY 135
  10. Muzhik Philosophy ANDRII RICHYTSKY 145
  11. Shevchenko and Romanticism PAVLO FYLYPOVYCH 168
  12. Kulish and Shevchenko MYKHAILO MOHYLIANSKY 190
  13. Shevchenko in his Correspondence SERHII IEFREMOV 212
  14. The Genesis of Shevchenko's Poem 'At Catherine's' MYKHAILO DRAI-KHMARA 223
  15. 'O, Why Have You Darkened?' STEPAN SMAL-STOTSKY 240
  16. Shevchenko and Religion DMYTRO CHYZHEVSKY 250
  17. Some Problems in the Study of the Formal Aspect of Shevchenko's Poetry DMYTRO CHYZHEVSKY 266
  18. Shevchenko and Russian Revolutionary-Democratic Thought MYKOLA HUDZII 284
  19. Shevchenko's Ballad 'At Catherine's' MAKSYM RYLSKY 293
  20. Shevchenko and Belinsky VICTOR SWOBODA 303
  21. The Year i860 in Shevchenko's Work GEORGE Y. SHEVELOV 324
  22. Shevchenko in the Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius VOLODYMYR MIIAKOVSKY 355
  23. The Archetype of the Bastard in Shevchenko's Poetry GEORGE S.N. LUCKYJ 386
  24. Shevchenko's Profiles and Masks: Ironic Roles of the Self in Kobzar BOHDAN RUBCHAK 395
  25. An Examination of Shevchenko's Romanticism LISA EFIMOV SCHNEIDER 430
  26. 'The Bewitched Woman' and Some Problems of Shevchenko's Philosophy LEONID PLIUSHCH 454
  27. A Consideration of the Deep Structures in Shevchenko's Works GEORGE G. GRABOWICZ 481


• Prof. Tarnawsky's lecture, in Ukrainian, on the Tryptych of Shevchenko's poems Доля, Муза, Слава. Кілька віршів Тараса Шевченка. Мarch 25, 2011. Audio only.
• Prof. Tarnawsky's keynote address in English at the United Nations observance of International Mother Language Day, "Taras Shevchenko, Champion of his Mother Tongue," Мarch 27, 2014. Keynote address begins at 1.09.50 in the video recording.
• Prof. Tarnawsky's lecture, in Ukrainian, on the first edition Kobzar, Звідки Взявся Шевченковий "Кобзар"? March 29, 2019.
• Prof. Tarnawsky's zoom webinar lecture in English on "Women in the Works of Taras Shevchenko."

Some other useful Shevchenko websites:
• Тарас Шевченко на сторінці Ізборник.
• Інтернет-ресурс "Кобзар".
• «Шевченківська енциклопедія». На сайті Чтиво, на сайті Інституту Літератури.