La Republica on Ukraine

[Kirill Sereda]

Now that the season is upon us, we, the grown-ups, need a beautiful fairy-tale, so bravo Reppubblica, molte grazie for bringing us a story in the Christian-Democratic Socialist realist spirit! Amen.

KS

-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of Lilya Kaganovsky
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 10:41 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] La Republica on Ukraine

In the same vein, I was also struck by the 'socialist realist' quality
of the language ("the story of a boy, who risked his life for the
revolution," sounds all too familiar). Typically, he has to almost die
in the snow in order to become recognized as a hero, and of course, he
must declare his willingness to return to work, just as soon as he is
able.

-Lilya Kaganovsky


On Nov 30, 2004, at 12:34 PM, Elena Gapova wrote:

> My point was about smth. else (which I did not make clear): not about
> the
> child, supposedly consciously, rising for a "cause", but about the
> adult use
> (and abuse) of the "child selfsacrifice" motif.
>
> The difference with Gavroche - who was more or less believable (as was
> Ivan
> in Tarkovsky's "Ivanovo detstvo") - is in the amount of "lies"
> (putting it
> politely)that make one uncomfortable even reading the piece. "Bogdan"
> bringing food and clothing to the supporters of Yanykovich, dying of
> cold
> and hunger, or running on errands from one end of Kiev to another...
> which
> is a city of three mln. with developed (and functioning) public
> transportation etc. But it is, probably, the "heroic modality" in this
> urban
> legend, which is the most cheap and unbearable.
>
> So speaking about precursors: "children's crusades" come to (my) mind.
> The
> same strife for glorious myth by the (organizing) adults, who later
> sold
> many of the children into slavery.
>
> e.g.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
> [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Alina Israeli
> Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 12:59 PM
> To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] La Republica on Ukraine
>
>
> Elena Gapova wrote:
>
>> I was suspicious of the Pavlik Morozov story even as an oktyabrenok.
>> But
>> the genre seems undying. Here's a little gem.
>> http://www.inopressa.ru/repubblica/2004/11/26/17:23:00/ukraina
>
> Since I could not read this particular cyrrilic translit, I am
> grateful for
> the URL.
>
> The precursor to that little story is not Pavlik Morozov, but Gavroche
> of
> Les Miserables (not a musicle but a novel by Victor Hugo). Maybe even
> Gavroche had his precursors but I cannot remember off-hand (maybe
> someone
> else remembers if this motif is elsewhere prior to the French
> revolution).
> Gavroche was helping the insurgents, was a model of kindness and
> honesty
> and was shot at the end.
>
> Pavlik Morozov should have been a model for studying ethical dilemmas:
> What
> is one to do when suspecting a member of your family of a crime. This
> is
> the stuff tragedies were made of, when both outcomes are bad ( $B'Z (B  $B'd'Q'\ (B
>  $B'a']'`'g'` (B,
>  $B'Z (B  $B'd'Q'\ (B  $B'a']'`'g'` (B). Pavlik Morozov would not be the only case in history.
> Quite
> recently the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski was turned in by his family.
>
> Also don't forget that Pavlik Morozov was murdered by his own family,
> which
> makes him a perfect martyr in the tradition of Boris and Gleb.
>
> __________________________
>  Alina Israeli
>  LFS, American University
>  4400 Mass. Ave., NW
>  Washington, DC 20016
>
>  phone:    (202) 885-2387
>  fax:      (202) 885-1076
>
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*         *         *         *         *         *         *         *

Lilya Kaganovsky, Assistant Professor
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Program in Comparative Literature & World Literature
Department of Slavic Languages and Literature
Unit for Cinema Studies

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