Taras Ševčenko in the Prose and Poetry of Vasyl’ Stus

Abstract

The presence of Ševčenko in the poetry of Vasyl’ Stus and Stus’s widespread stereotypical image as a reincarnation of Ševčenko in the 20th century have occupied an important role in both literary studies and popularization. In my article I reconsider this fundamental issue by discussing Stus’s reception of Ševčenko in his critical essays, his letters, and his poetry. My focus is on both Ševčenko’s presence as a ‘fictional character’ in some poems by Stus and the overall influence of Ševčenko’s poetry on Stus’s poetic writing. Moreover, Stus’s representation of Ševčenko is compared with other images of the 19th-century poet in modern Ukrainian poetry from the Avant-garde up to the Seventies. In the conclusion I point out how Ševčenko’s Romanticism should not be confused with Stus’s Modernism. The former should be seen as a part of the complex intertextual mechanism which lies at the heart of Stus’s poetry.