THE READER’S PARTICIPATION IN THE POETIC ART OF VOLODYMYR SVIDZINSKY

Abstract

In Antonina Tymchenko’s monograph on Ukrainian poet Volodymyr Svidzinsky, she uses the term distant cycle to denote instances of related lyrics separated physically within a collection or across collections, or even separated by a great span of time. The author of this article seeks to continue that work by attending to certain unusual features of three lyrics from the 1930s. The first two share a certain metrical peculiarity that suggests that the two lyrics be read together, although their themes are superficially unrelated. These two lyrics may be seen to constitute one of Tymchenko’s distant cycles when read with a lyric from several years later. This later lyric shares nothing superficially with the first two, even metrically, but like them it invites the reader into the creative process. The present study explores the possibility that in Svidzinsky’s lyrics, the reader is included in the creative process not only in some abstract manner, but also in a perfectly practical and observable way. While the study begins with observations apparently of a purely technical nature, it will be seen that these technical matters are an important part of Svidzinsky’s creative process and of his relationship to the reader. In this way, the study contributes to a broad understanding of Svidzinsky’s work: his technical interests and abilities, his inclusion of same in his conscious conception of his work (perhaps in the earliest stages), and his expectations of future readers.