Desacralizing the Primary Chronicle: Karel Havlíček Borovský’s Burlesque Rereading of Imperial Legend in Křest Svatého Vladimíra

• In Event: The Periphery Rebels: Liberation, Subjugation, and (De)Sacralization in Literature and Language

Abstract

This paper offers a timely interpretation of one of the most outstanding narrative poems from 19th century Czech literature, Křest Svatého Vladimíra by Karel Havlíček Borovský (1821-1856). Though little known outside of the Czech Republic, Havlíček is a revered figure in Czech literature and politics, serving as a role model for the first president of Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Masaryk, and is widely considered to be the father of Czech journalism.

Křest Svatého Vladimíra represents the poet and journalist at the height of his satirical and parodic power as he, in my interpretation, invokes Ukrainian folklore in his desacralization of Karamzinian history that laid the groundwork for Russia’s claim to Kyivan Rus’, which Vladimir Putin continues to reference in his denial of Ukrainian sovereignty. An ardent advocate of Ukrainian self-determination, Havlíček channels into this poema his bilious sense of humor, passion for justice, and erudite study of folklore in order to wrest Ukrainian history and culture from the grip of empire. He accomplishes this by filtering the events of the Christianization of Kyivan Rus’ as told in the Primary Chronicle through the burlesque tradition from which modern Ukrainian literature was born, deconstructing a sacred imperial narrative through Ukrainian folk verse forms.

My reading of this work combines elements of history, folklore, and comparative Slavic literature, illuminating the ways in which a remarkable Czech writer deploys Ukrainian folklore in his desacralization of a Russian imperial myth, making verse into a weapon that endeavors to intervene in Ukraine’s historical struggle for self-determination.

Author

• Joshua Velasquez, Princeton U