Mimicry in Istoriia rusiv: Historiographic, Polemical, and Novelistic 'Garbs'

• In Event: Travesty, Transgression, and Mimicry in Ukrainian Literature

Abstract

I will focus on the peculiar nature of Istoriia rusiv, a principal text of Ukrainian cultural discourse of the 1820-30s that had a profound impact on the shaping of Ukrainian history, literature, and national identity. The text was made to appear as an 18th-century chronicle under the aegis (alibi) of its supposed author, Belarus’ Archbishop Hryhorii Konysky. I will explore Istoriia rusiv through the lens of mimicry and minor literature, focusing on the layered messages and contradictory loyalties embedded in this polemical text as well as its novelistic impetus – contributing to its profound resonance among Ukrainian readers of the Romantic era.

Author

• Taras Koznarsky, U of Toronto (Canada)