The Ukrainian Journal Vsesvit as Cultural Mediator during the Late Soviet Era

• In Event: Dynamics of Russification and Cultural Amnesia in Soviet Ukraine

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the role played by the Ukrainian literary journal Vsesvit during the late Soviet era. Founded in 1925, forbidden in 1934 and relaunched in 1958, the journal was dedicated to foreign literature and art, publishing translations into Ukrainian of classical works of world literature as well as contemporary foreign writers. Still being published today, the journal has also traditionally reflected current trends in culture and politics around the world, as promised by its name which means ‘whole world’ or ‘universe’. Exploring the role of the journal as cultural mediator during the period of “late socialism,” the paper contrasts it with its Russian counterpart Inostrannaia literatura, an institution that also survived into post-Soviet times. The functions fulfilled by Vsesvit differed in significant ways from the ones fulfilled by the Russian journal. The Ukrainian journal, it is argued, played an important role in countering Russification policies of the time.

Author

• Susanna Witt, Stockholm U (Sweden)