“ZACHWIANY IDEAŁ”.MYCHAJŁO RUDNYĆKYJ O TADEUSZU BOYU-ŻELEŃSKIM:ZAPOMNIANE ASPEKTY UKRAIŃSKO-POLSKIEJ KOMUNIKACJI LITERACKIEJ

Abstract

Based on the little-known in contemporary Ukrainian Polonistics texts of Mykhailo Rudnytskyi that were published in Polish literary magazines during the reign of socialist-realist-authoritarian ideology, the author tries to reinterpret the Lviv period in the life and work of Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński – one of the most notable writers of the Polish interwar period. The proposed investigation emphasizes the exceptional importance of Ukrainian-Polish literary communication and individual literary contacts between Ukrainian and Polish artists who, even in the darkest times of totalitarianism, did not betray the authentic nature of literature but preserved and developed the ontological essence of inter-literary dialogue and community. In the post-Soviet space of Polish literary studies, Boy-Żeleński was often accused of collaborating with the Soviet authorities, which was caused primarily by the lack of knowledge about the Lviv period of the writer’s life in exile as well as the long-term process of liberating literary discourse from stereotypical thought paradigms. During the period of socialist realism conjuncture, Mykhailo Rudnytskyi revealed to the Poles the true story of Boy-Żeleński’s life in exile when he published conversations with him in the columns of the “Życie Literackie” and “Kamena” magazines: the analysis of these texts is the core of the author’s thoughts. The forgotten and rare fact in the history of Ukrainian-Polish literary communication when the Poles willingly published Ukrainian reflections on Polish authors is emphasized. The last dramatic period of Boy-Żeleński’s life when he became a hostage of the Red Terror never inclined the writer to accept the Stalinist regime, as evidenced by Ivan Lozynskyi’s research, Ostap Tarnavskyi’s memoirs, and Rudnytskyi’s texts written on the border between critical reportage and essay memoir. It was the Ukrainian literary reception back in the 60s of the last century that led to the rehabilitation of Boy-Żeleński in Poland. Today, the reasoning of the author of “Słówka” about the inability of literature “to protect the country from vandals when they come to destroy all the books and all the writers” is of particular importance. The literary dialogue of both Rudnytskyi and Boy-Żeleński builds a conceptual consensus of the previous and current experiences of the productivity of Ukrainian-Polish literary communication.