Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies
“Virtual Bibliography” Project
UKRAINIAN CANADIAN LITERATURE:
Introduction
Beginning
with the first years of Ukrainian settlement in Canada the printed word has
always played a multifunctional role.
As a vehicle of common expression it has, for instance, provided the
community with a vehicle for lively debate and heated discussion. But, in addition, the printed word always
held the promise of an aesthetic encounter with creative imagination in the
form of poetry and prose. While
specific aspects of this encounter have been documented elsewhere (see, for
example, entry numbers 34 and 39 in the present bibliography), the present work
aims to present an overview of Ukrainian literary activity in Canada from a
perspective that seeks to capture the leading trends, the main fields of
interest, and the dominant areas of accomplishment over a period of more than a
century. With this focus on synthesis,
it is, so to speak, the forest and not the individual tree (i.e. the writer)
that surfaces in this bibliography (university theses and dissertations
constitute the main exception to this criterion).
The bibliography is
composed of 149 entries sorted according to three categories: “Histories,
surveys, bibliographies” (entry numbers 1-60), “Collections, anthologies,
readers” (entry numbers 61-77), and “Studies, analyses, other” (entry numbers
78-149). In the course of choosing entries for this bibliography, it became
evident that certain genres or areas of literary activity would be excluded due
either to a dearth of works that met our requirements for inclusion (noted
above), or because these areas were already well documented elsewhere. For the most part, then, the following
branches of imaginative writing are missing or underrepresented in this
bibliography: drama and works for the stage, children’s / juvenile literature,
memoirs and biographical literature, devotional literature, and travel
literature. Similarly, practical “how-to” literature, in spite of its
importance in the early decades of Ukrainian settlement in Canada, is totally
ignored. Furthermore, works that focus on Ukrainian Canadian verbal art or
folklore (“oral literature”) are not cited unless they touch upon the written
tradition.
In spite of these
limitations, certain trends are clearly evident. The most crucial of all is the eclipse of Ukrainian as the only
language for artistic expression:
currently, the use of English (and, to a limited extent, French) is the
preferred vehicle for many writers whose works nonetheless form a significant
part of the Ukrainian Canadian literary landscape (in this connection, see, for
example, entry numbers 65 and 90 in this bibliography). In other words, the present bibliography
sees Ukrainian literary production in Canada as operating in more than one
language (for comparative insights, see, for example, entry number 92). In this same connection, a host of
marginalia has been suppressed in spite of such interesting topics as Gabrielle
Roy’s love affair with a Ukrainian freedom fighter and Pierre Berton’s book of
erotica published under a pseudonym, Lisa Kroniuk.
A second development
is an era of émigré writing (see, for example, entry numbers 29 and 132 in this
bibliography) that flowered with the arrival of political refugees after World
War II but closed with Ukraine’s independence in 1991. This in turn was followed by a boom in the
number of travel narratives describing visits to an ancestral homeland that,
for the first time in many years, was now open to outsiders (see, for example,
entry numbers 11 and 112).
Though arguably
outside the parameters of Ukrainian Canadian literature, works that investigate
the manner in which Canada’s mainstream English and French literary traditions
reflect the country’s Ukrainian presence are cited in this bibliography as
adjunct literary phenomena of particular interest (in this connection see, for
example, entry numbers 80, 89 and 109 in this bibliography).
In general, then, the
findings presented here show that from a historical point of view Ukrainian
literary activity in Canada constitutes a richly layered construct – a literary
canon with several distinguishing dimensions. Free of the kind of strictures
that fettered the development of Ukrainian literature in the ancestral homeland
under the Soviet regime, Ukrainian literary activity in Canada has evolved in
it own, unique way. Paramount in this
regard is the growing importance of the ethnic factor which, so to speak, has
“kicked in” to compensate for the eclipse of Ukrainian in favour of the English
language as the principal vehicle for literary expression and critical
discussion (in this regard, compare, for example, entry numbers 8 and 139).
For those who wish to consult any of the works cited in the bibliography, the following is a list of five Winnipeg repositories where most of them can be found:
1.
Slavic Collection
Elizabeth Dafoe Library
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3T 2N2
Telephone number: (204) 474-9681
Contact person: James Kominowski
Hours: Mon.-Thurs.
8:15am-10:00pm, Fri. 8:15am-5:00pm, Sat. 9:00am-5:00pm, Sun. 1:00 pm-9:00pm.
·
Large
collection, varied holdings, significant amount of Ukrainian Canadiana.
2.
St. Andrew’s
College Library
St. Andrew’s College
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3T 2N2
Telephone number: (204) 474-8901
Contact person: Raissa Moroz
Hours: Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri.
8:30am-4:30pm; Wed. 8:30am-8:30pm.
·
Sizable
collection, varied holdings, some Ukrainian Canadiana.
3.
Ukrainian Cultural
and Educational Centre
184 Alexander Avenue East
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Telephone number: (204) 942-0218
Contact person: Ken Romaniuk
Hours: By appointment
·
Large
collection, varied holdings, much uncatalogued material, significant amount of
Ukrainian Canadiana.
4.
Ukrainian National
Home
582 Burrows Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Telephone number: (204) 582-4528
Contact person: Fred Mykytyshyn
Hours: By appointment
·
Small
collection, some Ukrainian Canadiana including several “rare” imprints.
5.
Ivan Franko Library
and Museum
Ukrainian Labour Temple
591 Pritchard Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R2W 2K4
Telephone number: (204) 582-9269
Contact person: Not available
Hours: By appointment
·
Large
collection, mainly leftist writing from Soviet Ukraine.
Annotations accompany many of the entries in the bibliography, and several are tagged with an “N.S” ( = not seen ) to signify that these works appear to be sufficiently important to be cited, although we were unable to see or verify them. As implied earlier, this bibliography is far from exhaustive in scope or detail. An added limitation is the fact that a systematic examination of the hugely productive Ukrainian Canadian press (born a century ago in 1903) was not made, although it is more than likely that relevant insights are hidden in mountains of crumbling newsprint from bygone years – these await the toil and discovery of future researchers.
It bears
noting that the format that is followed in the bibliography is a modified APA
(American Psychological Association) style. The transliteration system used
largely adheres to the standard Library of Congress form.
We also wish
to acknowledge the assistance of Myron Momryk (National Archives of Canada,
Ottawa, Ontario) who searched out pertinent material for this project.
Dr. Alexandra Pawlowsky
and
Dr. Robert Klymasz
Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies
Winnipeg, Manitoba