Василь Голобородько: Я був естетичним дисидентом. Ховав книжки в сіні від КДБ / Сергій Жадан

“Circular Defense. The First”. Conversations with those who created the country. In the next issue of the “Circular Defense. The First” series, Serhiy Zhadan’s interlocutor is the poet Vasyl Holoborodko, an important figure in the Ukrainian literary canon. Reflecting on Vasyl Ivanovich’s choice of poetics, we reflect on Ukrainian identity. His poetry combines the traditions of modernism and the mysticism of Ukrainian folklore. Born in Luhansk Oblast, Holoborodko made his debut as a poet in 1964 in the magazine “Dnipro”. For more than 20 years, his poetry was not published, except for the book “Flying Window”, which was published in 1970 in the USA. Holoborodko is considered to be part of the “Kyiv School of Poetry”, along with Mykola Vorobyov, Viktor Kordun and Mykhailo Hryhoriv. In the late 1960s, they all studied at Kyiv University. The “Kyiv School” was not a collective literary movement, but rather a combination of individual voices. The unique poetic style of these authors differed from the traditional Soviet poetry of the time, harbored a gravitation towards European modernism, and combined elements of metaphysics and natural philosophy. Their poetry touched on themes of existential uncertainty, collective memory, and the changing nature of identity, as well as interactions with national traumas. These poets chose a verlibre, which was rather foreign to most contemporary poets at the time. Serhiy Zhadan talks with Vasyl Holoborodko about poetic writing as a quiet rebellion against Soviet norms. About what it means to consciously abandon the path of ideological conformism and instead create a new poetics that is both hermetic and precise. Created with the support of the Media Development Fund of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. The views of the authors do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Government. / Supported by the Media Development Fund of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. The views of the authors do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Government The following worked on the release: Author of the series, host: Serhiy Zhadan, junior sergeant of the 13th brigade of the Charter National Guard Unit Production: Lidia Kalashnikova, Ivanna Skyba-Yakubova Cinematography, motion design: Denis Fesenko Editing: Ivan Korolev, Kirill Zagorodniy Editor: Olena Huseynova Communications: Lidia Kalashnikova, Sofia Tsvetkova Photo from the archive of Nadiya Kiryan. Digitized by the initiative Page No. 00:00 Start 01:44 I went to the verlibre for a long time 05:07 Of my contemporaries, I was most guided by Vingranovsky 08:00 And then there was Antonych's selection 11:25 "Kyiv School" is the school of Holoborodko 33:31 In the bookstore "Syayvo" they helped me buy Sartre 34:36 Dzyuba called me an "aesthetic dissident" 36:47 I deliberately started writing things that are not published 40:25 Kochur gave me my book 41:20 I still don't know who sent my poems abroad 42:35 Language is a return to Ukraine 43:47 In 1964, the "seven-year-old" in my village was made Russian-language 45:56 And the KGBists already knew such a word “verlibre” 51:25 Our language makes us unique 54:02 Then Ukrainian poetry held on to resistance 54:48 The prospects are not rosy, but normal