The Complete Works of Vasyl Stus will be published with MHP support
On October 29, the project to publish Complete Works of Vasyl Stus was presented in the Taras Shevchenko Museum, Kyiv.
The preparation and publication of the Complete Works was launched by the Stus.Center in cooperation with the V. Morenets Department of Literature, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, MHP–Gromadi Charitable Foundation, and the Smoloskyp Publishing House.
Dmytro Stus, Director of the Stus.Center and the Shevchenko Museum claimed that the future Complete Works of Vasyl Stus will consist of approximately 14–15 volumes. It will contain all the available works of Vasyl Stus, including text versions, unfinished and earlier documents that have been recently verified with the original manuscripts. This unique activity will take several years. He also emphasized the need for a comprehensive study of Vasyl Stus’ legacy and presented the practical steps within the related initiative of the Stus.Center: the stus.center website features diverse data – texts, biographical and bibliographic materials, and rare photos.
The Charitable Foundation needs to join the project, which will comprehensively present to Ukrainian readers the poet, who became the icon of opposition to the dictatorship due to his works and public stance. This year, the Foundation’s team, in cooperation with “Local History”, prepared and published a special issue of the magazine entirely dedicated to Vasyl Stus. The year before, the Foundation supported the local Stus Museum in Rakhnivka, Vinnytsia region. Thus, joining the publication of the Complete Works was logical when continuing the activities of MHP–Gromadi CF and its strategic partner, MHP International Company, in one of the key areas aimed at the promotion of Ukrainian identity. Within this framework, the Foundation supports both the creation of important documentaries telling foreign audiences the truth about the war in Ukraine and the publication of books, the restoration of local museums, libraries, etc.
Vasyl Stus is the most powerful Ukrainian poet of the second half of the 20th century who is undoubtedly one of the major canonical representatives of Ukrainian literature. He not only created unparalleled works but also influenced the identity, mentality, and imagination of thousands of Ukrainians. The Complete Works of Vasyl Stus project is a landmark both for Ukrainian literary studies and society. This is not the first such project undertaken by the publishing house: Smoloskyp has already published the Complete Works of Vyacheslav Chornovol in 10 volumes and of Mykola Khvylovy in 5 volumes, and also prepared and published the Complete Works of Lesya Ukrainka in 14 volumes (in cooperation with the Volyn National University and Komora Publishing House). The Complete Works of Vasyl Stus will certainly be of considerable interest to Ukrainian readers and researchers
Marharyta Yehorchenko and Halyna Pochveruk, editors of the first volume of the Complete Works of Vasyl Stus, spoke at the project presentation. Marharyta Yehorchenko talked about the structure of the first volume: it would include earlier pieces of poetry from the notebooks dated the late 1950s – early 1960s, as well as texts from the underground press collections “Dielo” and “Krugovert”. Commenting on the elaborate and metaphorical poetry of Vasyl Stus is yet another challenge for compilers, however, their previous experience in studying Stus’ legacy will allow them to cope with this task. The foreword to the first volume will be written by Dmytro Stus. Halyna Pochveruk emphasized the need for thorough archival work with versions of poetry by Vasyl Stus. Thus, the change of accents in the meanings implied by the poet can be traced by immersing in his creative and mental processes. The first five or six volumes of the publication will contain texts of all available Vasyl Stus’s poetry. His unfinished texts will be included in a separate volume.
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In the end, Rostyslav Semkiv noted that the editorial board of the publication was also comprised of Prof. Roman Veretelnyk, the head of the Department of Literature, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Oksana Dvorko, a researcher of Vasyl Stus’ legacy, one of the editors of the first multi-volume publication, and Yevhen Stasinevych, a well-known critic and literary scholar. Later, the editorial board will involve a wider circle of experts to work on the publication – as authors of forewords, commentaries, and studies of Vasyl Stus’ legacy.