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iammyowngodandmartyr's review
4.0
It has footnotes, not endnotes! Thank god. This has the most detailed biography of Ukrainka that I've yet read with an impressive amount of secondary sources that includes close family and friends, the most comprehensive summary and analysis of her works, and a substantial overview of relevant Ukrainian history and literature. If I knew Ukrainian I might have gotten more out of the analyses, but it was still very accessible.
Regarding the actual works, I thought the translations were good although a little unnatural sometimes. Seven Strings' translation seemed especially thoughtful and impressive, maintaining the individual form and theme of each poem and incorporating the title of each poem into the first line (e.g. 1 DOH - DOlorous mother...). Ukrainka's dramatic poems are magnificent, with their elegantly constructed dialogue and varied settings but constant themes of a relentless struggle for justice and heroic self sacrifice (e.g. Jewish people under Egyptian rule, Greeks under Roman, Scottish under English). I found Cassandra, with its whole word vs deed thing and yoke of fate thing and problem of truth thing, to be particularly powerful. I felt like it slapped me right in the face, which is my favorite reaction to poetry. Also the drunk guards singing terribly and yelling "where's the antistrophe!"? Some good shit.
Overall, possibly my favorite analysis and selection of works by Ukrainka!
Regarding the actual works, I thought the translations were good although a little unnatural sometimes. Seven Strings' translation seemed especially thoughtful and impressive, maintaining the individual form and theme of each poem and incorporating the title of each poem into the first line (e.g. 1 DOH - DOlorous mother...). Ukrainka's dramatic poems are magnificent, with their elegantly constructed dialogue and varied settings but constant themes of a relentless struggle for justice and heroic self sacrifice (e.g. Jewish people under Egyptian rule, Greeks under Roman, Scottish under English). I found Cassandra, with its whole word vs deed thing and yoke of fate thing and problem of truth thing, to be particularly powerful. I felt like it slapped me right in the face, which is my favorite reaction to poetry. Also the drunk guards singing terribly and yelling "where's the antistrophe!"? Some good shit.
Overall, possibly my favorite analysis and selection of works by Ukrainka!
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