The poetess Lina Kostenko won the title of “conscience of the Ukrainian nation” thanks to her principled position, sense of social justice and courage to stand up for the truth even in the darkest times.
On March 19, the legendary Ukrainian writer of the sixties, poetess, public figure, Shevchenko Prize laureate Lina Kostenko celebrates her 93rd birthday. One of the first outstanding Ukrainians was congratulated by the head of state Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Today is the birthday of the legend of Ukrainian poetry Lina Kostenko. Sometimes bitter but well-aimed words of the poetess describe the pain and at the same time the strength of Ukrainians. Thank you for your contribution to Ukrainian culture and for the indestructible nobility!” – says the publication, supplemented by the works of famous Ukrainian photographers, capturing the strength of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and ordinary citizens in the struggle for freedom.
The path to glory and the years of oblivion
Lina Vasilievna Kostenko was born in the city of Rzhishchev, Kyiv region. Her parents were teachers. When the girl was six years old, her parents took her daughter to Kyiv, where she grew up and formed her views on life. The childhood and teenage years of the future legend fell on the Second World War, and although she rarely talks about her experiences, her poetry mentioned “childhood killed in the war”, “mined field and the like. The Dnepr literary studio, which was led by the famous poet Andrei Malyshko, Lina began to visit as a schoolgirl, and her first poems were published in 1946.
In 1936, Lina’s father was sentenced to 10 years in concentration camps, and the stigma of the daughter of an “enemy of the people” stuck to her. However, this did not break either the man or his brave daughter. She grew up honest, fair, did not tolerate groveling and never lost her human dignity for the sake of awards and titles.
She entered the Kiev Pedagogical Institute, but then left it and left for Moscow, where she graduated from the Moscow Literary Institute. M. Gorky. A year later, after receiving her diploma, in 1957, the young poetess published the first collection of poems called “Rays of the Earth”. The second book of “Sails” was published in 1958, and the collection “Journeys of the Heart” was published in 1961.
Kostenko’s poetry was very bold, which the authorities could not like. Moreover, she openly opposed the arrests of the Ukrainian intelligentsia and was among those who signed the corresponding letters. In 1962, she was not allowed to publish the book “Star Integral”, and then she was completely banned from writing. Her works were not published in separate editions until 1977, but she returned to poetry triumphantly, publishing the collection Over the Banks of the Eternal River. Two years later, the novel in verse “Marusya Churai” was published, and in 1980 – the collection “Uniqueness”, for which she received the Shevchenko Prize. “Marusya Churai” was written by Kostenko “on the table” at a time when her name was preferred to be erased from art.
Photo: Lina Kostenko/Facebook
Peru poetess also owns a collection of poems “The Garden of Unmelting Sculptures” (1987) and a collection of poems for children “Elder King” (1987). Together with Arkady Dobrovolsky, she wrote the screenplay for the film Check Your Watch (1963).
Lina Vasilievna is also a laureate of the Francesco Petrarca Prize, the International Literary and Art Prize named after. Olena Teliha, was awarded the medal of St. Vladimir and the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise V degree, Honorary Distinction of the President of Ukraine. By the way, when in 2000 she was awarded the Order of Yaroslav the Wise, and then Leonid Kuchma was president, Lina Kostenko did not come to the award ceremony, throwing the catchphrase “I don’t wear political jewelry.”
Since 1991, Lina Vasilievna has taken part in scientific expeditions to the Chernobyl zone. According to her, there she saved her soul. It is not surprising that the State Agency of Ukraine for the management of the exclusion zone also congratulated her on the new year of life.
“Today, the famous poetess, writer, patriot of Ukraine Lina Kostenko turns 93. For many years she traveled to the exclusion zone as part of search expeditions in order to save the artifacts of the Chernobyl region. Some of the saved exhibits can be seen in Chernobyl, in the permanent exhibition “Memory of the Father edge”. The poet dedicated many works in the exclusion zone. We sincerely congratulate Lina Vasilievna and thank you for saving the ancient monuments, for your attention to Chernobyl. We wish you good health, as many positive events and inspiration as possible!” – the publication says.
Lina Kostenko near Chernobyl
Photo: State Agency of Ukraine for the management of the exclusion zone
The poetess communicates with the inhabitants of the exclusion zone
Photo: State Agency of Ukraine for the management of the exclusion zone
For a long time, the poetess did not appear in public space, but in 2022, when Russia attacked Ukraine, she reminded herself of herself, being awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor of France. In her first interview in 12 years, Kostenko admitted that she did not stop writing, even when there were bloody battles near Kiev.
Lina Kostenko is the author of more than 15 collections of poetry, as well as the novel Notes of a Ukrainian Madman. The poetess worked on it for almost 10 years. The novel describes the period of the presidency of Leonid Kuchma and the Orange Revolution.
For deeply philosophical, topical and sharp poems, she is called the “iron lady”, “the conscience and moral authority of the nation.”
Lina Kostenko foresaw Russia’s war against Ukraine
“The Ukrainian nation is very different: there are Ukrainians in the Ukrainian nation, and there are also Little Russians. We need the war to end with the victory of Ukraine, then we will deal with everything. And everyone will be cured of all diseases. Because people are now wiser. Russia is the same empire, old and ancient. This is not a free people, a people of inertia. Do not ask me about it, I know very well what Russians are, I don’t want to say anything bad about Russians, and I have never experienced any bad feeling towards any people “and now I can’t stand Russians. All 30 years of independence I knew that the Russians would attack us. I knew it. And even in this book about the “Ukrainian madman” – they thought he was crazy, and he was the only one there who was normal “He knew that one day Ukraine would wake up in another country. That’s how we woke up, during the war. Well, nothing, nothing. I told you what the French said about Ukrainians: victory or death!” – she said in an interview with the Kyiv TV channel.
On March 5, 2022, Lina Vasilyevna posted words on Facebook addressed to the Russian authorities.
“You have to have a satanic intention,
He harbors an incurable rabies,
It’s hard to mock us like that
And to blame us for everything.”
Photo: Lina Kostenko/Facebook
Other quotes from Lina Kostenko about Russia, Ukraine and the Russian-Ukrainian war:
“Every nation has its own diseases, and only in Russia they are incurable.”
***
“A piece of land, you will become Ukraine.
You were with us. You will be after us.
My ancient, my dew-washed,
cosmic, eternal, starry, periwinkle…
When your name was even Little Russia,
your poetess was Ukrainian!
Because only the nations revealed in the Word
can live decently on earth.”
***
“And something in me tells me that
turn white in anger to the hundredth knee!
And something in me hurts so much
that this is, for sure, Ukraine.”
***
“We are warriors. Not lazy. Not lying.
And our work is righteous and holy.
Because who is for what, and we are for independence.
So it’s hard for us because of that.”
***
“I will never leave you this debt.
You’re already in debt as hell.
give me the rain
Give me silence.
Give me the forest and the river in the meadows.
Give me the garden and the evening star.
And in the field of the sower, and the grateful generosity of the fields.
Give me everything. give me my tongue
with which my people blessed me.”
Earlier Focus wrote that Kostenko is one of the five most recognizable Ukrainian literary figures.
