LYSHA, RAISA SAVELIIVNA (born October 2, 1941, in the village of Yelyzavetivka, Petrykivskyi district, Dnipropetrovsk oblast)
Poet, essayist, artist. Belonged to the dissident circle of poets in Dnipropetrovsk; co-founder and editorial board member of the journal “Porohy”; co-editor of the newspaper “Nasha Vira,” member of the National Writers' Union of Ukraine, laureate of the V. Stus Prize.
Her parents were peasants of Cossack descent. Her mother, Natalia Demydvina Nevhamonna (1903–1991), had a natural gift for storytelling. Her father, Saveliy (Sava) Tytovych (1901–1984), served in the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic as a youth. In 1932, he was dekulakized, along with his father and five brothers; three of them died from persecution in the 1930s. The family was thrown out of their house in the winter with two children (the younger three-year-old Stepan died of starvation in 1933). Her parents’ worldview was distinguished by a spiritual (Cossack) aristocracy that did not permit the soul to submit to unjust authority.
She studied at Yelyzavetivka Secondary School (1949–1959) and from 1959 to 1964 at the philological faculty (Russian department) of Dnipropetrovsk University. During her studies, she wrote poetry and essays in both Ukrainian and Russian. She was interested in art and participated in student discussions, particularly about “abstractionism,” for which she was almost expelled from the university for “apoliticism.” Fellini, Italian neorealism, Polish cinema, Zbigniew Cybulski, Exupéry, Van Gogh, Shakespeare, and on the other hand, the films and figure of Dovzhenko, folk dumas and songs, Petrykivka painting, the plasticity of Scythian stelae, and M. Vinhranovsky’s “Atomic Preludes” became powerful impulses of the time that prompted her to seek her own path.
From 1964-66, she worked as assigned as a teacher of Russian language and literature in the evening secondary school of the village Pishchanka, near the city of Novomoskovsk in the Dnipropetrovsk region. In 1967, she worked for a few months at the district newspaper “Dniprovska Zorya” (Yuvileine township, Dnipropetrovsk district). She resigned, unable to endure the atmosphere of stagnation and absolute falsehood.
From 1968–1970, she headed the culture section of the regional Komsomol newspaper “Prapor Yunosti.” This period was marked by the poet's intense national self-awareness, the “discovery” of Ukraine as a singular Fatherland, inseparable from her own destiny and creativity. She wrote, in particular, in defense of historical and cultural monuments, about icons haphazardly removed from the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Novomoskovsk, and about the talented and fresh performances of the Young Spectator’s Theater (in Ukrainian), created by director Hryhoriy Kononenko, which heightened the tension of Ukrainian cultural life in the city and thus alarmed the authorities. What she wrote was read and praised, but mostly unpublished. Lysha quickly became convinced that the newspaper had no real need for Ukrainian culture and that its mission was, in essence, the opposite. During the trial of the “nationalists” (Ivan SOKULSKY et al., January 1970), Lysha was not allowed to attend as a representative of the press. Consequently, she considered it shameful to represent a press that had organized the persecution of Oles Honchar for his novel “The Cathedral” and declared poets who defended their language and culture as “enemies.”
In 1970, she was dismissed from her journalistic work and demonstratively evicted from her editorial room in the dormitory.
From 1970-81, she edited technical documentation at “Ukrdiprovodgosp.” She wrote poems “for the drawer.”
In the early 1970s, she met the family of Oleksandr and Olena Kuzmenko, former political prisoners and participants in the OUN-UPA struggle, whose home became a unique center of Ukrainianness in Dnipropetrovsk. She also met poets and dissidents Volodymyr SIRENKO, Oles ZAVHORODNIY, Mykhailo Diachenko, and historian and culturologist Mykola BERESLAVSKY, communication with whom contributed to a deeper vision of the Ukrainian horizon.
In 1975, during a trip to the Carpathians, she met the poet Taras MELNYCHUK, who had just returned from imprisonment and highly praised her work. In 1976, she met Ivan SOKULSKY and Yuriy VIVTASH, which initiated the formation of a close dissident circle of poets, soon joined by Yaroslav LESIV from the Ivano-Frankivsk region. It was also at this time that she began to associate with Mykhailo and Olha HORYN, Zinoviy KRASIVSKY, Opanas ZALYVAKHA, Mykola HORBAL, and others. The apartment on Samarska Street, which Lysha and Y. VIVTASH rented and where they obtained a temporary residence permit with great difficulty, became a magnet for many creative people.
From 1970-80, Lysha was systematically persecuted for her distinct national-cultural position and literary-artistic nonconformism. Until the early 90s, she was unable to be published. In 1976, open pressure from the KGB began: periodic summons for “conversations” about “nationalist gatherings” and “ideologically harmful” poems (despite them being unpublished). Simultaneously, pressure from the “public” intensified, with perpetual attempts to “downsize” her from her job, manipulations with her “propiska” (residence permit) and housing queue, provocations, and more. In 1977, she wrote statements in defense of Y. VIVTASH, demanding an end to the psychiatric pressure and persecution against him. On March 12, 1980, an official search was conducted, and notebooks and manuscripts were confiscated. She was summoned for interrogation in the case of I. SOKULSKY and threatened with arrest for refusing to “testify truthfully.” (To divert accusations from the Sokulskys, she claimed that she had typed her own poems. However, when forced to type something as an experiment, her lack of skill was exposed, and the attempt failed). In 1980, she received an official warning in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 25, 1972.
In the 70s and 80s, she composed the poetry collections “The Scythian Woman,” “The Vertep Book,” and “Of Water and Air.”
From September 1981 to October 1982, she worked as a bibliographer at the scientific library of the Dnipropetrovsk Medical Institute. She resigned as a result of pressure. For a long time, she could not find work. From 1983-86, she worked as a senior bibliographer at the Central District Library in Yuvileine township, and from 1986-89, as a teacher of Russian language and literature in the township’s secondary school.
Despite the pressure and creative isolation, she wrote and painted. In 1982, she wrote the phantasmagoria-féerie “The Snow Monk.” In 1988, Lysha's poems were broadcast on Radio Liberty, where they were called the “event of the year.”
In 1988, together with I. SOKULSKY, who had returned from imprisonment (August 2, 1988), Y. VIVTASH, Orysa Sokulska, Yaroslav Homza, and Petro ROZUMNY (soon joined by Serhiy Aliiev-Kovyka and Lidiia YATSENKO), she co-founded the samvydav literary-artistic and socio-political journal “Porohy” (Thresholds) in Dnipropetrovsk. Over two years, 12 issues were produced (9 have survived). The first issue was published in 1988 with a print run of 50 copies. It was typed by Nadiya Rozhanska, a Candidate of Technical Sciences. The Ukrainian Republican Party (M. HORYN) provided financial support. Y. LESIV also helped (with church donations). At his request, one issue of “Porohy” was printed in Vilnius with a run of 3,000 copies, but it was destroyed during the storming of the House of Press (January 12, 1991).
Lysha’s poems were first published in the journal “Porohy” (1989), in Lviv’s “Kafedra” (1988), and in the journal “Ukraina” (1989) (with reproductions of her paintings). Numerous publications followed in periodicals such as “Suchasnist,” “Svito-vyd,” “Dzvin,” “Osnova,” “Kyiv,” and in anthologies in English, German, and Portuguese.
Ye. SVERSTIUK, B. Boychuk, L. Onyshkevych, and B. Shnayder (USA) responded to Lysha's first publications in 1990. Lysha became one of the first laureates of the Vasyl Stus Prize of the Ukrainian Association of Independent Creative Intelligentsia (UANTI).
From 1988-90, she was involved in founding the Dnipropetrovsk branch of the People’s Movement of Ukraine (Rukh), the “Prosvita” society, and the first community of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAPC). She was a member of the Committee for the Salvation of the Dnipro and Prydniprovia. In 1988-89, together with Y. VIVTASH, she took part in several events of the Ukrainian Culturological Club (UKK) in Kyiv. In 1990, she was a participant in the World Festival of Ukrainian Poetry “Zolotyi Homin” (Golden Echo) in Kyiv. Since 1992, she has been working in the editorial office of the newspaper “Nasha Vira” (Our Faith).
Her only book of selected poems, “Trysvit” (The Trebled World), was published in 1994 by the publishing house “Ukrainskyi pysmennyk.” She has prepared a book for publication (in electronic version) of selected and unpublished works, “Vzhe zirnula zirnytsia” (The Morning Star Has Already Shone), named after her latest poetry collection.
In terms of the structural features of her worldview and poetics, Lysha’s work represents examples of high “Ukrainian modernism.” It is closely aligned, independently by its distinctive discursive features, with the “Kyiv School” and the New York Group of poets. Her poetic world is deeply penetrating, rooted in the universal Cossack worldview—archaic and, at the same time, full of the unrestrained tension of renewal.
A separate part of her work consists of essays and articles on fine arts, poetry, culture, and religion. Lysha’s paintings were presented in 1977 at the exhibition of alternative art by poets “Farewell to the Comet” at the Ivan Honchar Museum.
Since 1992, Lysha has been living in Kyiv and working at the editorial office of the newspaper “Nasha Vira.”
Bibliography:
1.
Poems // *Kafedra*. No. 5. — Lviv, 1988. — pp. 52-61.
Poems. From unpublished books (“The Scythian Woman,” “Of Water and Air,” “The Vertep Book”). Reproductions of paintings // *Porohy*. No. 2. — Dnipropetrovsk, 1989; *Kotryi yanhol surmyt?* [Which Angel is Sounding the Trumpet?] Essay // *Porohy*. No. 7. — Ibid, 1990.
*Amfora dykoho stepu* [Amphora of the Wild Steppe]. A selection of poems. An attempt at an autobiography. Reproductions of paintings // *Ukraina*. No. 37. — K., 1989. — pp. 24-27.
From unpublished books. Poems // *Suchasnist*. No. 1. — New York, 1990. — pp. 19-26.
From unpublished collections. Speech at the awarding of the Vasyl Stus Prize // *Suchasnist*. No. 3. —New York, 1991. – pp. 12-19.
*Ponad berehamy svichky* [Along the Banks of a Candle]. A selection of poems. A fragment of the speech at the awarding of the Vasyl Stus Prize // *Ukraina*. No. 7. — 1991. — pp. 6-7.
*Tuha za kuraiem* [Longing for the Tumbleweed]. A selection of poems // *Dzvin*. No. 10. — Lviv, 1991. — pp. 3-5.
*Son Dykoho polia* [Dream of the Wild Field]. Poem // *Kyiv*. No. 2. 1991 – pp. 10-15.
*Oznachennia voli* [The Signification of Freedom]. Essay on the poetry of I. Sokulsky // *Ukraina*. No. 3 (March) — 1993.
*Pro kaviarnyka, nevidomoho hetmana Ukrainy* [About the Coffee-maker, an Unknown Hetman of Ukraine]. Duma-irony // *Ukraina*. No. 1. 1993 — pp. 22-23.
*Zbyraiuchy lito u hlek* [Gathering Summer into a Jug]. A selection of poems // *Svito–vyd*. No. III. – Kyiv-New York, 1993. — pp. 71-76.
Poems // *Osnova*. No. 25 (3). – Kyiv, 1993. – pp. 47-55.
A selection of poems // *Shifting Borders*. East European Poetry of the Eighties / Translated by Myroslava Stefaniuk. — USA, 1993.
*Bilia vichnoi yabluni* [By the Eternal Apple Tree]. Article about the St. Alypius painting brotherhood // *Liudyna i svit*. No. 11-12. — 1994. — pp. 21-26; Same // *Mystetskyi kataloh “Prechysta”* [Art Catalog “The Most Pure”]. — K., 1994. — pp. 1-7.
*Voda – provyda* [Water – Providence]. Poems // *Suchasnist*. No. 3. – 1994. — pp. 76-80.
*Trysvit* [The Trebled World]. Poems. — K.: Ukr. pysmennyk, 1994. — 108 p.
*Roztslichennia hlybyn* [The Blossoming of Depths]. Essay on the painting of Nina Denysova // *Suchasnist*. No. 10. – 1995. – pp. 133-138.
*Det okända Ukraina* (Unknown Ukraine). A selection of poems in Swedish // Selected anthology of contemporary Ukrainian poetry / Translated and compiled by Sigvard Lindqvist. — Sweden, 1995. — pp. 95-104.
*Storozh vsesvitu* [Guardian of the Universe]. Essay on the folk painting “Cossack Mamai” // Special issue of the journal “Obrazotvorche mystetstvo”. No. 1. — 1996. — pp. 21-22.
*Snihovyi monakh* [The Snow Monk]. Phantasmagoria-féerie. Author's drawings // *Artaniia*. Almanac. Book 2. — K., 1996. – pp. 61-62.
*Zamist traktatu pro svitlo* [Instead of a Treatise on Light] // *Kurier Kryvbasu*. No. 5. – Kryvyi Rih, 1997. — pp. 49-52; Same // *Svito–vyd*. No. I-II. — Kyiv – New York, 1997. — pp. 131-133.
*Ozyvannia do Yeremii* [Calling to Jeremiah]. Article on Y. Svertiuk's book “Shevchenko and Time” // *Slovo i chas*. No. 3. – 1997. — pp. 56-57.
*Ukr. son u Paryzhi* [Ukrainian Dream in Paris]. About the artist Fevronia Peleshok-Soudiya // *Vira*. No. 3. USA – Canada, 2000. — p. 20.
*Mozhete ne vstyhnuty vsoho* [You Might Not Make It for Everything] // Ivan Sokulsky. *Lysty do Mariiechky: Vybrane lystuvannia (1981—1987)* [Letters to Mariechka: Selected Correspondence (1981–1987)]. Ed. O. Sokulska. — Dnipropetrovsk: Sich, 2000. – pp. 85-87; Same: K.: Smoloskyp, 2000. – pp. 85-88.
Poems from the collection “Zirnula zirnytsia” // *Kurier Kryvbasu*. No. 2. — Kryvyi Rih, 2002. — pp. 95-100.
Interview with Raisa Saveliivna Lysha on April 14 and 16, 2002.
*Körbe der Zeit* // Anthology of contemporary Ukrainian poetry in German / Translated and compiled by A.-H. Horbatsch. — Munich, 2003. — pp. 45-46.
*Perekhid vsesvitnii u hrudni* [The Universal Transition in December] // *Na shchedryi vechir*. A collection in honor of Y. Svertiuk. — Lutsk, 2004. – pp. 101-102.
*Avtorytet svobody i piknik na ruiny* [The Authority of Freedom and a Picnic on the Ruins]. Article on Y. Svertiuk's book “Na khvyliakh ‘Svobody’” // *Dzerkalo tyzhnia*, 11.12. 2004.
*Alles kann wie in Gebeten sein* [Everything Can Be as in Prayer]. Ukrainian poetry with Christian motifs in German // Translated and compiled by A.-H. Horbatsch. — Munich, 2005 — pp. 38-38.
*Tsiiei myti* [This Moment]. A selection of poems // *Kurier Kryvbasu*. No. 202. – Kryvyi Rih, 2006. — pp. 102-113.
*Poslannia na metelykovykh kryltsiakh* [A Message on Butterfly Wings]. Essay // *Berezil*. No. 5-6. — Kharkiv, 2007. — pp. 170-173.
Poems. A selection // *Struny vichnosti*. A collection of Christian poetry. – Lviv: Svichado, 2008. — pp. 51-56.
*Hist khreshchatyi* [The Crossed Guest]. Poem // *Kurier Kryvbasu*. No. 232-233 – Kryvyi Rih, 2009 – pp: 137-147.
*Porohy — mit voli* [Thresholds — a Myth of Freedom]. Foreword // *Porohy. Vybrane*. Dnipropetrovsk, 1988-90. No. 1-9. — K.: Smoloskyp, 2009. – pp. 9 – 20.
*Udosvita vyity* [To Go Out at Dawn]. Poems // *Berezil*: No. 3-4, 2009. – pp. 68-73.
Poems. Excerpt from the essay “Windows and Things.” Drawings // *Artaniia*, Book 15. No. 2, 2009. – pp. 1, 4-8, 23, et al.
2.
Ivan Sokulsky. *Posmishka nevidomoho sadu* [The Smile of an Unknown Garden]. // *Porohy*. No. 2, Dnipropetrovsk, 1989; *“Porohy.” Vybrane. 1988-1990*. – Smoloskyp, 2009. – pp. 243-244.
Ivan Sokulsky: *Sad sered stepu* [A Garden in the Midst of the Steppe] // *Sobor* newspaper, Dnipropetrovsk, September 7, 1991.
Yuriy Vivtash. Foreword to the publication of poems “Posered sushchoho” [In the Midst of the Existent] // *Borysten* journal, No. 4, Dnipropetrovsk, 1992.
Yevhen Svertiuk. *U dyvosviti zruinovanoi khaty* [In the Wondrous World of a Ruined Hut]. Article-essay // *Suchasnist*, 1991; *Ukraina*, 1993, No. 1 – under the title "Snihovi soniakhy" [Snowy Sunflowers] and in the book "*Bludni syny Ukrainy*," [The Prodigal Sons of Ukraine], Bibl. of the journal *Pamiatky Ukrainy*, 1993. – pp. 207-210.
Liubomyra Krupa. *Nove vidkryttia — Raisa Lysha* [A New Discovery — Raisa Lysha] // *Svoboda* newspaper, USA. — 1994.
Sigvard Lindqvist. An Intuitive Modernist. Article in the Swedish newspaper *Tisdag*, August 1, 1995. Abridged in Ukrainian in *Chas-Time* newspaper, February 23, 1996.
Roman Korohodsky. *Naitykhishyi poetychnyi vechir* [The Quietest Poetry Evening] // *Nasha vira* newspaper — No. 11, Kyiv, 1995.
Bohdan Boychuk. *Raisa v kraini chudes* [Raisa in Wonderland]. Review of the poetry collection "Trysvit". // *Svito–vyd* journal, No. III, 1996, — pp. 138-140.
Mykola Rachuk. *Upokorennia vselenskomu poklykovi krasy* [Submission to the Universal Call of Beauty]. On the collection “Trysvit” // *Slovo i chas*, No. 7, 1996.
Valentyna Lysenko. *Bose slovo ide na Holhotu…* [The Barefoot Word Goes to Golgotha…]. On the collection “Trysvit” // *Slovo i chas*, No. 7, 1996.
Yevhen Svertiuk. Raisa Lysha // *Vira*, No. 4, USA - Canada, 1998.
Olexander Khomenko. *Holosy i spomyny starosvitchyny* [Voices and Memories of Old Times]. // *Artaniia*. Book 15. No. 2, 2009. — pp. 3-4.
Vasyl Ovsiienko, Raisa Lysha. July 2009. Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group.
(The draft by V. Ovsiienko from March 30, 2009, was thoroughly revised by R. Lysha in July 2009).
Raisa Lysha with the journal "Porohy." Photo by V. Ovsiienko, April 14, 2002. 