LANGUAGE ISSUE IN M. RUDENKO’S MEMOIRS AND ART

Inna Renchka
PhD, Candidate of Science in Philology, Senior Lecturer, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
2 Skovoroda St., Kyiv 04070, Ukraine
Е-mail: i.renchka@ukma.edu.ua

Heading: Researches
Language: Ukrainian

Abstract: In the 1960s and 1980s, Russification processes in Ukraine intensified, which activated the resistance movement of the Ukrainian creative and scientific intelligentsia against the Russification tendencies and for the protection of the mother language. One of the participants and leaders of the Ukrainian human rights protection movement was the writer Mykola Rudenko.

The aim of this paper is to highlight the civic and ideological views of the writer, philosopher and human rights activist Mykola Rudenko, regarding the problems of the Ukrainian language in the context of the language situation in Ukraine in the 1930s – 1980s. The study is based on the materials of the memoirs “The Greatest Wonder is Life”, the novel “The Eagle’s Ravine” and some of the artist’s poetry.

The paper uses the method of analytical and synthetic processing of sources, the descriptive method and the method of contextual analysis. This has enabled to systematize, analyze and interpret the selected materials and summarize the results of the study.

It has been found out that the writer pays great attention in his works to disclosing the processes of Russification and denationalization in Ukraine, which took place from the 1930s to the late 1980s. In particular, in the book of memoirs, he examines the essence and consequences of the education reform of 1958, which led to the elimination of the Ukrainian language from the education process. He considers also the Soviet language and national policies of the L. Brezhnev era, which was the period of particularly intense Russification of all spheres of life, including official communication, education, science, public media, and culture. In his novel “Eagle’s Ravine”, the writer depicts the situation with Ukrainian language in the Donbass region in the mid-1960’s. It is revealed that M. Rudenko also focuses in his works on the problems of unification of the vocabulary of the Ukrainian language according to the Russian model and changes in the semantics of words under the influence of dominant ideology.

The study demonstrates that the writer also analyzes the reasons for the difficult situation with the Ukrainian language and sees them in the political system itself, the colonial dependence of Ukraine and the purposeful genocide of the Ukrainian people. In his work and human rights activities, he criticizes the theory and implementations of the Communist Party, and opposes the language and national policies of the USSR.

Keywords: Ukrainian language, Russification, language policy of the USSR, language situation, language issue, human rights movement, Mykola Rudenko, Ukrainian Helsinki Group.

 

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