We are starting a series of publications about the work of our project’s literary research group. Our scholars will share their insights on the Jewish component of Ukrainian literary heritage, our shared experiences, and how we perceive each other.
The first publication is dedicated to an article by Iryna Borysiuk - Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor at the Volodymyr Morenets Department of Literary Studies at NaUKMA, Editor-in-Chief of the journal NaUKMA Research Papers. Literary Studies, writer and literary critic.
In her article, the scholar analyses Yuriy Vynnychuk's novel «Tango of Death» as a text that opens a space for reflection on Ukrainian-Jewish history, memory and intercultural dialogue. At the centre of attention are the events of the Second World War and the Holocaust, as well as the role of fiction in giving voice to traumatic experience and shaping a shared memory. One of the key images the author highlights is the motif of “inhabiting another’s soul” - a metaphor for empathy and the possibility of living another’s history as one’s own, without appropriating or oversimplifying it. At the same time, Lviv in the novel emerges as a lost multicultural world, destroyed by war.
«Memories that belong to others, once they have become part of your own private history, can no longer be ignored. The Tango of Death, still echoing through the streets of present-day Lviv, is a metaphor for a reclaimed memory - one that permanently reshapes our collective identity. And genre fiction turns out to be the perfect vessel for telling this story.
Ultimately, «Tango of Death» emerges not merely as a novel about the past, but as an attempt to find a language for empathy, mutual understanding, and solidarity.
The full text of the article will be available following the online publication of the project's Imagological Collection on the website.
This publication was produced as part of the project "Jewish Heritage in Ukraine: Interdisciplinary Reflections through the Lens of Archival Documents, Culture, History, and Literature", implemented by the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy with the support of UNESCO Ukraine and the European Union.
All publications are produced with the financial support of the European Union. Their content is the sole responsibility of the partners and does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union.