Visual Slavia, Pt. 1: Ukraine and the Tale of Kotihoroshko
Welcome to Černobog’s Shadow. And to the first series, titled Visual Slavia.
Since I’ve bitten a considerable bite off the Substack apple - while also preparing to publish a debut novel, write a dissertation and become a father - I thought I’d start this series off nice and easy and build up from there. A few of the more complex topics I wish to explore in Černobog’s Shadow are still coalescing in my mind. But it doesn’t mean we can’t lay a bit of groundwork.
So for the first several essays, I wanted to start out by showcasing visual (and vivid) portrayals of cultural otherness one finds in Slavic cultures. Something I think people in the West have no real understanding of, unless they are either cultural enthusiasts or, like me, from a Slavic diaspora.
The war had no bearing on choosing Ukraine as the first country to represent in this series: rather, it was bibliophilic circumstances. But it’s hard to say anything about the inheritors of the Kievan Rus without feeling the pain they are going through. (For music, we will roll with Ukrainian Neo-Folk group DakhaBrakha. Check them out.)
On the whole, I believe the war is little more than a slaughterhouse stationed between two geopolitical interests.
who has a data-rich and informative political-themed Substack has argued that there are no real geopolitical interests at play, just money and greed. He may well be right: I don’t put such motives past anybody involved.But I take no pleasure whatsoever in either Russians or Ukrainians being killed either in the name of interests, or lack of interests. And everything about the war - both everything the Ukrainians are going through and the demonization of Russians and the rich Russian culture - is reprehensible.
There is little, if anything, us literati can do. Or know how to do. But one thing that can be done is push back against the faux attitudes where people pretend they’ve always cared about Ukraine and Ukrainians, when they have no idea who they are as a people.
You know all those WWII stories where the French Resistance has all these stories grounded in French culture. I can tell you, nobody’s gonna do anything like that for Ukraine. Hopefully, here at Černobog’s Shadow, I can help showcase authentic glimpes of Ukrainian culture. Or at least point the way.