Mondegreen: Songs about Death and Love (Harvard Library of Ukrainian Literature)

Mondegreen tells the story of a refugee from Ukraine’s Donbas region who has escaped to Kyiv at the onset of the Ukrainian-Russian war. Written in beautiful, experimental style, the novel shows how people―and cities―are capable of radical transformation and how this, in turn, affects their interpersonal relations and cultural identification.

Literature & Fiction

RAFEYENKO, Volodymyr

History & Criticism

Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute

A mondegreen is something that is heard improperly by someone who then clings to that misinterpretation as fact. Fittingly, Volodymyr Rafeyenko’s novel Mondegreen: Songs about Death and Love explores the ways that memory and language construct our identity, and how we hold on to it no matter what. The novel tells the story of Haba Habinsky, a refugee from Ukraine’s Donbas region, who has escaped to the capital city of Kyiv at the onset of the Ukrainian-Russian war. His physical dislocation―and his subsequent willful adoption of the Ukrainian language―place the protagonist in a state of disorientation during which he is forced to challenge his convictions. Written in beautiful, experimental style, the novel shows how people―and cities―are capable of radical transformation and how this, in turn, affects their interpersonal relations and cultural identification. Taking on crucial topics stirred by Russian aggression that began in 2014, the novel stands out for the innovative and probing manner in which it dissects them, while providing a fresh Donbas perspective on Ukrainian identity.

The Length of Days: An Urban Ballad (Harvard Library of Ukrainian Literature)

The Length of Days features a wild cast of characters-Lithuanian, Russian, and Ukrainian-and cameo appearances by Rosa Luxemburg, Amy Winehouse, and others. Embedded narratives attributed to one character, an alcoholic chemist-turned-massage-therapist, broaden the reader's view of the funny, ironic, or tragic lives of people who remained in the ill-fated Donbas after Russia's initial aggression in 2014. Unexpected allies emerge to try to stop the war, as characters criticize Ukraine's government at the time, its self-interest, and failures to support its citizens in the east. With elements of magical realism, the work combines poetry and a wicked sense of humor with depth of political analysis, philosophy, and moral interrogation. Witty references to popular culture-Ukrainian and European-underline the international and transnational aspects of Ukrainian literature. The novel ends on a hopeful note even though by then the main characters have already died twice: they return with greater power each time. As the author's last novel written originally in the Russian language, The Length of Days is a deeply Ukrainian work, set mostly in the composite Donbas city of Z-an uncanny foretelling of what this letter has come to symbolize since February 24, 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Genre Fiction

The Length of Days: An Urban Ballad is set mostly in the composite Donbas city of Z―an uncanny foretelling of what this letter has come to symbolize since February 24, 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Several embedded narratives attributed to an alcoholic chemist-turned-massage therapist give insight into the funny, ironic, or tragic lives of people who remained in the occupied Donbas after Russia’s initial aggression in 2014.\nWith elements of magical realism, Volodymyr Rafeyenko’s novel combines a wicked sense of humor with political analysis, philosophy, poetry, and moral interrogation. Witty references to popular culture―Ukrainian and European―underline the international and transnational aspects of Ukrainian literature. The novel ends on the hopeful note that even death cannot have the final word: the resilient inhabitants of Z grow in power through reincarnation.

Hommage à l'Ukraine

Kourkov, Andreï

KHERSONSKY, Boris

PROKHASKO, Taras

BABKINA, Kateryna

YATSENKO, Petro

ZOLOTKOVSKA, Taïs

Yakymtchouk, Luba

TCHEKH, Artem

Deresh, Lyubko

KARPA, Irena

LUBKA, Andriy

LEVKOVA, Anastasia

MYKHED, Oleksandr

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Books by RAFEYENKO, Volodymyr