Canadian Slavonic Papers

History of Ukrainian Costume From the Scythian Period to the Late 17th CenturyReview by: Andriy NahachewskyCanadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes, Vol. 31, No. 1 (March 1989), pp. 95-96Published by: Canadian Association of SlavistsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40869035 .

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Vol. XXXI, No. 1 Book Reviews | 95

gins his lecture "Relations between Oriental Rite and Latin Rite Catholics in Canada"

by humorously reminding us of the the lady who wanted an objective history of the U.S. Civil War from a Southern perspective. Collected in this book is an "objec- tive" history of the difficult struggles between the Catholics and Orthodox in Western Russia-Ukraine from an Ukrainian Catholic perspective. Anyone curious about this

particular perspective will find it articulated here. Fr. Steven Kostoff, London, Ontario

History of Ukrainian Costume From the Scythian Period to the Late 17th Century. Melbourne: Bayda Books, 1986. 59 pp.

Though the subject of Ukrainian costume is extensively documented in Slavic lan-

guage publications, it is quite rarely (and often poorly) treated in English language works. History of Ukrainian Costume is divided into four chapters; a brief overview, costumes of the Scythians, costumes of Kievan Rus', and Ukrainian folk costumes

(fifteenth to seventeenth centuries). In each section the author proceeds systemati- cally through the elements of dress for men and for women. The descriptions include

clothing of upper and lower classes as well as military and clerical dress. Hairstyles, jewelry, footwear and accessories are also treated.

In the introduction we read that "the text has been drawn from various Ukrainian-

language publications, but in the main from ,4« Outline of the History of Costumes by K. Stamerov." The text is in fact no more and no less than a translation of excerpts from Stamerov's work, (Narysy z istorii kostiumiv, vol. 1 [Kiev: 1978]), which is ac-

tually much larger than our translation, surveying costumes of about twenty cultures across the world. Rather than reporting ethnographic research, Stamerov's book, which was written "for workers of theatre, film, and television; artists, writers, histo- rians, costume designers, art students and members of amateur arts groups" (p. 4), is based on secondary sources. From an ethnographer's point of view, such an approach tends towards oversimplification.

Given his intended audience, it must be agreed that Stamerov succeeds in pro- viding a clear, fairly balanced and responsible survey, with a minimum of distortion. The English rendering, too, is quite accurate and understandable.

The English version avoids some of more obvious Russophile biases in the text, though other questionable elements of Soviet policy appear to have been harder to edit out: The axiom of class exploitation is oft-repeated yet the emulation of upper class stylings by the folk is ignored or denied.

A number of minor weaknesses in the book underline the fact that the translator was not himself a specialist in the field. Most of the bibliography is copied directly out of Stamerov's list, including the inconsistencies in format and the striking poverty of Ukrainian language sources. Christina Senkiw's colour plates are the only original contribution to the English-language publication. Whereas Stamerov makes mostly brief remarks as to regional variation, Senkiw illustrates the wide variety of local

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96 I Canadian Slavonic Papers March 1989

diversity for six major regions within Ukraine. Though the pictures are attractive, their (over)simplification and occasional inaccuracies detract from the very purpose of the figures.

In spite of these drawbacks, the book does begin to fill a large gap in English- language literature. As a concise and systematic description for nonspecialists, this

publication is quite suitable as an introductory volume on Ukrainian costume.

Andny Nahachewsky, University of Alberta

George S. N. Luckyj. Keeping a Record: Literature Purges in Soviet Ukraine (1930s): A Bio-Bibliography. Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, 1988. xli, 50 pp. n.p.

Professor George Luckyj 's bibliographic study comes at a propitious moment. Schol- ars in the Soviet Ukraine have become increasingly concerned with Ukrainian literary materials in Western collections, emigre literary scholarship, and, more to the point for this review, with the Ukrainian literary figures whose careers were suppressed or ended during the years of the Great Terror.

This publication includes some introductory materials on the nature of Ukrainian

literary activities during the 1920s and 1930s, and an iconography and prosopogra- phy of some 314 individuals executed or repressed during this period, including some who were rehabilitated after 1956. Luckyj notes (pp. xii-xiii) more specif- ically that 24 writers were executed or committed suicide under duress, 230 were incarcerated and/or exiled, 73 rehabilitated after the thaw of the late 1950s, and 60 fell silent. His prosopography includes not only Ukrainian language writers, but also such distinguished Yiddish writers as Volodymyr Peretts (1870-1935), Perets Markish (1895-1952), and Davyd Hofshtein (1889-1952).

Luckyj makes the sensible point that the Ukrainian literary figures he discusses

possessed, for the most part, an integral nationalistic feeling, but were inclined toward federation with Russia "... as long as this meant full cultural, and some political autonomy. The Soviet charges blurred this important distinction and in attacking everything Ukrainian helped to create an image of national genocide rather than indiscriminate mass terror" (p. xix).

But while Luckyj' s intentions and basic approach are laudable, his reference work has very much the character of a scholar's private card file. There are incon- sistencies, minor errors, and the information he does give is often too laconic to be useful. By way of example, on p. xxii, he refers to the Liubchenko Papers as

being located in Grimsby, Ontario, but fails to specify how they may be accessed. Under the literary critic, Ivan Myronets (1900-1937), he cites studies of Shevchenko and Kotsiubynsky, without providing any bibliographic information. (Parentheti- cally, neither of these works are to be found in the extensive collections of the New York Public Library.) So too, under entry 99, for the bibliographer and literary critic Kost Koperzhynsky, Luckyj gives incomplete bibliographic information on an

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