This project concerns Yurii Kosach’s life and literary works in a broad perspective, accenting the complexity of his search for the Ukrainian nation in cultural and political terms. Kosach’s works, all written in Ukrainian, enrich Ukrainian culture and add new perspectives to its development in the 20th century. His works are a valuable source of subjects and stories which reshape the canon of Ukrainian literature and its place in a global context.

Biographical research will include conducting interviews with people who knew Kosach, working in archives, searching for Kosach’s unknown works, and writing articles using new research in the fields of memory and national & cultural identity. Through her review of Kosach’s life and works as a unique phenomenon, Poliukhovych intends to provide an additional clue to understanding Ukrainian cultural processes of the 20th century and today.

Short Biography:

Olha Poliukhovych received her PhD in Philosophy and Literature from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in 2015. She teaches several courses at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Department of Literature) and is Managing Editor of Kyiv-Mohyla Humanities Journal (http://kmhj.ukma.edu.ua/). Her research interests include modernist literature, identity politics, power relations, memory studies, gender studies, displacement and émigré literature. She has presented her research at academic conferences in Canada, Georgia, the UK, and Ukraine. Olha Poliukhovych’s most recent publications are “The Artist’s Longing and Belonging: Cultural Sensitivity in Yurii Kosach’s Narratives” (2016) and “The National Odyssey: Culture, Melancholy, and Nostalgia in Regina Pontica by Yuri Kosach” (2017).