Taras Shevchenko is known in Ukraine as both a poet and painter, but insofar as he is known at all in Russia and the West, he’s better-known today as a painter than a writer. Since Shevchenko’s work has not been easy to find in English translation prior to this effort, it is probably necessary or at least prudent to provide some background on Shevchenko himself. The resulting volume is a staggering work of scholarship and devoted translational acumen that places Shevchenko in the realm of Slavic literary greats where he rightfully deserves to be located. Translator Peter Fedynsky is himself Ukrainian-American and long has worked as a translator and journalist in Russia and Ukraine Fedynsky knew of the Kobzar and saw the need to have this crucial work of Ukrainian literature translated into English so when he retired from journalism, he took it upon himself to produce a robust, complete, translation. Thus a complete translation appearing in English is a grand event: for the first time, a comprehensive version of all the poems included in the original Kobzar-plus some alternate and additional poems the author published elsewhere in his lifetime and supporting, expository materials-is available. Yet despite that, it has been-in full, and not as a poem or two selected into some anthology of Slavic literatures-an elusive work to locate in translation. Taras Shevchenko’s Kobzar is perhaps the greatest-or at least best-known-work of Ukrainian literature from the classic period of romantic, independent, native Ukrainian writing.

The Complete Kobzar: The Poetry of Taras Shevchenko

Kobzar by Taras Shevchenko