The History of Culture at the Beginning of the Century
Poems
With an afterword by Yuri Andrukhovych and photographs by Vladyslav Getman | Original Ukrainian title: Історія культури початку століття, published in 2003 by Krytyka, Kyiv
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The History of Culture at the Beginning of the Century / Geschichte der Kultur zu Anfang des Jahrhunderts
Poems
With an afterword by Yuri Andrukhovych and photographs by Vladyslav Getman | Original Ukrainian title: Історія культури початку століття, published in 2003 by Krytyka, Kyiv
Only in an environment in which anachronistic industrial plants sit in the landscape like dinosaurs, rotting away as the last witnesses of the grandiose Soviet experiment, could the post-proletarian melancholy and punk poetry emerge that has earned Serhiy Zhadan the reputation of Ukraine’s most popular lyricist.
»Ten years ago, they called him the Ukrainian Rimbaud, now he is Zhadan first and foremost. His poetry is the way I imagine poetry at the beginning of the...
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Only in an environment in which anachronistic industrial plants sit in the landscape like dinosaurs, rotting away as the last witnesses of the grandiose Soviet experiment, could the post-proletarian melancholy and punk poetry emerge that has earned Serhiy Zhadan the reputation of Ukraine’s most popular lyricist.
»Ten years ago, they called him the Ukrainian Rimbaud, now he is Zhadan first and foremost. His poetry is the way I imagine poetry at the beginning of the century: secure in tone, immaculate in the details, piercingly visual, anarchic and uncompromisingly social, at the same time absolutely poetical, unique and unexpected in its plasticity of associations. It’s exactly the kind of alternative cinema and also the alternative music and the alternative theatre that we lack. And it’s an alternative to that which is traditionally considered Ukrainian in general.« from the afterword by Yuri Andrukhovych
Praise for the selection What We Live For, What We Die For published by Yale UP:
»This collection of Ukrainian writer Serhiy Zhadan’s poems will likely cement his reputation as the unflinching witness to the turbulent social and political travails of his nation. With an acerbic tone that will seem familiar to admirers of Franz Wright or Charles Bukowski, Zhadan’s no-nonsense verses are sure to strike more than a few nerves.« World Literature Today
»A startling collection of verse.« Askold Melnyczuk, Times Literary Supplement
»[Zhadan’s] work has become important to a generation experiencing, simultaneously, war and global interconnectedness … With this volume, [translators] Tkacz and Phipps will whet Anglophone readers’ appetites for Zhadan’s poetic engagement with a dangerous, polarized, uncertain world … The United States needs a Zhadan as much as Ukraine does.« Amelia Glaser, Los Angeles Review of Books
»Stunning translations that don’t read like translations, but read as English-language poems … When we read this book of poetry we are letting ourselves be part of history being formed.« Olena Jennings, Ukrainian Weekly
»Undergirding Zhadan’s poetry is a humanitarian desire to improve the physical, cultural, and spiritual conditions in which Ukrainian people live, today and tomorrow … Zhadan’s poems reveal the heart and soul of places forgotten, hidden, and unseen, so that we may also witness and understand and remember.« Kristina Lucenko, Our Life / Nashe Zhyttia
»This collection of Ukrainian writer Serhiy Zhadan’s poems will likely cement his reputation as the unflinching witness to the turbulent social and political travails of his nation. With an acerbic tone that will seem familiar to admirers of Franz Wright or Charles Bukowski, Zhadan’s no-nonsense verses are sure to strike more than a few nerves.« World Literature Today
»A startling collection of verse.« Askold Melnyczuk, Times Literary Supplement
»[Zhadan’s] work has become important to a generation experiencing, simultaneously, war and global interconnectedness … With this volume, [translators] Tkacz and Phipps will whet Anglophone readers’ appetites for Zhadan’s poetic engagement with a dangerous, polarized, uncertain world … The United States needs a Zhadan as much as Ukraine does.« Amelia Glaser, Los Angeles Review of Books
»Stunning translations that don’t read like translations, but read as English-language poems … When we read this book of poetry we are letting ourselves be part of history being formed.« Olena Jennings, Ukrainian Weekly
»Undergirding Zhadan’s poetry is a humanitarian desire to improve the physical, cultural, and spiritual conditions in which Ukrainian people live, today and tomorrow … Zhadan’s poems reveal the heart and soul of places forgotten, hidden, and unseen, so that we may also witness and understand and remember.« Kristina Lucenko, Our Life / Nashe Zhyttia
Praise for the selection What We Live For, What We Die For published by Yale UP:
»This collection of Ukrainian writer Serhiy Zhadan’s poems will likely cement his reputation as the unflinching witness to the turbulent social and political travails of his nation. With an acerbic tone that will seem familiar to admirers of Franz Wright or Charles Bukowski, Zhadan’s no-nonsense verses are sure to strike more than a few nerves.« World...
»This collection of Ukrainian writer Serhiy Zhadan’s poems will likely cement his reputation as the unflinching witness to the turbulent social and political travails of his nation. With an acerbic tone that will seem familiar to admirers of Franz Wright or Charles Bukowski, Zhadan’s no-nonsense verses are sure to strike more than a few nerves.« World...
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2003, 81 pages
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Persons
Serhij Zhadan
Author
Serhiy Zhadan was born in Starobilsk, near Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, in 1974 and studied German at Kharkiv University. He has been one of the most influential figures in the Kharkiv scene since the early 1990s. He made his literary debut at 17 and has published numerous volumes of poetry and prose. He was awarded the Jan Michalski Prize and the Brücke Berlin Prize (together with translators Juri Durkot und Sabine Stöhr) for Ворошиловград. BBC Ukraine named Ворошиловград the Book of the Decade. In 2022, Zhadan was named Man of the Year by Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland) and awarded the prestigious Peace Prize of the German Book Trade for his »outstanding artistic work and his humanitarian stance with which he turns to the people suffering...
Serhij Zhadan
Author
Serhiy Zhadan was born in Starobilsk, near Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, in 1974 and studied German at Kharkiv University. He has been one of the...
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OTHER PUBLICATIONS
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Juri AndruchowytschYear of Publication: 2023
The Price of Our Freedom
»They belong to us, they are one of us and we want them in« – Yuri Andrukhovych had been waiting for this sentence, which presented the prospect of EU membership to his country, for many years. It was uttered in Brussels, three days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. »A deep exhale – amidst the blaring sirens.«
Twenty years ago, his brilliant volume of essays My Final...
Year of Publication: 2022
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This volume contains a selection of texts that Serhiy Zhadan has been publishing on Facebook since the start of the war on February 24, 2022.
He doesn’t have time to keep a diary....
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Yale UP), Poland (Czarne), Slovak Republic (Brak)
Year of Publication: 2021
Juri AndruchowytschYear of Publication: 2021
Radio Night
»I have always dreamt of writing a novel that has a sound,« says Yuri Andrukhovych, who has spent his life singing, rehearsing with his band and playing countless concerts. His...
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English world rights (NYRB), Spanish world rights (Acantilado), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Editora Zain), France (Noir sur Blanc), Poland (Czytelnik), Slovak Republic (N Press), Hungary (Helikon), Bulgaria (Paradox), Romania (Trei), Croatia (Fraktura), Slovenia (Mladinska Knjiga)
Year of Publication: 2020
Serhij ZhadanYear of Publication: 2020
Antenna
What can literature do, what should it do, when there is war? What language do the poets resort to? Are their instruments suited to express »what causes fear«? Since the battles in...
Rights sold to:
Sweden (Fri Tanke), Finland (selection; Sammakko), Poland (Wrocławski Dom Literatury), Hungary (selection; Jelenkor), Bulgaria (Paradox)
Year of Publication: 2017
Juri AndruchowytschYear of Publication: 2017
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Justice’s Darlings, these are crimes and criminals, real and alleged: Bohdan Stashynsky, for example, a KGB officer and assassin who kills the Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera in his...
Rights sold to:
Spanish world rights (Acantilado), Poland (Warstwy), Bulgaria (Paradox)
Year of Publication: 2017
Serhij ZhadanYear of Publication: 2017
The Orphanage
A young teacher plans on bringing his 13-year-old nephew home from the boarding school at the other end of town. The school, in which his working sister has »parked« her son, has come...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Yale UP), English Audiobook (Blackstone), Spanish world rights (Galaxia Gutenberg), Catalan rights (Quaderns Crema), Portuguese rights (Elsinore), France (Noir sur Blanc), Italy (Voland), Netherlands (de Geus), Denmark (Jensen & Dalgaard), Sweden (Ersatz), Norway (Pax), Finland (Sammakko), Japan (Bulrush), Poland (Czarne), Czech Republic (Argo), Czech Audiobook (OneHotBook), Slovak Republic (Absynt), Hungary (Magvetö), Republic of Moldova / Romanian rights (Cartier), Estonia (Hea Lugu), Latvia (Janis Roze), Lithuania (Kitos Knygos), Croatia (Edicije Božičević), Slovenia (Beletrina), Greece (Dioptra), North Macedonia (Matica), Belarus (Januškevič), Georgia (Intelekti), Israel (Hakkibutz Hameuchad)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Lindhardt & Ringhof / Saga Egmont)
Year of Publication: 2016
Serhij ZhadanYear of Publication: 2016
Why I Am Not Online
»It’s tough to see history being made.« Since the summer of 2014, Serhiy Zhadan notes down his experiences on his journeys into the eastern Ukrainian war zone. They are poetic...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (selection; Yale UP), Finland (selection; Sammakko), Poland (selection; PIW), Hungary (selection; Jelenkor)
Year of Publication: 2014
Serhij ZhadanYear of Publication: 2014
Mesopotamia
The setting of Serhiy Zhadan’s latest book is the Eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, here and now, a modern Babylon: a city in Mesopotamia, set at the riverbank of diverse languages and...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Yale UP), France (Noir sur Blanc), Italy (Voland), Denmark (Jensen & Dalgaard), Sweden (Ersatz), Norway (Pax), Poland (Czarne), Hungary (Magvető), Latvia (Janis Roze), Belorussia (Januskevic), Georgia (Intelekti)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Schall & Wahn)
Year of Publication: 2011
Juri AndruchowytschYear of Publication: 2011
Small Encyclopedia of Intimate Cities
Yuri Andrukhovych has invested a lot of time in familiarising himself with foreign cities. In some of them, he got stuck for a while. Others have become true parts of his life:...
Rights sold to:
Spanish world rights (Acantilado), France (Noir sur Blanc), Croatia (Fraktura)
Year of Publication: 2010
Serhij ZhadanYear of Publication: 2010
Voroshilovgrad
In expressive prose, Zhadan delivers a road novel from the edge of Europe that dares to dream the dream of freedom in a completely new way: as the search for home in a world without...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (Deep Vellum), Spanish world rights (Galaxia Gutenberg), Russia (Astrel), Portuguese rights (Elsinore), Arabic world rights (Here&There), France (Noir sur Blanc), Italy (Voland), Netherlands (De Geus), Denmark (Jensen & Dalgaard), Sweden (Ersatz), Poland (Czarne), Poland Graphic Novel (Artur Wabik), Czech Republic (Argo), Slovak Republic (Dajama), Bulgaria (Paradox), Republic of Moldova / Romanian rights (Cartier), Latvia (Janis Roze), Croatia (Edicije Božičević), Slovenia (Beletrina), Belarus (Logvinau), Georgia (Intelekti)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Hungary (Europa)
Year of Publication: 2007
Juri AndruchowytschYear of Publication: 2007
The Secret
Rarely do the private and the political intertwine so closely as in this ironic portrait of an author who doesn't trust himself an inch.
Where did you feel happy? Why did the football match make you cry? Whose books would you like to learn by heart? Questions a German journalist poses to a Ukrainian author spending a year in Berlin. Over seven whole days, Egon Alt and...
Year of Publication: 2006
Juri AndruchowytschYear of Publication: 2006
Angels and Demons of the Periphery
»A little bit Sisyphus, a little bit Sacher-Masoch« is how Ukraine’s best-known writer described himself in 2007. The »orange revolution« is a thing of the past, any hopes and dreams are pretty much dead and buried, »let’s start again from the beginning«: with reading Hesse, Benn and Lina Kostenko, early and formative experiences, with the...
Year of Publication: 2006
Serhij ZhadanYear of Publication: 2006
Democratic Youth Anthem
San Sanytsch, a wrestler with a highschool diploma, joins the »Boxers for Justice and Social Adaptation« who form a brigade of security guards controlling the markets near the tractor...
Rights sold to:
Russia (Amphora), Poland (Czarne), Slovak Republic (Brak), Bulgaria (Paradox)
Year of Publication: 2005
Serhij ZhadanYear of Publication: 2005
Anarchy in the UKR
»Forget politics, don't read the papers, don't go online, deny them your voice« – thus begins the »Leftist March«, a chapter of Serhiy Zhadan's...
Rights sold to:
France (Noir sur Blanc), Italy (Voland), Sweden (Bonniers), Norway (Pax), Republic of Moldova / Romanian rights (Cartier), Belarus (Skaryna Press)
Year of Publication: 2004
Serhij ZhadanYear of Publication: 2004
Depeche Mode
»A poet and novelist whose work has been variously compared to Rimbaud, Charles Bukowski and Irvine Welsh, Serhiy Zhadan’s first novel Depeche Mode depicts Ukrainian youth during...
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English world rights (Glagoslav), Russia (Amphora), Italy (Castelvecchi), Sweden (2244/Bonniers), Poland (Czarne), Czech Republic (Éditions Fra), Hungary (Europa), Bulgaria (Paradox), Republic of Moldova / Romanian rights (Cartier), Estonia (Loomingu Raamatukogu), Lithuania (Kitos Knygos), Greece (Dioptra)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Schall & Wahn)
Year of Publication: 2003
Juri AndruchowytschYear of Publication: 2003
Twelve Circles
In the 1990s, Karl-Joseph Zumbrunnen, an Austrian photographer with Galician roots, travels repeatedly through the Ukraine. The birth pangs of this new state, the incongruous mixture of brutally...
Rights sold to:
Spanish world rights (Acantilado), France (Noir sur Blanc), Italy (Del Vecchio), Norway (Cappelen Damm), Slovenia (Cankarjeva)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (Spuyten Duyvil), Hungary (Gondolat), Bulgaria (Paradox), Romania (RAO), Lithuania (Lithuanian Writers), Croatia (Fraktura), Serbia (Filip Visnjic)
Year of Publication: 2003
Serhij ZhadanYear of Publication: 2003
Big Mac
With the success of Democratic Youth Anthem, Serhiy Zhadan has established himself as the most original counter-voice to the poetic observations of Juri Andruchowytsch. In Big...
Rights sold to:
Bulgaria (Paradox)
Year of Publication: 2000
Juri Andruchowytsch, Andrzej StasiukYear of Publication: 2000
My Europe
In these »two essays on the strangest part of the world«, Yuri Andrukhovych and Andrzej Stasiuk offer a stereoscopic portrait of central Europe. On foot and by car, they travelled...
Rights sold to:
Spanish world rights (Acantilado), France (Noir sur Blanc), Italy (print edition Mimesis / digital edition GoWare), Hungary (Kijarat), Bulgaria (Lektura), Romania (Polirom)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Czech Republic (Periplum), Croatia (Fraktura)
Year of Publication: 2000
Juri AndruchowytschYear of Publication: 2000
The Moscoviad
The Moscoviad, Andrukhovych’s most successful book, translated into many languages, was written in Spring 1992 on the banks of Lake Starnberg outside Munich – and is surprisingly...
Rights sold to:
Spanish world rights (Acantilado), France (Noir sur Blanc), Italy (Besa), Sweden (Ersatz), Norway (Cappelen Damm), Poland (Czarne), Lithuania (Hieronymus), Croatia (Fraktura), Slovenia (Cankarjeva), Greece (World Books), Israel (Nine Lives Press), Ethiopia/Amharic (Hohe Publisher)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: USA (Spuyten Duyvil), Russia (New Literary Review), Czech Republic (FRA), Slovakia (Kalligram), Hungary (Gondolat), Bulgaria (Paradox), Romania (Allfa), Macedonia (Makedonska Rech), Belarus (ARCHE), Georgia (Sulakauri)
Year of Publication: 1999
Juri AndruchowytschYear of Publication: 1999
My Final Territory
»Yuri Andrukhovych is one of Ukraine’s preeminent authors and cultural commentators. In recognition of his literary writings and his role as public intellectual he has received numerous...
Rights sold to:
English world rights (University of Toronto Press), Spanish world rights (Acantilado), Hungary (Racio), Serbia (Kulturni Centar Novi Sad)
Year of Publication: 1996
Juri AndruchowytschYear of Publication: 1996
Perverzion
The godchild of Rabelais and Bakhtin, Bulgakov and Esterházy, it is a whirligig of forms, styles, and apocryphal traditions – an adventure for readers who view life not as...
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USA (Northwestern UP), Spain (Acantilado), Russia (NLO), France (Noir sur Blanc), Italy (Del Vecchio), Finland (Loki Kirjat), Poland (Czarne), Bulgaria (Paradox), Serbia (Clio)
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News
Serhiy Zhadan receives Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought 2022
The jury praises Zhadan as »a great storyteller who continues the tradition of Central European literature while revolutionising it at the same time.«News