Oleksandr Astafiev
Oleksandr Grygorovych Astafiev is a Ukrainian poet, translator, literary specialist, publicist, cultural and social activist. Astafiev is a Professor of literary theory, comparative literature, and Slavic studies at Kiev University. He is a member of The National Writers' Union of Ukraine (1992), The International PEN Club (2008). He also was awarded the Borys Hrinchenko Literature Prize in 1995, the Mykhailo Kotsubynskyi Prize in 2001, and the Bohdan and Levko Lepkyh Prize in 2009.
Biography
Early life
Astafiev was born on August 10, 1952 in Lazarevo Cape, in the Khabarovsk Territory (now Russian Federation), in the Soviet Concentration Camp, into the repressed family. His father – Grygoriy Astafiev, talanted musician, was cruelly killed by prisoners.
After the amnesty in 1953, Oleksandr together with his mother moved to the village Vovkivci, Borshchiv district, Ternopil region. It was the place where his mother’s family lived after the deportation from Poland.
Education
In 1980 he graduated from the Ukrainian Poligraphic Institute in Lviv (now the Ukrainian Academy of Typography) with a major in journalism. He obtained his Ph.D (1990) and Grand Ph.D (1999) at Taras Shevchenko Literature Institute of Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences specializing in literature theory.
Career
Since 1996, he has been a visiting Professor at the University of Warsaw and the Poloniyna Academy (Poland), the Sorbonne (France), the University of Greifswald, the Lüneburg University (Germany), and the University of Budapest (Hungary).
Works
He first published his poems in the magazines “Ukraine” (1968) and “Morning” (1969). Astafiev is the author of the poetry books “Leaf Bell” (Lviv, 1981), “Engagement” (Kiev, 1988), “Snow Born Words” (Nizhyn, 1995), of the books of poems and translations “Close-up and Distance” (Kiev, 1996, 2nd edition Nizhyn, 1999), “On the Kyiv Table” (Kiev, 2005), “My Twins, Eyes” (Kiev, 2007), “The Catalog Items”, “Lviv. To be Called For” (both – Kiev, 2008). Astafiev translated lyric poets of V-XVIII centuries from Arabic, songs of vagants and minnesingers from Old German and Latin, poems of Provencal troubadours from Old French, writings of Victor Hugo, Giyom Appoliner, Jacques Prevert, René Char from French, “Crimean Sonnets” of Adam Mickiewich (Kiev, 2006) and his ballads, some writings of Yaroslav Ivashkevich, Julian Tuwim, Leopold Staff, Karol Woytila from Polish, poems of Pencho Slavejkov, Peyo Yavorov, Denyo Denev from Bulgarian, writings of Yanka Kupala, Maxym Bogdanovich, Ales Rezanov from Belarusian, lyrics of Vladimir Solovjov, Anna Akhmatova, Marina Cvetaeva, Vladimir Mayakovskiy, Velimir Khlenikov from Russian, poems of Arevshat Avakyan from Armenian, and others. His translations were published in the magazine “Universe”, the books of translations of individual authors, different anthologies and the Foreign Literature readers. As a scientist, Astafiev is a supporter of the structural- semiotic aesthetics and applies these ideas for Slavonic literatures history’s study and interpretation. He also investigates the problems of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature. He is the author of 12 monographs and literary books, among which the most important are: “Stylization” (Nizhyn, 1998), “Lyrics of Ukrainian Emigration” (Kiev, 1998), “Image and Character” (Kiev, 2000), “The Famine Issue in Ukrainian Literature: an Attempt of Existential Analysis” (Greifswald, 2004) [Das Thema des Hungertodes in Der Ukrainischen Literatur (Ein Literaturhistoruscher Überblick). Greifswald: Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, 2004], “Poetic Systems of the Ukrainian Emigration” (Kiev, 2005), “The New-York Group of Poets” (Kharkiv, 2005), “Paris Lectures” (Paris, 2006) [Les conferences de Paris. – Paris, 2006], “Comparative Analysis of Literary Translation” (Kiev, 2008, coauthor).
Astafiev is the author of a number of publicist articles, essays, feuilletons published in the periodical press, documentary satirical novel “What are Nizhyn Ruins Talking About?” (magazine “Vitchyzna”, 1991, No.11), book of pamphlets “Nizhyn Grimaces” (Nizhyn, 1994, coauthor).
Honors
A number of times Astafiev was honored by Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Society of Prosvita and Kyiv National Taras Shevshenko University for his research and teaching achievments. In 2008 he was awarded with the Gold Medal of Poloniyna Academy (Chenstohova, Poland) for his special contribution to the development of Ukrainian-Polish cultural relations. He received “The Letter of Thanks” from the President of Ukraine in 2009 for “his significant contribution to the development of the Ukrainian state”.