Literature interacting with modernity

Volodymyr Yeshkiliev, a Ukrainian writer and a jury member of the Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize 2025, discusses modern literature, its relevance and discourses, and its focus on a narrower audience in the current screen age.

Volodymyr Yeshkiliev is a Ukrainian writer, essayist, playwright, poet, literary critic, and cultural figure. He is a multiple award-winning author who has published 19 novels in various genres (historical, fantasy, arthouse, and conspiracy). He does not belong to any literary school and has developed his own metaphorical style in prose, filled with paradoxes and intertextual play involving the reader.

Yeshkiliev coined the cultural term Stanislav phenomenon, referring to a group of postmodernist writers and artists that emerged in Ivano-Frankivsk (formerly Stanislav) in the early 1990s. He was the editor of several cultural publications, such as Pleroma, A Small Ukrainian Encyclopedia of Current Literature, and Ї journal (Issue 26).

His cultural interests include the history and religious teachings of the East. He went to India, Iran, Tibet, Nepal, the Middle East, and the South Caucasus, later describing his trips in travel notes, including the book Tibet.

Yeshkiliev is now writing a continuation of the Cursed Hetmans series and a new work about modernity. In parallel, he is working on a series of essays on Facebook as a way of "keeping fit," testing current topics, and communicating with the audience. He writes prose, essays, and plays and heads the literary and dramatic department of the Ivano-Frankivsk Drama and Comedy Theater, where his dramatic works are staged.

What should a Ukrainian author be like, and what "superpower" should they possess?

From my experience, a modern writer is not just someone who simply writes books. Through literature, you can reach many different professional arenas, and I think that's a good thing. I am deeply convinced that a writer should not be a "study author." Instead, they should constantly learn about real life. For example, as I was writing the novel Pathos, I would sit in parks and deliberately listen in on people's conversations, noting what they talked about and how. I studied their manners, pronunciation, and speech to later convey these dialogues in the novel. A writer should be observant, listen carefully, and, in general, be present. Otherwise, you will write everything from your own experiences, and all your characters will embody you. They will be monotonous, like puppets playing in theoretical scenes. The only way to make them "alive" is to depict them from life.

Your texts always feature highly realistic and accurate details. Where does your love for precision in texts come from?

I write my historical novels with reenactors. I need to understand the angle at which a sword is swung, how chain mail or a crossbow works, and how soldiers were trained. All this makes me aware of many details. I see a lack of these essential details in some novels penned by my colleagues. They sometimes write about a warrior using a sword in a battle and describe its trajectory. However, when you understand how it was used, you realize that he could be engaged in splitting logs, but not fighting, with that kind of trajectory.

I respect my reader. For this reason, I cannot afford to write about something I have no idea about. You may come across a person with much better expertise. For example, a professional astrophysicist may read my fantasy novel about starships and planets, and I, as an author, would not want to disappoint readers like that. That would be amateurish on my part. I like accuracy, clear facts, and realistic moments. That is why some of my novels have appendices, which are like encyclopedic articles where I analyze certain aspects, explain why events unfolded as they did, and describe the sources I used. I write them to ensure everything is absolutely clear and leaves no ambiguities.

Regarding occasional amateurishness in Ukrainian texts, what is the condition of literary criticism in Ukraine, which is supposed to prevent such things?

There is no culture of professional literary criticism in Ukraine. We don't even have an institution that would work on this. There are only critics who belong to certain "groups": someone writes a book, and their friends write reviews. This is not a professional analysis, study, or real assessment, but mutual PR campaigns within small groups. As a result, we have a wave of "stupid kitsch" displacing quality texts. Good books are not prominent, because no one singles them out. Instead, the list of the best books includes examples of graphomania promoted by PR people and, furthermore, supported by grants and prizes. And then people in the West ask: "Don't you have better writers?"

In Ukraine, literary critics look not at the text but at the author: who they are and what their milieu and friends are. This is typical provincialism. Instead, there should be intellectual criticism that shapes taste, sets reference points, and fosters discourse around literature, rather than focusing on biographies or personal connections.

What key issues do you see in creating new modern literature?

We live in the screen age. Millions of people wake up every morning with their phone screens and fall asleep with them, too. Screens are around us everywhere. Today, the main problem for an author is that a potential reader says, "Great, you have a magnificent text! But I'd rather wait until it's made into a film." It's difficult for literature to fight this trend. However, with the efforts of professional artists, it can become the basis for creating a screen product, reaching a much larger audience.

Of course, literature remains a fundamental thing, but its manifestability is limited today as it manifests indirectly. So, regarding tools for presenting Ukraine to the world, a few high-quality films and TV series would reach a broader audience, as did the HBO-produced Chernobyl series. We must learn to make such products ourselves here in Ukraine.

I agree with your theory that the modern mass audience consumes audiovisual content much more efficiently. This is evidenced by statistics and ratings. However, does this mean that modern literature has become a form of understanding the world for some specific groups, which is not in demand by the majority?

Modern literature focuses on a narrower, more elite audience, who read books and later talk about the meanings and stories, sharing their own reflections. Modern literature is tied to the present moment. It is located in the discourse of hypermodernity. If it breaks out of this discourse, it loses its relevance. And this raises another problem: Ukraine has many writers who still write but live in their own temporal locus — loosely speaking, the 19th century. They have long been outside the boundaries of cultural discourse and have therefore turned into "museum exhibits." They wonder why their texts are not read and why the topics they put forward for public discussion are not debated. The answer is very simple — context. You have to be relevant; otherwise, you are going nowhere.

Did the authors who submitted their works for the Encounter prize this year successfully reinterpret the centuries-old Ukrainian-Jewish context?

All these texts are about identity. More exactly, they are about the complex identities of people with a common origin but living in different contexts. These stories depict the lives of ethnic Jews living in various cultural worlds: Austria-Hungary, Russia, and the Polish shtetls, i.e., Galicia [Halychyna]. They find themselves in contexts where other identities, not their own, dominate. These people try either to fit into someone else's identity or, vice versa, resist and keep their identities protected in their little fortresses.

There is always tension in this, even if it's not a national tragedy. These stories always contain a moment of renouncing something, a forced compromise with oneself, conditioned by the present, the past, the current situation, and many other factors. These are extremely complex studies of psychological moments of life, compromises, and identity quests: "Who am I in this world? Where is my foundation? What is happening around?" In fact, these books are about this. These are the voices of different people, eras, and contexts. The authors employ different styles, artistic means, and presentation forms. This is a very interesting reinterpretation through the prism of hypermodernity.

Did you find it difficult to choose among the large variety of submissions?

It was crucial for me to determine the selection criteria: What am I looking for? After all, my selection and the consequences of my mistakes depend on this. First, I found it important to weed out opportunistic works — they are always cheap, primitive, and unpleasant. I was also focused on texts interacting with modernity. After all, we live in an era of changing discourses, turbulence, and conceptual transformations. For me, the Encounter prize is a kind of flag that we put on a work with the appeal, "Pay attention to it, read it! It is modern, stylish, and relevant. It matters both now and for your future!" I was looking for a new, fresh voice that would discuss Ukrainian-Jewish relations with a distinct tone and perspective on the issue. In fact, I was looking for the accent of hypermodernity, the discourse happening now — something sharp, bright, with modern "spices," and a rejection of previous narratives.

Can the Encounter literary prize become a space for conversations about the experience of the two cultures and their understanding?

Literature often assumes the role of a compensatory space. It does not provide broad discourse but can offer dialogue for learning about another culture. In this sense, the prize works as a platform for an encounter, which is why we are discussing these things today. This is already a big step forward. Even 30 years ago, these topics were either taboo or exclusively speculative.

However, the problem is that there is still no common platform or authoritative framework that would allow for balancing extremes and forming a shared vision. After all, it is the "middle way" that has prospects. I am deeply convinced that a literary prize is insufficient for a dialogue between the Ukrainian and Jewish nations. Art cannot and should not take on the function of politics. In our history, problematic topics were often voiced by authors, who exposed things no one else dared to voice. It often cost them the freedom to write. I think we all have to work together towards establishing intercultural relations with the Jewish nation while clearly demarcating spheres of influence and obligations. This is the only way for us to achieve our goal.

On 3 October 2025, we will find out which of the shortlisted books will win the Encounter: Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize.

A three-member jury will select the best work of 2024–2025 in this field. Zbruc's editorial board offers conversations with the jury members to its esteemed readership.

The 2025 shortlist includes the following books:

Sonya Kapinus, White Rabbits (Kyiv: Publishing House ORLANDO, 2024)
Sonya Kapynus, Bili Krolyky (Kyiv: Vydavnychyy dim ORLANDO, 2024)

Mia Marchenko, Kateryna Pekur, Children of the Burning Time (Kharkiv Readberry, 2024)
Miya Marchenko, Kateryna Pekur, Dity vohnennoho chasu (Kharkiv: Readberry, 2024) 

Isaac Leib Peretz, Hasidic, (Kyiv: Dukh i Litera, 2024)
Yitskhok Leybesh Perets, Khasydsʹke (Kyiv: Dukh i Litera, 2024)

Khrystyna Semeryn (Editor), Centuries of Presence. The Jewish World in Ukrainian Short Prose of the 1880s–1930s (Kyiv: Dukh i Litera, 2024)
Khrystyna Semeryn (Uporyadnytsya), Stolittya prysutnosti. Yevreysʹkyy svit v ukrayinsʹkiy korotkiy prozi 1880-kh–1930-kh (Kyiv: Dukh i Litera, 2024)

Eli Schechtman, Ringen oyf der Neshome (Rings on the Soul) (Lviv: Apriori Publishing House, 2023)
Eli Schechtman, Goyrl. Kilʹtsya na dushi (Lviv: Vydavnytstvo Apriori, 2023)

In December 2019, the Canadian charitable non-profit organization Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, in cooperation with Ukraine's NGO "Publishers Forum" (Lviv, Ukraine), announced a new initiative entitled Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize.

The prize aims to build on the common experiences of Ukrainians and Jews over the centuries, expressed in the written word. It is awarded annually to the most influential work that fosters Ukrainian-Jewish understanding, helping solidify Ukraine's place as a multi-ethnic society. The Encounter prize is awarded in two categories in alternate years: fiction (prose, poetry, and drama) and nonfiction (historical works, biographies, memoirs, journalism, essays).

The first Encounter prize was awarded in September 2020 in the fiction category to Vasyl Makhno for his novel Eternal Calendar (Lviv: The Old Lion Publishing House, 2019). The second year of the award in 2021 was dedicated to the nonfiction category, with the winner being Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern for the Ukrainian-language translation of his groundbreaking work, The Anti-Imperial Choice: The Making of the Ukrainian Jew (Kyiv: Krytyka, 2018). The third year of the award was held in 2023 in the fiction category, with Sofia Andrukhovych named the winner for her novel Amadoka (Lviv: The Old Lion Publishing House, 2020). The winner in the fourth year of the prize in 2024, in the category of nonfiction, was Yuriy Skira for his book, Solid. The Life-Saving Footwear Factory (Lviv: Choven Publishing House, 2023).

The 2022 Encounter prize was not awarded in connection with Russia's genocidal war against Ukraine.

Interviewed by Ksenia Pavlyshyn.

Originally appeared in Ukrainian @Zbruc

Translated from the Ukrainian by Vasyl Starko.