Ihor Myronovych Kalynets ( uk, Ігор Миронович Калинець; born 1939) is a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

and

Soviet dissident Soviet dissidents were people who disagreed with certain features of Soviet ideology or with its entirety and who were willing to speak out against them. The term ''dissident'' was used in the Soviet Union in the period from the mid-1960s until ...

Background

Kalynets was born in

Khodoriv Khodoriv ( uk, Ходорів; pl, Chodorów) is a city in Stryi Raion, Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Khodoriv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Its population is approximately . The city was fi ...

, the son of an

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...

. His parents upheld Ukrainian cultural traditions. As a child, Kalynets read banned literature in the

Ukrainian language Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state lan ...

, and watched the mass

deportations Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

of Ukrainians by the communists. He graduated from

Lviv University The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...

in 1961. He began writing in the 1950s, and his first book of poetry was published in 1966. Because of censorship, the rest of his works were published in the West.

Writing

One of the main themes of Kalynets's poetry is cultural glorification. Much of his writing uses a vocabulary full of cultural allusions. His work reflects his pride in Ukrainian culture and the country's ancient pagan and early Christian heritage. In ''Kupalo's Fire'' (1966), Kalynets connects the country's folklore and ancient traditions to modern, Soviet life. Most of his works do not contain glaring political criticisms, rather unexpressed denunciation. He drew strong influence from

Bohdan Ihor Antonych Bohdan Ihor Antonych ( uk, Богдан-Ігор Антонич; 5 October 1909, in Nowica, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Nowica – 6 July 1937, in Lviv) was a 20th-century Ukrainian poet. In 1934 Antonych received third prize honours from the Ivan ...

, and dedicated one of his poems to him. He also dedicated poems to various Ukrainian cultural icons, including

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko ( uk, Тарас Григорович Шевченко , pronounced without the middle name; – ), also known as Kobzar Taras, or simply Kobzar (a kobzar is a bard in Ukrainian culture), was a Ukrainian poet, wr ...

, filmmaker

Alexander Dovzhenko Oleksandr Petrovych Dovzhenko or Alexander Petrovich Dovzhenko ( uk, Олександр Петрович Довженко, ''Oleksandr Petrovych Dovzhenko''; russian: Алекса́ндр Петро́вич Довже́нко, ''Aleksandr Petro ...

, and composer Stanislav Liudkevych among others. He refused to dedicate any poems to the Soviet leaders, breaking from the custom which was typical among poets in that time.

Arrest

As a "Ukrainian bourgeois nationalist", opposed to the policies of russification and general Soviet lawlessness, he was sentenced to nine years in a

labour camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

and exile.''Case Studies on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms: A World Survey'', published in 1976

His wife, Iryna, was arrested in January 1972. Kalynets refused to cooperate with the KGB and began behaving in a defiant manner. In March 1971, the 24th Congress of the

Communist Party of Ukraine The Communist Party of Ukraine, Abbreviation: KPU, from Ukrainian and Russian "" is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 as the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine which was banned in 1991 (accord ...

denounced Kalynets' poetry as "reprehensible", made worse by the fact that he allowed his work to be published in the West. He was then indicted on the grounds that he "issues a veiled appeal to struggle against the Soviet government", "calls for a revival of the Uniate Church", "covertly presents the idea that the Ukrainian people are oppressed by the Soviet government", and "articulates a nationalist ideology, as well as nostalgia for the past and for an independent state". On 11 August 1972, he was arrested, and on 15 November 1972, he was convicted for anti-Soviet activities by a closed court and sentenced to six years in labour camps and three years in exile.Kobets, Svitlana. "Fire of Kupala by Ihor Kalynets", ''Censorship: an International Encyclopedia''. (London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers) 200

/ref> He served out his sentences in the Perm, Russia, Perm political

labour camps A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (espec ...

, first at No. 35 at Vsechsvyatskaya, but he was then moved to No. 36 in the village of Kutchino, Perm Region. While in prison, he took part in the resistance movement. He was involved with hunger strikes, the writing of appeals and the writing of chronicles of the two camps. After being released from prison in 1981, he worked in the Lviv Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR library

Personal life

He was married to

and fellow dissident, the late

Iryna Kalynets Iryna Onufriyivna Kalynets ( uk, Іри́на Ону́фріївна Калине́ць, 6 December 1940, Lviv – 31 July 2012, Lviv) was a Ukraine, Ukrainian poet, writer, activist and Soviet dissident during the 1970s. Kalynets was the wife o ...

(died 31 July 2012, aged 72), who also actively opposed the suppression of the

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , native_name_lang = uk , caption_background = , image = StGeorgeCathedral Lviv.JPG , imagewidth = , type = Particular church (sui iuris) , alt = , caption = St. George's ...

and was a professor of Ukrainian language and literature at the Polytechnical Institute of Lviv. She was sentenced to six years at hard labor.

Honors

* 1992: Shevchenko Prize * 1997:

Antonovych prize The Antonovych Prize is an annual award of US$10,000 given by the Omelian and Tetiana Antonovych Foundation since 1981 for literary works written in Ukrainian and for research in Ukrainian studies. Institutions, individuals, and members of the pr ...

* (2009)

Collections of Poetry

*''Kupalo's Fire'' (1966) *''Poetry from Ukraine'' (1970) *''Summing up Silence'' (1971) *''The Crowning of a Scarecrow'' (1972) translated into

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

in 1975 *''The Awakened Muse'' (1991)

References

External links

Notice of death of Iryna Kalynets
(in Ukrainian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalynets, Ihor 1939 births Living people People from Khodoriv Ukrainian poets Ukrainian dissidents University of Lviv alumni Date of birth missing (living people) Soviet dissidents Recipients of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 4th class Recipients of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 5th class