13. “Kobzar” – from sympathy to disappointment

Under the influence of Soviet leaders a modest and uncouth peasant Tscribbler with a gift for creating stanza and painting rose to poetic prominence in the image of the revolutionary Ukrainian who was brave enough to challenge Russian tsardom and call for liberty.

Preliminaries

The Internet offers a selected bibliography of over 300 entries that include all of the major books in English about Shevchenko and his literary and art works. This is but a tiny portion of works dedicated to the glorification of the Ukrainian poet. In accordance with the rules of idolatry the achievements of the “minstrel” (verbal translation of “Kobzar”) are overestimated like it happens in Andrew Gregorovich’s speech that drew farfetched parallels between Shakespeare and Shevchenko. The false note rings in the title:

Shakespeare, Burns & Shevchenko – by Andrew Gregorovich, Speech at the Shevchenko Museum, Toronto, March 10, 2012.

Some equivalence may be established between Burns and Shevchenko on the basis of their humble origins. However, this equivalence proves to be superficial in terms of the transparency, predictability and imaginative force that tip the balance in favour of Burns. 

The major portion of works permeated with idolatry was published in the Soviet Union. The ruthless Soviet dictator Stalin who launched glorification of Shevchenko in the Soviet Union at the end of the 30-s of the XXth century gave such a powerful boost to the minstrel’s image that Shevchenko was accepted meekly by the Soviet society as “the greatest Ukrainian poet”.