As I write this in March of 2022, a month into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I’m appalled by the heartbreaking stories of people fleeing for their lives while showing unimaginable courage in the face of adversity. The arts are not exempt from the tragedy. Nearly every day, we hear about Ukrainian dancers, musicians, writers, and others in the arts being killed or injured, or having to leave their country.
A feeling of helplessness overcomes me as I continue to sleep in a warm bed every night and to not fear for my safety every time I leave my home. At least one thing I can do is to promote novels set in Ukraine and related in some way to the arts. After all, that is why I created Art In Fiction—to celebrate novels inspired by the arts, although I never expected to do so in such painful circumstances.
In this post, I share four novels that are set in Ukraine and have ties to the arts.
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The House with the Stained-Glass Window by Zanna Sloniowska Listed in the Other category on Art In Fiction, The House with the Stained-Glass Window was originally written in Polish and is set in the town of Lviv in Ukraine. Amid the turbulence of 20th-century Lviv, four generations of women from the same fractious family live beneath one roof while striving to find their way across the decades of upheaval in an ever-shifting city. First there is Great-Granma, tiny and terrifying, shaped by a life of exile, hardship and doomed love, now fighting to keep her iron grip on the lives of her daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter. Then there is Aba, arthritic but devoted; cowed and despised by her mother, her one chance of happiness thwarted and her hopes of studying painting crushed. Thirdly, Marianna, the brilliant opera star: bold, beautiful and a fearless crusader for Ukrainian independence, who is shot during a demonstration and whose life and martyrdom casts a shadow upon the young life of the fourth and final woman, her daughter. More important even than these four women though is the character of the city of Lviv (or Lwów, or Lvov, depending on the point in history). A city of markets and monuments, streets and spires, where history and the present collide, civilisations clash and stories rise up on every corner. |
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Mesopotamia by Serhiy Zhadan Listed in the Literature category on Art In Fiction this unique work of fiction from the troubled streets of Ukraine gives invaluable testimony to the new history unfolding in the nation’s post-independence years. The novel is Serhiy Zhadan’s ode to Kharkiv, the traditionally Russian-speaking city in Eastern Ukraine where he makes his home. A leader among Ukrainian post‑independence authors, Zhadan employs both prose and poetry to address the disillusionment, complications, and complexities that have marked Ukrainian life in the decades following the Soviet Union’s collapse. His novel provides an extraordinary depiction of the lives of working-class Ukrainians struggling against an implacable fate: the road forward seems blocked at every turn by demagogic forces and remnants of the Russian past. |
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Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov Listed in the Literature category on Art In Fiction this novel takes place in poverty and violence-wracked Kyiv following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Unemployed writer Viktor Zolotaryov leads a down-and-out life with his only friend, Misha, a penguin that he rescued when the local zoo started getting rid of animals it couldn’t feed. Even more nerve-wracking for Victor: a local mobster has taken a shine to Misha and wants to borrow him for events. But Viktor thinks he’s finally caught a break when he lands a well-paying job at the Kyiv newspaper writing “living obituaries” of local dignitaries—articles to be filed for use when the time comes. The only thing is, the time always seems to come as soon as Viktor finishes writing the article. Slowly understanding that his own life may be in jeopardy, Viktor also realizes that the only thing that might be keeping him alive is his penguin. |
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Everything is Illuminatedby Jonathan Safran Foer Listed in the Other category on Art In Fiction, Everything is Illuminated is not strictly related to the arts, but I had to include it because of the beauty of the writing and the clever way in which the author brings together past and present and uses plays and dreams to tell some of the intertwining stories. The novel was named Book of the Year by the Los Angeles Times and the winner of numerous awards, including the Guardian First Book Prize, the National Jewish Book Award, and the New York Public Library Young Lions Prize. With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man — also named Jonathan Safran Foer — sets out to find the woman who may or may not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war; an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior; and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past |
Written by Carol M. Cram for Art In Fiction
