A romance with discourse In Krytyka, No. 1 (3), 1998, pp. 22-27.

The material is a review of Solomiia Pavlychko's book The Discourse of Modernism in Ukrainian Literature. The text consists of an introduction and five parts.

In the first part, the author agrees with Pavlychko's on the artificial nature of Ukrainian cultural movement known as “narodnytstvo”, but criticizes her for not paying enough attention to the role of libidinal factors in Ukrainian modernist literature.

The second part analyzes the state of Ukrainian modernism in the early 20th century, concluding that the literary anthologies of the time were unable to form a new cultural discourse.

The third part focuses on Ukrainian “neoclassical” modernism of the 1920s. It questons the concept of “European culture”. The author insists on the importance of a broader study of Mykola Zerov's poetry.

The fourth part examines the figures of Viktor Petrov and Valerian Pidmohylnyi as unique examples of urban consciousness in Ukrainian modernist literature.

The fifth part deals with the forced division of Ukrainian literature of the 1930s into loyal to Soviet ideology and emigrant one.

Vasyl Kostiuk compliments Pavlychko's book, seeing it as a competiton to the most famous contemporary novels. He appreciates the innovative feminist orientation of Pavlychko's work and its ability to be undertood by a broader audience.