... Eastern fatalism, oh yes -- the Russians have it; we’re in worse shape, we, actually, are neither here nor there, Europe has managed to infect us with the raving fever of individual desire, faith in our personal “Yes I can!” -- however, we never developed a foundation for such faith, those structures that might support that “I can!” and thus have tussled about for ages at the bottom of history -- our Ukrainian “I can!” helpless and alone. Amen. [p. 23]
Not always an easy book to read, and definitely not easy to sum up or review. It's a stream-of-consciousness narrative (in first, second and third person) focussing on 'Oksana', a Ukrainian poet who lectures at Harvard; who reflects on the painful end of a passionate relationship with a Ukrainian artist; who tries to reconcile the pre-independence Ukraine in which she grew up with the raw new country that is still reclaiming its own culture and language.
Fieldwork in Ukrainian Sex is poetic, cathartic, headlong: I lost my way in some of the more baroque run-on sentences, but never doubted their construction. Zabuzhko (or at least her narrator) is endlessly discursive, distracted, struck by an idea or an echo, plunged into suicidal depression or elevated to ecstasy in a moment. Her affair with the Ukrainian artist is quite stormy on both sides: Oksana is not a delicate romantic, but an independent woman with agency, aware of and revelling in her sexuality. Exploring the darker aspects of the relationship (arguments, emotional abuse), she finds resonances with the Soviet miasma of fear and mistrust. She's also fiercely in love with at least some elements of Ukrainian culture, while trying to balance Ukrainian mores with her experience of American life.
This novel was on the Ukrainian bestseller list for years after its first publication in 1996, and in 2006 was named “the most influential Ukrainian book for the fifteen years of independence.” I suspect that it was groundbreaking for its use of (Ukrainian) language, as well as for its rich and explicit depiction of female sensuality, sexuality and love. I found it a surprisingly easy read once I got into the rhythm of the sentences, and the English translation never felt clumsy or forced, though of course I am no judge of what might have been lost.
Not sure I liked the book as much as I liked the writing. I'm aiming to read more by Zabuzhko.
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