How Ukrainian Poets of the 1960s Influenced the Foundation of the Ukrainian Nation State
Ukrainian writer-dissidents of the 1960s, known as the “Sixtiers” or “Shistdesiatnyky,” awakened a national consciousness and articulated a cultural identity that was foundational for the creation of the Ukrainian nation state. Following the 1956 political thaw under the new First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Nikita Krushchev, in the 1960s Ukraine experienced a tidal wave of creative literary output focused on Ukrainian cultural independence from Soviet Russian dominance. The Shistdesiatnyky were dedicated to honesty and telling the truth. According to Olga Bertelsen in The Labyrinth of the KGB: Ukraine’s Intelligentsia in the 1960s-1970s , “the 1960s were characterized by the rise of lyric confessional poetry, evidence of the emergence of a new type of subjectivity, openness, and intimacy. Poetry seemed to help overcome the individual and collective tragedy of cultural disruption caused by Stalin’s terror. The unprecedented popularity of poetr...
