EDITORIAL NOTE
The novel Fata Morgana, by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, was originally planned as the fourth volume in this series. For two reasons this plan had to be abandoned. Fata Morgana came out in an English translation in the Soviet Union in 1976. Secondly, a translator was found who was able to undertake the difficult task of translating Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, also by Kotsiubynsky. Readers of the series are thus offered the first professional translation of Kotsiubynsky’s masterpiece. The editor can say without any exaggeration: here is one of the masterworks of modern Ukrainian literature.
Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky (1864-1913) was a leading prose writer in Ukraine during the modernist period. His short stories, as well as his novels, are rooted in Ukrainian life, yet they explore in a truly contemporary manner the human psyche as it was perceived in world literature of that era. In this sense, Kotsiubynsky is one of the foremost European writers in Ukrainian literature, attuned to the spirit of the fin-de-siecle. In order to assess his place in literature, we have asked Professor Rubchak to write a preface to this volume, an appraisal that has reached the proportions of a major study. We are happy to print it as a separate essay, following the translation, along with exhaustive notes to the text itself, which were also prepared by Professor Rubchak. All in all, the volume offers a unique insight into the life and art of Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky.
- George S. N. Luckyj, Editor