Rafeyenko, Volodymyr

Mondegreen: Songs about Death and Love

Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 2022.

New Book.

Item #10796
ISBN: 9780674271708

Paperback. 204 pp.

Mondegreen tells the story of a refugee from Ukraine's Donbas region who has escaped to Kyiv at the onset of the Ukrainian-Russian war. Written in beautiful, experimental style, the novel shows how people - and cities - are capable of radical transformation and how this, in turn, affects their interpersonal relations and cultural identification.

"True to its title, Rafeyenko's Mondegreen is a tapestry of Soviet rock lyrics, traditional folk ballads, the poems of Taras Shevchenko, and contemporary literary memes, all filtered through the ears of a Ukrainian language learner...Given the complexity of the text, it's astonishing how much Andryczyk was able to impart in his English version. Moreover, the translation leaves the reader not with a sense of loss but with a feeling that over the horizon there is a tantalizingly rich and vibrant world that one can only access if they too learn Ukrainian... Mondegreen is truly indulgent, a lyrical celebration of words and their power, not just to express but to transform.
--Lillian Posner "Los Angeles Review of Books" (8/1/2022 12:00:00 AM).

Price: $25.00