Cassandra: A Dramatic Poem

“Ukrainka is a feminist and anticolonial Ukrainian writer who is at the very top of the national canon. We are more used to finding great men at the top of national canons, but in Ukraine we have a woman who subverted all the canons of patriarchal literature…The book I would like to recommend is Cassandra, which is about the Trojan War. The protagonist is the tragic Trojan prophetess who is cursed to always know the truth and never be believed. Through her eyes we see this tragedy unfold. It’s one of Ukrainka’s many significant poetic dramas. I chose this one because it has recently been brilliantly translated by Nina Murray, and it is about to be published by the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.” Read more...

The Best Ukrainian Literature

Sasha Dovzhyk, Literary Scholar