SOURCE: "Ševčenko," in Between Gogol'and Ševčenko: Polarity in the Literary Ukraine: 1798-1845, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1971, pp. 128-61.

In the following essay, Luckyj overviews Ševčenko's life and evaluates his writing and historical importance, claiming that "Ševčenko's role in Ukrainian literature can hardly be overstressed."

The appearance of Ševčenko must be seen not only in contrast to Gogol' but also to the Ukrainian intellectual milieu of the day. The existence of such a milieu, small as it was, was in itself of cardinal importance. In the 1820's and 1830's a series of issues, centered around the Ukraine, came into the open and there crystallized a certain definite attitude, shared by Ukrainian writers, historians and folklorists as to the need for a distinctly Ukrainian culture and literature. Linguistic efforts were made to form a separate Ukrainian literature. Gogol's decision not to participate in these efforts does...