Representation of a prominent public figure of Yuriy Fedkovych in Chernivtsi’s cultural memory narrative

Abstract

The body of the article goes on to discuss the problem of a new portrayal and interpretation of a significant impact of the Ukrainian outstanding writer and a public figure Yuriy Fedkovych on the cultural memory of the capital of Bukovyna – Chernivtsi.
Since memory policy has become a crucial construct of social practices, the author’s focus revolves around a variety of theoretical perspectives of memory studies and explores the domain of honouring an outstanding public figure. Through the prism of memory studies, the author puts an emphasis on various commemorative practices such as erecting monuments, establishing museums, celebrating anniversaries, arranging mass events, naming cultural, artistic and educational institutions, renaming streets, creating new traditions, etc.
Together these studies provide important insights into Yuriy Fedkovych’s invaluable contribution as its editor into the socially and politically integrated contents of the first Ukrainian newspaper «Bukovyna». Being a forerunner of the Ukrainian national revival, Yuriy Fedkovych was deeply concerned with the sufferings and needs of the ordinary peasants of Bukovyna and made his best of involving them in cultivating their national awareness and identity.
Noteworthy, the «Bukovynian nightingale’s» literary, political and social legacy earned him deep respect not only among the progressive intelligentsia of Ukraine in late 19th and early 20th centuries, but also our contemporaries’ aspirations to practise societal memories and engrave Yuriy Fedkovych on the individual and collective memory of both Bukovyna and Chernivtsi.
The author boils down that the above-said is exemplified, at the city level, in the following commemorative practices: a) caring for a historical graveyard of Yuriy Fedkovych, located in the «Historical and Cultural Reserve “Cemetery in Zelena St.”»; b) arranging and renewing various events and festivities of the cycle of excursions in Yuriy Fedkovych Literary Memorial Museum; c) holding scientific conferences and annual presenting of each of the volumes of the modern five-volume edition of the writer’s works; d) honouring the outstanding public figure’s legacy, in April 1989 Chernivtsi University, one of the oldest classical universities in Ukraine, was named after Yuriy Fedkovych, to commemorate the «Bukovynian Nightingale» among youth and students; e) awarding the best educators of the city with the highest educational prize of the Chernivtsi City Council – Yuriy Fedkovych Award that was established in 1994; f) a solemn meeting of intelligentsia, academia, students and schoolchildren to traditionally award the winners of the Yuriy Fedkovych Literary and Art Prize. The venue of an annual ceremony is the city downtown space near the monument to Yuriy Fedkovych (made of bronze, the sculptor V. Hamal). It should be articulated that this cultural memory space has been conveying a powerful message and bearing strong Ukrainian national energy.