Polish-Ukrainian Relations in the Novel Jacob’s Century by Volodymyr Lys

Abstract

Volodymyr Lys is one of the most widely-read and recognisable contemporary Ukrainian writers, who has long established his position in the literary arena. He has written many novels, but he gained widespread popularity with the novel Jacob’s Century, which was reissued several times and even filmed for television. The author deals with many important topics within, such as issues of national identity, complicated Ukrainian history, memory, etc. However, the purpose of this article is to look at Volodymyr Lys’s work from the perspective of Polish-Ukrainian relations.

The pages of the novel present a hundred years of the history of Ukraine in which its hero – Jacob Mekh – is also entangled. He tells the story of his life from the perspective of almost one hundred years, during which he was a citizen of Russia, Poland, Germany, the Soviet Union and, finally, a free Ukraine. The novel takes place in Polisie, which belonged to the Second Polish Republic before the war, and where the hero has many opportunities to interact with Poles. At first, these experiences are not very positive (meeting with the impoverished nobleman ‘master’, for example); however, when Jacob joins the Polish army, he manages to establish very good relations with his Polish commanders, and even marry a Polish noblewoman.

An extremely moving moment in the novel is the attempt to deal with the tragic events in Volhynia in 1943. The author writes about these events with great sensitivity, avoiding a debate about who was guilty. He states that every death is a great tragedy and that both nations suffered a lot at that time.

Contrary to numerous, often harmful stereotypes, as well as various assessments of past events made by historians and politicians from both Poland and Ukraine, Lys notes that not everything in the relations between these Poles and Ukrainians was bad, and that both were able to live side by side, creating a shared history. And although inequality, jealousy, protectionism and, sometimes, even a bit of contempt appeared in Polish-Ukrainian contacts, this Ukrainian writer argues that these two nations are more united than divided.