Last week, I wrote about a newly rediscovered and catalogued book of works by the Ukrainian poet and fabulist Hlibov and promised an update about the other books Cambridge has by and about him this week.

First, though – his name.  Last week’s 1927 book had his name as Leonyd Hlibiv.  His standard Ukrainian form is Leonid Hlibov.  One of the items we have about him is in Russian, which would normally have him as Leonid Glebov, but it is a pre-revolutionary essay published in 1911 and therefore has pre-reform spelling – so he is Gli︠e︡bov there (technically Gli︠e︡bova since his name is in the genitive form; I have updated the record to give it a modern spelling reference too (Glebova)).

Cambridge University Libraries have four books (three Ukrainian, one Russian) where Hlibov is named in the catalogue record as author or subject:

• Hlibov as author:
  • Last week’s 1927 Tvory, now with updated record
  • The MMLL library also has a 2008 collection of fables by Leonid Hlibov, Hryhoriĭ Skovoroda, and I︠E︡vhen Hrebinka
• Hlibov as subject:
  • The 1911 critical essay in Russian referred to above about Hlibov’s fables (baĭki in Ukrainian) by Nikolaĭ Chechulin; very representative of its time, the book’s title refers to Hlibov’s works not as Ukrainian but as malorusskii︠a︡ (Little Russian)
  •  A 1982 biography and critical appraisal of Hlibov by Borys Derkach

Hlibov’s work no doubt features in other books we hold, as one of too many authors or subjects for the cataloguer to be reasonably able to list.  One example I can definitely point to is Krim “Kobzari︠a︡”, an anthology of Ukrainian literature from 1792 to 1883, of which we have 2 volumes so far.  I’ve referred in the past to the fantastic Chytomo website, and Hlibov in the context of this anthology is the subject of this Chytomo article in Ukrainian.  The anthology’s title means “Other than Kobzar'”, ie the often overlooked literature from the time of Taras Shevchenko’s Kobzar’, his epoch-defining collection of poetry.  The article’s title is ‘Leonid Hlibov – the writer who lived in the shadow of Kobzar”.  It ends with the rather stinging line ‘Шістдесят шість років. Два хороші вірші. Іншим і так не щастить.’ (66 years. 2 good poems. Others are not so lucky.), but it is a very good read about Hlibov’s difficult life and career – his Ukrainophone publishing activities saw him arrested, fired from his teaching job, and left living under police surveillance.

On a happier note, the National Library of Ukraine’s fantastic digital collection has 17 entries featuring work by Hlibov (here, screenshot above), including, wonderfully the entire full 500-odd-page edition of his Baĭki i virshi [Fables and verses] published in 1959 – here.  For those with Ukrainian, the digital library is well worth visiting and using.  It is amazing what the National Library is managing to produce and maintain during Russia’s terrible war.

Mel Bach