’We went to the west to return to the east’, or Ukrainian translators abroad

Abstract

The establishment of the Ukrainian state, Ukraine’s relations with other countries, interaction between the Ukrainian culture and other cultures are impossible without translation. Translation acts as a connecting link between languages and cultures, unites peoples, contributes to their mutual understanding, cooperation and mutual enrichment with spiritual values and traditions. During hard times for the Ukrainian state, when its best representatives had to leave their homes and go abroad, the Ukrainian diaspora became a lifeboat for the Ukrainian people and culture. The representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora (poets, writers, literary scholars, critics, etc.) not just published their works abroad but were actively involved in translation practice, translated into Ukrainian, introducing the Ukrainian reader to the best achievements of the world literature, as well as promoted their own literature and culture abroad, translating from the Ukrainian language. The article outlines the major milestones of the life and work of the famous translators, belonging to the Ukrainian diaspora, such as Yurii Klen, Mykhailo Orest, Ihor Kostetsky, Igor Kaczurowskyj, Anna-Halja Horbatsch, Sviatoslav Hordynsky, Yurii Lucky, Oleh Zuievsky, Vira Vovk.