Dnistrovyi Anatoliy
Ukrainian Essayist. Writer. Poet.
Original name: Anatoliy Oleksandrovych Astafiev.
Biography and oeuvre:
Anatoliy Dnistrovyi was born on 30 July 1974 in Ternopil. He is a son of Oleksandr Astafiev, a poet, literary critic, professor and Doctor of Philosophy. Anatoliy is a founder and member of "Eliot’s Friends" literary group (1993–1996). Member of the Ukrainian Writers Association.
Member of PEN Ukraine’s Revision Commission.
Education:
Secondary school № 20 in Ternopil. There he graduated from professional technical college № 2 (1991), Department of History and Philology at Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University (1997) and postgraduate studies at Kyiv National Agriculture University (2000); Doctor of Philosophy (2001).
Experience:
In different time periods, he was a lecturer at the National Agriculture University (Assistant at Department of Philosophy, 1997–2000), Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University (guest lecturer at the Institute of Philology, 2003). Anatoliy worked at the National Institute for Strategic Studies (Department of Ethnic Politics, Deputy Head of the Department, 2001–2005), in "Ukrainskyi Tyzhden" Magazine (Chief of Special Projects, editor of the ‘culture’, 2009–2011). In 2011, he became a PR Director at "Grani-T" Publishing House.
Romance philology:
Anatoliy Dnistrovyi works at the juncture of counterculture and urban prose with distinguished social and psychological traits. Latest novels are characterized with increasing essayistic style. Dnistrovyi has gained wide popularity thanks to his youth trilogy: novels "Slow Motion City" (2003), "Chaps" (2005), "Tibet on 8th Floor" (2005, publishing title – "Pathetic Fornication"). No less popular became his novel "Drosophila over a Volume of Kant" (2010).
Other aspects of his activity include poetry (collection "Abandoned Cities", 2004) and considerable expanse of essays mainly focusing on literary studies and philosophy of creativity (books: "Orpheus’ Autonomy", "Writings from the Environs"), politically philosophical exploration of liberal democracy (book "Breaches and Consensus"), nationalism and sociology of globalization.
Dnistrovyi translates from German, Czech, Polish, and Belarusian (Georg Trakl, Josef Weinheber, Paul Celan, Gottfried Benn, Gerhard Fritsch, Vítězslav Nezval, Ales Ryazanov). Some poetry works of Dnistrovyi have been translated into English, German, Armenian, Belarusian and Russian.
Bibliography
Poetry collections:
"Sermon to Magma" (Kyiv: Hranoslov, 1998),
"On Clio’s Death" (Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 1999),
"Observation" (Kyiv: Nova Deheneratsiia, 1999),
"Yellow Haze" (Donetsk: Nord-press, 2001),
"Abandoned cities" (Khmelnytskyi — Kyiv, 2004),
"Chronicle of the Typewriter" (Lutsk: Tverdynia, 2009).
Novels
"A Stranger in the Window" (Kyiv: Fakt, 2001),
"Slow Motion City" (Kyiv: Fakt, 2003),
"Chaps: a Specific Novel" (Kyiv: Fakt, 2005),
"Tibet on 8th Floor" (publishing title — "Pathetic fornication"; Kyiv: Folio, 2005),
"Drosophila over a Volume of Kant" (Lviv: Piramida, 2010).
"Chaps: a Specific Novel. Second Edition" (Lviv: Piramida, "Private collection", 2011).
Essay books
"Orpheus’ Autonomy: Variations on Topics of Poetic Works and Alike" (Kharkiv: Akta, 2008).
"Breaches and Consensus: Six Essays for Defence of Liberal Democracy in Transition" (Kharkiv: Akta, 2008).
"Writings from the Environs: Articles and Essays" (Kyiv: Grani-Т, 2010).
Other editions
"A Word about Cioran" (Foreword) // Emil Cioran. Doping for the Spirit. Essays (Kyiv: Grani-Т, 2011).
"The Problem of Malte’s Anxiety" (Foreword) // Rainer Maria Rilke. The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge; novel (Kyiv: Grani-Т, 2010).
"A White Girl (story)". Decameron: 10 Ukrainian Prosers for the Past Ten Years (Kharkiv: Family Leisure Club, 2010).
"The Teacher: A Play in One Act" Waiting for the Theatre: Anthology of Young Dramaturgy (Kyiv: Smoloskyp, 1998).
"Eliot’s Friends: Anatoliy Dnistrovyi". Ukrainian Literary Schools and Groups in 1960–1990s (Lviv: Piramida, "Private collection" series, 2009).
"The two novellas" [Text] / А. Dnistrovyi // Berezil : Literary Artistic Civil and Political Journal of the National Writers’ Union of Ukraine. – 2004. – N12. – P. 17-24.
Selected publications:
Dnistrovyi A. "Ezra Pound, or Boundaries of Intellectual Poetry". Moloda natsiia, 1999, Pt. 10.
Dnistrovyi A. "Archeaology of Ethnic Memory". Krytyka, 2000, № 6.
Dnistrovyi A. "Postmodernist" lessons of Volodymyr Vynnychenko: novel "The Deposits of Gold". Moloda natsiia, 1997, № 11.
Dnistrovyi A. "Honoring Valor". Krytyka, 2000, № 12.
Dnistrovyi A. "Literature and Mysticism". Literatura Plus, 2001, № 26.
Dnistrovyi A. "Poetry of the Jurassic Age". Literatura Plus, 2001, № 27
Dnistrovyi A. "Berkeley and Creative Imagination". Kalmius, 2001, № 4.
Dnistrovyi A. Partisans of Globalization // Ukrainskyi Tyzhden, 23.09.2010: http://tyzhden.ua/Publication/7512
Dnistrovyi A. Anti-Columbus, or the Earth is Not Round! // Ukrainskyi Tyzhden, 13.09.2010: http://utnetua.s12.yourdomain.com.ua/column/231/0/59/
Dnistrovyi A. Oligarchism versus Fascism // Ukrainskyi Tyzhden, 26.07.2010: http://utnetua.s12.yourdomain.com.ua/column/231/0/42/
Dnistrovyi A. Capitalism and Globalization (From Modern to Post-Contemporary Inequality) // Historians.in.ua, 12.03.2012: http://historians.in.ua/index.php/dyskusiya/174-anatolii-dnistrovyy-kapitalizm-i-hlobalizatsiia-vid-modernoi-do-postsuchasnoi-nerivnosti
Dnistrovyi A. Karl Marx Globus (Modern Marxism and Globalization: Contours of Prognosis) // Historians.in.ua, 02.04.2012: http://www.historians.in.ua/index.php/dyskusiya/204-anatolii-dnistrovyi-hlobus-imeni-karla-marksa.
Distinctions
1996 – laureate of the literary music festival "Lir".
1997 – laureate of the international literary competition "Hranoslov" (poetry collection "Sermon to Magma").
1998 – laureate of the "Smoloskyp" Publishing House (poetry book "On Clio’s Death").
2000 – third prize of the "Smoloskyp" Publishing House for collection of essays "Poetry and Civilization" (see.: ARTperekhrestia // Ukraine. — 2000. — № 6. — P. 45).
2005 – novel "Chaps" in the Top 10 according to an internet survey of the Book of the Year ВВС-2005 and the Book of the Year in 2005.
2010 – finalist of the Book of the Year ВВС-2010 (novel "Drosophila over a Volume of Kant").
2010 – "Drosophila over a Volume of Kant " is the best novel of the year (online voting on "Bukvoid" portal: http://bukvoid.com.ua/poll/?id=33).