This is a collection of essays titled Cultural Expansion that discusses how Russian culture affected (or more precisely suppressed) Ukrainian one in a multitude of spheres: literature, games, architecture, TV, movies, and education. From the style of several essays, I guess some of them are based on social media blog posts by the authors.
The title has a twofold meaning: firstly, as a Russian expansion, just another front, less physical but not less real and secondly quoting a Ukrainian major publisher that tried to sell books for the Russian market after the 2014 invasion the essence of the argument being that translating Ukrainian works into Russian for Russian readers would help create a positive image of Ukrainians in the minds of Russians, expand the recognition of Ukrainian authors among the Russian audience (thus destroying the common argument "what do you have but Shevchenko"), deconstruct the myths of Russian propaganda about Ukraine, and simply bring money to the Ukrainian publisher.
The rest of the book discusses less why such expansion on the Russian market won鈥檛 work (and the current situation clearly proves it hasn鈥檛 worked) and more about many ways of Russian soft expansion. The most interesting and full of previously unknown information for me were several articles on architecture, from churches to standardized administrative buildings of 19th century. For example, right now most orthodox churches in Ukraine have shining golden domes of 鈥榝at鈥� muscovite style (affected by Muslim architecture), while historically they weren鈥檛 so shining, the form was different and even the crosses differ. However, even now most domes for small churches that can be bought online are of this muscovite design. Or that in the 1970s it was popular to arrange groups of buildings in such a way that they can be seen from space as a certain composition. For example, the longest house in Lutsk or the house in the shape of the letters "USSR" and the sun in Ternopil. Later, this approach was called "birdshit architecture" because from a bird's eye view, the composition looks beautiful, but when you go down to the level of human vision, there is neither convenience nor aesthetics.
I am not agreeing with some claims in some essays but overall, an interesting and mindful book.
The contents and authors: Eugene Lyr. Let the three cursed Russia be silent... Rostyslav Semkiv. Let's not shy away from our own: a few hundred words about the underestimated reserves of Ukrainian literature Bohdan-Oleh Horobchuk. The (Un)Ukrainian Avant-Garde Ostap Ukrainets. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. as a manifesto of the Soviet heritage Denys Yashnyi. Trends or conscious manipulations. On commercial photographs of the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Diana Klochko. Heroes, looters, and "rejuvenation" after the fires Kateryna Lypa. According to Lenin's plan of monumental propaganda Iryna Pustynnikova. Under architectural occupation Kyrylo Chuyko. Russia in Ukrainian architecture Anzhelika Rudnytska. Music of the 2000s: Russia's creeping influence on Ukrainian culture Andriy Zabiyaka. TVcollaboration Lena Chychenina. Russian-Ukrainian dynamics in cinema Volodymyr Polovsky. Ukrainian school: definitions, metaphors, and metamorphoses (on the example of a school history course) Yevhen Nikolayev. Higher Education in the Captivity of an Ineffective Legacy
This book unmasks cultural evolution in Ukraine under soviet/russian pressure in the most chilling and adequate manner. I鈥檓 very grateful for those people who worked on this. Highly recommend for anyone who wants to understand Ukrainians in their struggle to be free.