From the Bible to Shakespeare

"There is no figure more important for the development and standardization of literary Ukrainian in the nineteenth century than Pantelejmon Kuliš. As an author, as a scholar, and as an activist, he worked tirelessly for the rejuvenation of Ukrainian culture and particularly its language. Among his most important contributions were his translations of the Bible and of Shakespeare’s plays. With painstaking diligence, exhaustive research, and uncompromising analysis, Andrii Danylenko examines the language of these translations at great depth and compares them to the efforts of other translators in similar genres. The result is a masterful study of Kuliš’s language and a major contribution to the history of the Ukrainian language." ~Maxim Tarnawsky University of Toronto

"The monograph, about the language of Pantelejmon Kuliš’s seminal Bible and Shakespeare translations from the 1860s until his death in 1897, is a major contribution to our understanding of the formation of modern literary and standard Ukrainian and a long-due appraisal of Kuliš’s contribution. It is based on an impressive wealth of unpublished sources and an extensive range of secondary literature. The principal merit lies in numerous detailed analyses of Kuliš’s and his contemporaries’ language and the assessment of the forms and words found with respect to their provenance. This is a notoriously difficult undertaking, which very few scholars in Ukrainian philology are able to carry out with the same care, expertise and balanced approach." ~Jan Fellerer, University of Oxford

"The learning and industry [of this book] are deep and wide. Modern technology has enable Danylenko to display and discuss different systems of transliteration and fonts accomodating variations in Cyrillic spelling, including Church Slavonic. Documentation occurs internal to the text in streamlined form ... well worth the price as a reference tool." ~Eugene E. Lemcio, Emeritus Professor of New Testament, Seattle Pacific University

“From the Bible to Shakespeare represents a truly innovative and fundamental study of an important contribution to the Ukrainian linguistic culture, made by the famous Ukrainian writer and cultural figure Pantelejmon Kuliš. . . . the volume also appears to be a very useful text for university studies. It provides a great deal of facts and theoretical concepts for reconstruction of the history of biblical studies on the Ukrainian terrain in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.” ~Sergii Golovashchenko, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy

This is a well-researched, meticulous and erudite analysis that offers a wealth of information on the development of literary Ukrainian and Kulish’s lasting contribution to the effort. It is a remarkable achievement and a welcome contribution to Ukrainian studies. ~SEER

Andrii Danylenko’s From the Bible to Shakespeare: Pantelejmon Kuliš (1819-1897) and the Formation of Literary Ukrainian is a profound study that offers an insight into a complex process of the development of language, embracing the formation of the literary and the national. Kuliš’s translations represent an intriguing study case not only for the exploration of linguistic synthesis, but also for investigation of identity fluidity that stems from openness towards linguistic and cultural dialogism. ~Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed, New Books Network, 23 February 2017, New Books Network

“This book could be rightly considered as a further step
towards the realization of an ‘integral history of the new Ukrainian literary language’
which Danylenko is striving for. … Overall, the book can be read with the
utmost curiosity and recommended to those scholars with a keen interest in the
formation process of modern literary Ukrainian. Danylenko’s detailed analysis
of the language used in the exemplified translation fragments by Kuliš and the comparison with
the translations made by his, more or less famous, contemporaries, inserted in broader
socio-historic and cultural-literary context, adds a fundamental milestone in
the history of the Ukrainian language.” —Salvatore Del Gaudio, Richerche Slavistiche Vol. 1 (LXI)

~Salvatore Del Gaudio, Richerche Slavistiche