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Controversial in her own time and obscure today, the Czechoslovakia-based diaspora writer Natalena Koroleva occupies an ambiguous position in the canon of early and mid 20th century Ukrainian literature, preoccupied with European themes and antiquity. A close reading of her short story collection, Легенди Старокиївські [Old Kyivan Legends], reveals a rich text, rooted in an intertextual approach to a vast and disparate collection of sources, including mythology, hagiography, chronicle legends, folklore and Ukrainian historiography. Koroleva’s eclectic remix of the sources defamiliarizes and reframes Kyiv, creating a highly original representation of the city. She preserves elements of traditional narratives while dramatically reimagining the context and meaning of Ukrainian heritage. Her work intertwines Greek and Slavic mythology, Kyivan chronicle legends and her own Catholic faith to create an image of Ukraine indelibly linked via the Black Sea coast to the Classical world and to Europe. The unique cultural synthesis Koroleva creates in her historical legends parallels and accommodates the development of her own complex and heavily self-mythologized identity, presenting herself as a Ukrainian writer by choice, a Catholic by faith, Spanish-Polish by birth, French by upbringing. Analyzing Koroleva’s work as a Kyiv text highlights new perspectives and themes she introduced into Ukrainian literature, provides an illustrative example of chosen Ukrainian identity, and clarifies her position as a Ukrainian author deserving of greater study and attention.

Joseph Mosse' is a graduate student in the joint degree in Russian, East European Studies and Information and Library Science, with a focus on Ukrainian studies. His research interests include the history of Ukrainian literature, literacy, and readership in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.