Felix Austria
Dec 2026 · Harvard Library of Ukrainian Literature Book 9 · Harvard University Press - T
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250
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About this ebook
At the turn of the twentieth century, two young women find themselves in Stanyslaviv under Austro-Hungarian rule. Adela, the daughter of a wealthy German doctor, and Stefania, her orphan Ukrainian servant, could not be further apart socially and economically; but their fates intertwine in the cityscape of the late Habsburg Empire, densely inhabited by Ukrainians, Poles, Germans, and Jews for centuries. The intricate relationship between the two women—told by an unreliable narrator—unfolds against the backdrop of a rich ethnic, social, and cultural fabric that seems almost implausible to today’s reader who knows it to be irretrievably lost.
In Felix Austria, Sophia Andrukhovych uses techniques from Gothic literature to reconstruct with astonishing detail the atmosphere and the everyday life of Stanyslaviv. As if foreshadowing the wars to come and their devastation, the city’s population delights in earthly pleasures: extravagant dinner parties and receptions, mass celebrations, exotic theater performances, art exhibitions, glitzy shows of stars and starlets from near and far, local rituals of soap making, competition among fashionable dames, and much more. Felix Austria is a must-read for all those who seek to understand Ukraine’s deep ties with Western Europe and its struggle to break away from Russia’s orbit.
In Felix Austria, Sophia Andrukhovych uses techniques from Gothic literature to reconstruct with astonishing detail the atmosphere and the everyday life of Stanyslaviv. As if foreshadowing the wars to come and their devastation, the city’s population delights in earthly pleasures: extravagant dinner parties and receptions, mass celebrations, exotic theater performances, art exhibitions, glitzy shows of stars and starlets from near and far, local rituals of soap making, competition among fashionable dames, and much more. Felix Austria is a must-read for all those who seek to understand Ukraine’s deep ties with Western Europe and its struggle to break away from Russia’s orbit.
At the turn of the twentieth century, two young women find themselves in Stanyslaviv under Austro-Hungarian rule. Adela, the daughter of a wealthy German doctor, and Stefania, her orphan Ukrainian servant, could not be further apart socially and economically; but their fates intertwine in the cit...
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About the author
Sophia Andrukhovych is an award-winning Ukrainian writer and translator, and author of seven books of prose. In 2020, Andrukhovych’s most recent novel, Amadoka, received Ukraine’s Book of the Year Award.
Vitaly Chernetsky is the author of Mapping Postcommunist Cultures: Russia and Ukraine in the Context of Globalization and a translator of Ukrainian literature, including such authors as Yuri Andrukhovych, Irena Karpa, Serhiy Zhadan, Kateryna Babkina, and many others. He is Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Kansas.
Sophia Andrukhovych is an award-winning Ukrainian writer and translator, and author of seven books of prose. In 2020, Andrukhovych’s most recent novel, Amadoka, received Ukraine’s Book of the Year Award.
Vitaly Chernetsky is the author of Mapping Postcommunist Cultures: Russia and Ukraine in the ...
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