UNIVERSALISM OF THE ACTIVITIES OF BORYS BEREST IN THE CONTEXT OF PROFESSIONALIZATION OF THE ART OF SPEECH IN THE UKRAINIAN DIASPORA

Abstract

The most detailed information about the versatility of the figure of Borys Berest in the fields of theater studies, film studies, art studies, literary studies, and journalism; as a member of the public organization Shevchenko Scientific Society in the US, as well as an associate, organizer and philanthropist in the field of development of humanitarian science, cultural and artistic projects of Ukrainians in the diaspora, was obtained thanks to his several works, diaspora‘s encyclopedic guides, collection of informative articles in the archives of the magazine «Svoboda» : announcements, bibliographic references, even obituaries.
In such a way a wide range of his activities as a scientist, journalist, public figure, philanthropist was systematized. In the context of the study of the professionalization of the art of speech, neglected in Ukrainian schools compared to worldwide schools, B. Berest-Kovaliv, in co-authorship with his father P. Kovaliv, published the book «The Art of Speaking» (1948),
and to this day it is the only educational and methodological manual on the technique and expressiveness of the Ukrainian language in the diaspora, which combines linguistics (phonetics and phonology) and methodological instructions for the practical acquisition of skills in language technique and expressiveness, acquired at the Lviv Theater School.
Borys Berest, as a student of the Ukrainian Free University (Prague – Munich) and a linguist, will later continue the most important work of his life as the secretary in charge of Ukrainian orthographic dictionaries, thus organizing the scientific heritage of P. Kovaliv, as well as a literary and linguistic editor of diaspora‘s numerous Ukrainian publications. Being in constant creative contact with the Ukrainian Ensemble of V. Blavatskyi (since studying at the theater school and after the director's team moved to the American continent), Berest tried his hand as a theater critic, using professional terminology regarding actors' stage speech.
Borys Berest made a significant contribution to the study of the history of Ukrainian cinema: a critical monograph on the work of O. Dovzhenko (1961), «History of Ukrainian Cinema‖ (1962), where he summarized the development of Ukrainian cinema in Ukraine and in the diaspora.
Berest's wide interest is evidenced by his writing activity, active participation as a scientist in Shevchenko Scientific Society, in the «Ukrainian Opera» corporation, in cooperation with representatives of Ukrainian cultural, artistic and religious organizations. Berest, as an entrepreneur and philanthropist, financially supports the publishing of printed products of Ukrainians in the diaspora, supports the ideas of creating artistic works in the field of sculpture and
cinema. Due to the universalism of activities in the field of humanities, contribution to the preservation and development
of Ukrainian linguistics, professionalization of the art of speech, film studies, support of Ukrainian science, culture and art,
Borys Berest should be remembered as an outstanding figure among Ukrainians of the diaspora.