Poet, writer, and publicist Ivan Bahrianyi was lucky 鈥� twice he managed to leave the Soviet camps alive. Later, he was able to leave the USSR. In his homeland, his name was erased from memory for a long time. Only with the restoration of Ukraine鈥檚 independence Ivan Bahrianyi was able to return symbolically 鈥� he was rehabilitated in 1991, and his creative legacy finally began to be published and studied.
Ivan Lozoviahin 鈥� Bahrianyi鈥檚 real surname 鈥� was born in Okhtyrka, the Slobozhanshchyna region.
鈥淚 was still a little 10-year-old boy when the Bolsheviks invaded my consciousness with a bloody nightmare, acting as the executioners of my people, and it was 1920. He lived then with his grandfather in the village, at the apiary. Grandfather was 92 years old and was a one-armed cripple. Then one day, in the evening, some armed people came, speaking in a foreign language, and in front of my eyes and the eyes of other grandchildren, they killed him, and with him one son (and my uncle) under our frantic screams. They tortured my grandfather because he was a wealthy Ukrainian farmer (he owned 40 acres of land) and was against the 鈥渃ommune,鈥� and my uncle because he was a soldier of the national army of the Ukrainian People鈥檚 Republic during the national liberation struggle in 1917-18. For fighting for the freedom and independence of his people,鈥� Bahrianyi would later write in the pamphlet 鈥淲hy I am not going back to the Soviet Union.鈥�
His second uncle, who escaped the massacre because he could escape, was later caught and exiled to Solovetsky islands, where he died. 鈥淟ater, my whole family and I followed the same paths,鈥� the writer noted.
In the meantime, the young man tried to survive in the misanthropic Bolshevik state. In his youth, he was a teacher 鈥� he had a talent for drawing, so he taught children. He even entered the Kyiv Art Institute but never finished it due to financial difficulties and political unreliability. Therefore, he often changed his place of work and worked in the mines of Donbas.
In 1925, in Kamianets-Podilskyi, he was an illustrator in the newspaper 鈥淐hervony Kordon,鈥� where he printed his first poems. The same year, under the pseudonym I. Poliarnyi, he published a small collection: 鈥淏lack Silhouettes: Five Stories鈥� in Okhtyrka, in which he described the unattractive life in the 鈥渓and of the Soviets.鈥�
Ivan Bahrianyi was a member of the literary organization of Kyiv writers 鈥淢ARS鈥� (鈥淲orkshop of the revolutionary word鈥�). In 1927, the first collection of poems 鈥淒o mezh zakazannyh鈥�(To the limits ordered) was published, and in 1929 鈥� the poem 鈥淎ve Maria,鈥� was immediately forbidden by censorship. The historical novel in verse 鈥淪kelka鈥� (1930) was accused of 鈥渃arrying out counter-revolutionary agitation.鈥�
With his works, Bahrianyi constantly maneuvers over the imaginary abyss where all those disloyal to the Bolshevik regime found themselves. On April 16, 1932, the writer was arrested, and after 11 months of imprisonment in the Kharkiv 鈥渋nternal prison,鈥� was sent on a 5-year exile to the Far East.
In 1938, a second arrest and a new accusation: participation in a nationalist counter-revolutionary organization. In 1940 due to severe lung disease, the writer was released. And Ivan Bahrianyi wrote about the arrest, torture, and exile in the novel 鈥淪ad Hetsymanskyi鈥� (鈥淕arden of Gethsemane鈥�) (1950).
During the Second World War, the poet managed to leave for Halychyna, where he wrote the novel 鈥淭he Beast Hunters鈥� (1944, republished in 1946-1947 under the title 鈥淭he Tiger Hunters鈥� ). Soon he emigrated to Slovakia, then Austria and Germany. Far from his homeland, Bahrianyi openly wrote about what hurt and worried him.
After incredibly boring and oppressive 鈥溞浹幮葱感叫� 斜褨卸懈褌褜 薪邪写 锌褉褨褉胁芯褞,鈥� I dreaded starting this book. It indeed felt very similar at the beginning: the same beautiful but overwhelming writing style, the same repetitiveness (to which I already was seriously sensitized), the same main character (well, formally a different person, of course, but, as I said, 袦邪泻褋懈屑 袣芯谢芯褌, 袩械褌褉芯 小屑褨褟薪, 袗薪写褉褨泄 效褍屑邪泻, 袚褉懈谐芯褉褨泄 袦薪芯谐芯谐褉褨褕薪懈泄 are all the same figure, the author鈥檚 alter ego). However, after some time, I felt very differently about this book and, at the end, I was impressed and grateful (well, I did not like the ending per se, but overall the book was a powerful psychological challenge and a very special experience).
The novel is about young Ukrainians who fought in the Ukrainian division 鈥溞捫把勓勑敌�-小小 芦袚邪谢懈褔懈薪邪禄.鈥� It should be said that although I do not know its history well, I am not inclined to its heroization or demonization either. I understand that it was a child of a very specific time and circumstances, but I also feel that it was one of our greatest national tragedies and 鈥渉istorical mistakes鈥� for which we are still paying today. I may change my opinions about it later, of course, when I learn more about it.
Anyway, the novel tells us about the specifics of the division and its place in the war not so much (although some details look very interesting indeed). Overall, it is just a powerful story of fellow soldiers, 鈥渂rothers in arms,鈥� regardless of where they are fighting and for what values. It鈥檚 a story that easily applies to almost any war experience and feels very relatable for us today despite a very different time and place of the events. If you are still dreaming about 鈥渙ur Remarque,鈥� try this book (maybe it鈥檚 even better than Remarque from some points of view). I was moved, terrified, amazed, saddened to tears. The book is very tender and humane and yet it also reflects war in all its brutality. (I suppose that it should be judged first of all by our active soldiers; it would be interesting to know how relatable it feels for them.)
I liked it a lot and found it a very appropriate reading during our today鈥檚 war. I am actually surprised that it is very little known (at least, compared to other books by 袉胁邪薪 袘邪谐褉褟薪懈泄). It looks like my review about it would be the first one on 欧宝娱乐, which is very wrong for a good Ukrainian book published in 1953, don鈥檛 you think?