Prose

STARSHYI BOIARYN THE BEST MAN

1946 · ref. 33697 — Munich; Prometheus 1946. Paperback. Original Wrappers. 8vo. 166 pages. 21 cm. First Edition. In Ukrainian. "Although his first poems were written in 1916 Osmachka began his literary career while he was a student at the Kyiv Institute of People's Education from 1920 to 1923. He belonged to the literary organizations Aspys and Lanka Later known as 'Maisternia Revoliutsiinoho Slovaâ' Workshop of the Revolutionary Word or MARS and published his first collection of poetry Krucha The Precipice in 1922; it was followed by two more collections Skytski vohni The Scythian Fires 1925 and Klekit Crane's Clacking 1929. Like other members of MARS he was attacked and arrested for his 'unpolitical' literary works but managed to save himself from execution by feigning insanity. During the 1930s he faced constant persecution by the authorities and was unable to publish any works. During the Second World War he fled to Western Ukraine then to displaced persons camps in Germany and finally to the United States. Osmachka's personal ordeal had lasting effects on him and until his death he suffered from a persecution complex. Nonetheless he resumed his literary career in 1943 in Lviv with the publication of his fourth collection of poetry Suchasnykam To My Contemporaries. In the displaced persons camps where he was a member of the MUR literary organization he published his epic poem written in octaves Poet Poet 1946 as well as his first prose work Starshyi Boiaryn The Best Man 1946 this work." Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Subjects: Ukraine; Fiction; Short Stories. OCLC: 8747925. Light age toning and edgewear. Very good contion. Scarce and important BK5 UKR-1-29xx. [Munich?]; Prometheus paperback