Klym Lavrynovych (Lavrentiiovych) Polishchuk (, 25 November 1891, Krasnopil, Zhytomyr region,

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

– 3 November 1937, Sandarmokh, Russia) was a Ukrainian journalist, poet and writer.

Biography

Klym Polishchuk was born into a peasant family. As a child he was home-schooled, along with his brother Fedir and sister Nastia, by their father. At a young age Klym was forced to work as a hired worker. In addition to being interested in literature, Klym Polishchuk was a skilled artist. In 1909, with the support of the Hromada benevolent organisation and a few individuals, Klym Polishchuk enrolled at the Art Drawing College,

Art Academy An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on practice and related theory in the visual arts and design. This includes fine art – especially illustration, painting, contemporary art, sculpture, and graphic design. T ...

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, Russia. In 1912, due to a lack of funds, Polishchuk withdrew from the college and returned to

Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding ...

. In August 1914 Klym Polishchuk was arrested for "

separatism Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

" activities and exiled to Russia. In 1916 he was deployed to fight in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1920 Klym Polishchuk moved to

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

, where in 1921 married an upcoming writer, Halyna Mnevska (Halyna Orlivna, pseudonym). The following year their daughter Lesia was born. Klym Polishchuk and Halyna Mnevska divorced in 1927. On 4 November 1929, following the falsified charges, Klym Polishchuk was accused of '

bourgeois nationalism In Marxist theory, bourgeois nationalism is the ideology of the ruling capitalist class which aims to overcome class antagonism between proletariat and bourgeoisie by appealing to national unity. It is seen as a distraction from engaging in class ...

' and sentenced to exile and 10 years of hard labour in concentration camps. Klym Polishchuk's last place of imprisonment, along with 289 other representatives of Ukrainian

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the i ...

(including, Mykola Zerov, Hryhorii Epik, Marko Voronyi, Mykola Kulish, Valerian Pidmohylnyi, Yulian Shpol, Valerian Polishchuk,

Les Kurbas Oleksandr-Zenon Stepanovych Kurbas (; 24 February 1887 – 30 November 1937), was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian movie and theater director. He is considered by many to be the most important Ukrainian theater director of the 20th century. He formed, ...

, and Myroslav Irchan), was the Solovki island prison in the White Sea. He was executed at the peak of the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

in Sandarmokh,

Karelia Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currentl ...

, Russia, on 3 November 1937.

Literary career

Klym Polishchuk's literary career began with poetry. At the age of fifteen his poem ''Watching God's World'' (Dyvliachys na Myr Bozhyi) was published in the ''Volyn'' newspaper (1906). Soon after that his first short story appeared in ''Dzvinok'' magazine. In 1914 Klym Polishchuk's first book, ''Faraway Stars'' (Daleki Zori), was published. In 1919, in Kyiv, Klym Polishchuk joined other Ukrainian authors such as

Pavlo Tychyna Pavlo Hryhorovych Tychyna (; – September 16, 1967) was a major Ukrainians, Ukrainian poet, translator, publicist, public activist, academician, and statesman. He composed the lyrics to the Anthem of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Lif ...

, Yakiv Savchenko,

, Pavlo Phylypovych, Dmytro Zahul, Oleksa Slisarenko, Mykhailo Ivchenko and Mykhailo Zhuk in establishing Muzahet, a literature and art group that focused on the characteristics of Ukrainian national literature. In 1920 Muzahet was banned and most of its members were later sentenced and executed. Thematically, Klym Polishchuk's prose works are divided into two major groups. The first group consists of works incorporating Ukrainian folklore and legends, including ''Handful of Earth: Halychyna Legends'' and ''Treasure of the Ages: Ukrainian Legends''. The second group is composed of historical stories and novels, featuring revolutionary ( October Socialist Revolution) and war (

) events, such as ''Red Mirage: Essays and Short Stories of the Revolution Period'' and ''Otaman Zelenyi''. Klym Polishchuk's

literary style In literature, writing style is the manner of expressing thought in language characteristic of an individual, period, school, or nation. Thus, style is a term that may refer, at one and the same time, to singular aspects of an individual's writing ...

is often characterised by artful application of

symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

and gothicKrys, Svitlana (2016
‘Book Review: Liudmyla Starytska-Cherniakhivska, The Living Grave: A Ukrainian Legend and Klym Polishchuk, Treasure of the Ages: Ukrainian Legends’
''EWJUS: East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies'', Vol 3, No 2, pp. 213–215. elements.

Major works

* 1921 – ''Handful of Earth: Halychyna Legends'' (‘Zhmenia zemli: Halytski lehendy’) * 1921 – ''Red Mirage: Essays and Short Stories of the Revolution Period'' (‘Chervone marevo: narysy i opovidannia z chasiv revoliutsiyi’) * 1921 – ''Treasure of the Ages: Ukrainian Legends'' (‘Skarby vikiv: Ukrainski Lehendy’) * 1921 – ''Voyenko'' * 1921 – ''Zvukolirnist'' (‘Zvukolirnist’) * 1921 – ''Folk Tale of the Palace'' (Kazka palatsu) * 1922 – ''A Crucified Soul'' (Rozpyata dusha) * 1923 – ''Huliaypole Father'' (Huliaypilskyi batko) * 1923 – ''Otaman Zelenyi'' (Otaman Zelenyi) * 1929 – ''Polissya Sounds'' (Poliski Shumy) (Manuscript was never published due to the author's arrest).

Works translated into English

Polishchuk, K 2015, ''Treasure of the Ages: Ukrainian Legends'' karby vikiv: Ukrainski Lehendy trans. S Chornomorets, Sova Books, Sydney, original work published 1921

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polishchuk, Klym Ukrainian male writers Great Purge victims from Ukraine Ukrainian male poets Ukrainian journalists 1891 births 1937 deaths