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Мати
«Мати» Миколи Хвильового — психологічна новела, у якій розповідається про долі двох братів, що опинилися у ворожих таборах під час громадянської війни.
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About the author
Mykola Khvylovy
45 books43 followersMykola Khvylovy (Ukrainian: Микола Хвильовий, Khvyl’ovyy) (December 13 [O.S. December 1] 1893 – May 13, 1933) was a Ukrainian writer and poet of the early Communist era Ukrainian Renaissance (1920–1930).
Born as Mykola Fitilyov in Trostyanets, Kharkov Governorate to a Russian laborer father and Ukrainian schoolteacher mother, Khvylovy joined the Communist Party in 1919. In the same year he became the chief of local Cheka in Bohodukhiv povit. He moved to Kharkiv in 1921 and involved himself with writers connected to Vasyl Blakytny and the paper Visti VUTsVK (news from All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee). In 1921, he also published his first poetry collection.
In 1922, he began to focus more on prose writing. His initial collections Syni etiudy (Blue Etudes, 1923) and Osin’ (Autumn, 1924) generated approval from critics like Serhiy Yefremov, Oleksander Biletsky, Volodymyr Koriak, Yevhen Malaniuk and Dmytro Dontsov. His impressions of the work as a CheKa officer are reflected in his 1924 novel "I (Romance)", the hero of which - the head of the local Cheka - sentenced his mother to death in the name of the ideals of the revolution.
A brief member of the literary organization Hart, Khvylovy later became critical of it and the organization Pluh and became a key leader of the VAPLITE organization of Ukrainian "proleteriat" writers. Because of Stalin's repressions against his friends in the pro-Ukrainian Communist movement, Khvylovy committed suicide on 13 May 1933 in front of his friends in his apartment in Kharkiv. His suicide note said: "Arrest of Yalovy - this is the murder of an entire generation ... For what? Because we were the most sincere Communists? I don't understand. The responsibility for the actions of Yalovy's generation lies with me, Khvylovy. Today is a beautiful sunny day. I love life - you can't even imagine how much. Today is the 13th. Remember I was in love with this number? Terribly painful. Long live communism. Long live the socialist construction. Long live the Communist Party."[1]
After his death, his works were banned in the Soviet Union and because of his symbolic potency were mostly not permitted until near the end or after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Born as Mykola Fitilyov in Trostyanets, Kharkov Governorate to a Russian laborer father and Ukrainian schoolteacher mother, Khvylovy joined the Communist Party in 1919. In the same year he became the chief of local Cheka in Bohodukhiv povit. He moved to Kharkiv in 1921 and involved himself with writers connected to Vasyl Blakytny and the paper Visti VUTsVK (news from All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee). In 1921, he also published his first poetry collection.
In 1922, he began to focus more on prose writing. His initial collections Syni etiudy (Blue Etudes, 1923) and Osin’ (Autumn, 1924) generated approval from critics like Serhiy Yefremov, Oleksander Biletsky, Volodymyr Koriak, Yevhen Malaniuk and Dmytro Dontsov. His impressions of the work as a CheKa officer are reflected in his 1924 novel "I (Romance)", the hero of which - the head of the local Cheka - sentenced his mother to death in the name of the ideals of the revolution.
A brief member of the literary organization Hart, Khvylovy later became critical of it and the organization Pluh and became a key leader of the VAPLITE organization of Ukrainian "proleteriat" writers. Because of Stalin's repressions against his friends in the pro-Ukrainian Communist movement, Khvylovy committed suicide on 13 May 1933 in front of his friends in his apartment in Kharkiv. His suicide note said: "Arrest of Yalovy - this is the murder of an entire generation ... For what? Because we were the most sincere Communists? I don't understand. The responsibility for the actions of Yalovy's generation lies with me, Khvylovy. Today is a beautiful sunny day. I love life - you can't even imagine how much. Today is the 13th. Remember I was in love with this number? Terribly painful. Long live communism. Long live the socialist construction. Long live the Communist Party."[1]
After his death, his works were banned in the Soviet Union and because of his symbolic potency were mostly not permitted until near the end or after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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October 29, 2023
Український огляд нижче (Ukrainian language review is below)
This is a psychological novella first published in 1929, the English title is “Mother”. This is one of Khvylovy's more famous novellas, and together with Я (Романтика) it forms a kind of diptych with sons who are faced with the task of killing their own mother. For me, both works are very strong.
The story begins with a small-town tailor who lived, "and all he could think about was that troubled Cossack past. Bending over some trousers, say, and turning the pages of young Gogol, the tailor (old-timers say) always sighed heavily and addressed his young wife with these words:
- "Don't you think that I would have made a good ataman?"
So, in imitation of Taras Bulba, he named his two sons Ostap and Andriy. Ostap is the eldest, and all the money is spent on him so that he can study at the gymnasium and someday become an officer-"you should go to a military school and get yourself a shiny saber." There was no money left for the younger Andriy, and when his father died, he started working as a teenager to provide for the family.
The year 1914 came and WW1. Ostap turns into a hero in the war, he has a full set of St. George's Crosses (a rough equivalent of the US Bronze Star medal, but up to four – full set – can be awarded), and Andriy, when they wanted to mobilize him, went underground. Then it's 1917, the revolution, the civil war... and the sons fought one for the whites, the other for the reds, until fate brought them together on the front lines in their hometown. Both brothers visit their mother’s house, tell her that they are going to kill their brother, and both stay at her house...
Interestingly, Khvylovy is now perhaps best known as the ideological inspirer of the slogan "Get away from Moscow!" (a phrase he never actually wrote). However, many of his works actively quote or refer to Russian literature, including this short story by Gogol.
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Це – одна з більш відомих новел Хвильового, яка разом з Я (Романтика) утворюють такий собі диптрих з синами перед якими постає задача вбивства власної матері. Я на мене обидва твори дуже сильні.
Новела починається з того, що жив собі дрібний кравець, «тільки й думок у нього було, що про тую неспокійну козацьку старовину. Зігнувшись над якимись штанцями, скажімо, та перегортаючи сторінки молодого Гоголя, кравець (розповідають старожили) завжди тяжко зідхав і з такими словами звертався до своєї молодої дружини:
— А чи не думаєш ти, що з мене вийшов би непоганий кошовий отаман?»
Тож, своїх двох синів, у наслідуванні Тарас Бульба він нарече Остап і Андрій. Остап – старший, і на нього витрачаються усі гроші, аби він зміг навчатись у гімназії і колись да став би офіцером – «піди ще ти до військової школи і причепи собі там блискучу шаблюку» . На молодшого Андрія грошей не лишилось, до того ж і батько помер, тож він, аби забезпечити родину підлітком йде у ремісництво.
Прийшов 1914 рік, Остап на війні геройствує, повний комплект Георгіївських хрестів має, Андрій, коли його мобілізувати хотіли, то у підпілля пішов. Ось вже і 1917, революція, горожанська війна… і сини один за білих, інший за червоних, аж поки не звела доля лінії фронту у батьківському містечку. Обидва брати навідують мати, заявляють їй, що збираються убити брата і обидва лишаються у неї вдома…
Цікаво, що Хвильовий, зараз мабуть найбільш відомий як ідейний натхненник гасла "Геть від Москви!" (фрази, яку він насправді ніколи не писав). Проте значна частина його творів активно цитують чи згадують саме російську літературу, зокрема ця новела - Гоголя.
This is a psychological novella first published in 1929, the English title is “Mother”. This is one of Khvylovy's more famous novellas, and together with Я (Романтика) it forms a kind of diptych with sons who are faced with the task of killing their own mother. For me, both works are very strong.
The story begins with a small-town tailor who lived, "and all he could think about was that troubled Cossack past. Bending over some trousers, say, and turning the pages of young Gogol, the tailor (old-timers say) always sighed heavily and addressed his young wife with these words:
- "Don't you think that I would have made a good ataman?"
So, in imitation of Taras Bulba, he named his two sons Ostap and Andriy. Ostap is the eldest, and all the money is spent on him so that he can study at the gymnasium and someday become an officer-"you should go to a military school and get yourself a shiny saber." There was no money left for the younger Andriy, and when his father died, he started working as a teenager to provide for the family.
The year 1914 came and WW1. Ostap turns into a hero in the war, he has a full set of St. George's Crosses (a rough equivalent of the US Bronze Star medal, but up to four – full set – can be awarded), and Andriy, when they wanted to mobilize him, went underground. Then it's 1917, the revolution, the civil war... and the sons fought one for the whites, the other for the reds, until fate brought them together on the front lines in their hometown. Both brothers visit their mother’s house, tell her that they are going to kill their brother, and both stay at her house...
Interestingly, Khvylovy is now perhaps best known as the ideological inspirer of the slogan "Get away from Moscow!" (a phrase he never actually wrote). However, many of his works actively quote or refer to Russian literature, including this short story by Gogol.
==================
Це – одна з більш відомих новел Хвильового, яка разом з Я (Романтика) утворюють такий собі диптрих з синами перед якими постає задача вбивства власної матері. Я на мене обидва твори дуже сильні.
Новела починається з того, що жив собі дрібний кравець, «тільки й думок у нього було, що про тую неспокійну козацьку старовину. Зігнувшись над якимись штанцями, скажімо, та перегортаючи сторінки молодого Гоголя, кравець (розповідають старожили) завжди тяжко зідхав і з такими словами звертався до своєї молодої дружини:
— А чи не думаєш ти, що з мене вийшов би непоганий кошовий отаман?»
Тож, своїх двох синів, у наслідуванні Тарас Бульба він нарече Остап і Андрій. Остап – старший, і на нього витрачаються усі гроші, аби він зміг навчатись у гімназії і колись да став би офіцером – «піди ще ти до військової школи і причепи собі там блискучу шаблюку» . На молодшого Андрія грошей не лишилось, до того ж і батько помер, тож він, аби забезпечити родину підлітком йде у ремісництво.
Прийшов 1914 рік, Остап на війні геройствує, повний комплект Георгіївських хрестів має, Андрій, коли його мобілізувати хотіли, то у підпілля пішов. Ось вже і 1917, революція, горожанська війна… і сини один за білих, інший за червоних, аж поки не звела доля лінії фронту у батьківському містечку. Обидва брати навідують мати, заявляють їй, що збираються убити брата і обидва лишаються у неї вдома…
Цікаво, що Хвильовий, зараз мабуть найбільш відомий як ідейний натхненник гасла "Геть від Москви!" (фрази, яку він насправді ніколи не писав). Проте значна частина його творів активно цитують чи згадують саме російську літературу, зокрема ця новела - Гоголя.
October 3, 2022
Чудове, зворушливе оповідання про страшну трагедію українського народу, що неодноразово була показана в українській літературі - історія громадянської війни, коли брат іде на брата. В цьому оповіданні Микола Хвильовий вирішив не вигадувати імен персонажам, а використати давно відомі імена синів Тараса Бульби Миколи Гоголя - Остап та Андрій. І речення за реченням показав становлення та розвиток братів та їх доль з точки зору їх матері.
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