Mykola Platonovych Bazhan (; – 23 November 1983) was a Soviet Ukrainian writer, poet, highly decorated political and public figure. He was an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1951), Merited Science Specialist of Ukrainian SSR (1966), Merited Art Specialist of Georgian SSR (1964), People's Poet of Uzbek SSR.

Career

Bazhan was a People's Deputy of the

Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Верховный Совет Союза Советских Социалистических Республик, r=Verkhovnyy Sovet Soyuza Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respubl ...

for two of five convocations (1946–1962), and the

Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR Supreme may refer to: Entertainment * Supreme (character), a comic book superhero * ''Supreme'' (film), a 2016 Telugu film * Supreme (producer), hip-hop record producer * "Supreme" (song), a 2000 song by Robbie Williams * The Supremes, Motown-e ...

for six of nine convocations (1963–1980). He was a member of the

Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, – TsK KPSS was the executive leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, acting between sessions of Congress. According to party statutes, the committee direct ...

and was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Ukrainian SSR on several occasions at the party's congresses (17 of and 21 of 25). In 1943–49 Bazhan was a Deputy Chairman of the Council of Minister (Commissars) of the Ukrainian SSR.

Biography

Mykola Bazhan was born in city of Kamenyets, an administrative center of Podolia Governorate, yet his youth years he spent in Uman, Kiev Governorate. His father Platon Artemovych Bazhan, a native of Poltava region, was a military

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

and a veteran of the Ukrainian People's Army. In 1923 Mykola Bazhan graduated from the Uman Cooperative College and moved to

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

where he studied at a cooperative institute at first and later at an institute of foreign relations. He was active in the Futurist literary movement, and his first poem was published in Kiev in 1923 and his first book "Seventeenth Patrol" in Kharkiv in 1926. In 1926 he married a Ukrainian writer and native of Kiev Hayina Kovalenko. They divorced in 1938, and he remarried, to

Nina Lauer Nina may refer to: * Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname Acronyms *National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq *Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology *No income, n ...

, shortly thereafter. During the 1930s Bazhan's works were viewed as "anti-proletarian" and became a subject of a number official anti-nationalist campaigns. In

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...

he felt his arrest was imminent and he rarely slept at home. In 1939 Bazhan was awarded the Order of Lenin for his translation into Ukrainian of the epic poem "The Warrior in the Tiger's skin" by the medieval Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli. Bazhan found out about this, from a newspaper, while hiding from his imminent arrest in a city park in Kiev. He was eventually told by Nikita Khrushchev that his arrest had been ordered, but Stalin was fond of his Rustaveli translation, and changed his mind. In 1940 Mykola Bazhan joined the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

and in the same year became a member of the Presidium of the

Writers' Union of Ukraine The National Writers' Union of Ukraine ( uk, Національна спілка письменників України) (''НСПУ'') is a voluntary social-creative association of professional writers, poets, prose writers, playwrights, criti ...

. During the Great Patriotic War Bazhan became a military reporter and the editor of the newspaper ''For the Soviet Ukraine''. In 1943 he published a book, ''Stalingrad Notebook'', for which in 1946 he received the Stalin Prize. In 1953-59 Bazhan headed the Writer's Union of Ukraine. During the "

Khrushchev thaw The Khrushchev Thaw ( rus, хрущёвская о́ттепель, r=khrushchovskaya ottepel, p=xrʊˈɕːɵfskəjə ˈotʲ:ɪpʲɪlʲ or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period ...

", on July 2, 1956 he raised before the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine the issue of rehabilitation several repressed writers:

Vasyl Bobynsky The name Basil (''royal, kingly'') comes from the male Greek name Vassilios (, female version ), which first appeared during the Hellenistic period. It is derived from "basileus" ( el, βασιλεύς, links=no), of greek origin, meaning "king", ...

Hryhorii Epik Hryhorii Danylovych Epik ( uk, Григорій Данилович Епік) (January 17, 1901 – November 3, 1937) was a Ukrainian writer and journalist. He supported the Soviet Ukrainization during the 1920s, which likely led to his arrest and ...

, Ivan Kulyk,

Mykola Kulish Mykola Hurovych Kulish ( uk, Микола Гурович Куліш) (19 December 1892 – 3 November 1937) was a Ukrainian prose writer, playwright, pedagogue, veteran of World War I, and Red Army veteran. He is considered to be one of the le ...

, and many more. In 1970 Bazhan was nominated for a Nobel Prize in literature, but he was forced by Soviet authorities to write a letter refusing his candidature. From 1957 and until his death, Bazhan was the founding chief

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

of the Main Edition of Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia publishing. The publishing was not completed in his lifetime; the first edition was, however, as the initial Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia in 17 volumes was released 1959–1965. A second (and final, as events would develop) 12-volume work was released 1977–1985. The enterprise was additionally responsible for a large number of other major Ukrainian reference works. Bazhan also was one of co-authors of the Anthem of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. He died in

in 1983.

Moisei Fishbein Moysey (Moses) Abramovich Fishbein ( uk, Мойсей Абрамович Фішбейн; 1 December 1946 – 26 May 2020) was an influential Ukraine, Ukrainian poet and translator of Jews, Jewish origin. Biography Moysey Fishbein was born on 1 Dec ...

, a notable Ukrainian poet was Bazhan's literary secretary.

Bazhan in English

A collection of English translations of Bazhan's futurist poetry titled ''Quiet Spiders of the Hidden Soul'' was published by the

Academic Studies Press Academic Studies Press, (ASP) is an independent scholarly publisher of books and journals, based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 2007, ASP emphasizes Jewish studies and Slavic studies, but also publishes titles in religious studies, comp ...

in 2019.

Awards and prizes

Shota Rustaveli State Prize The Shota Rustaveli State Prize (created in 1965) is the highest prize awarded by Georgia in the fields of art and literature. The first prize-winners of this prize were Konstantine Gamsakhurdia (writer), Irakli Abashidze (poet) and Lado Gudiashvil ...

of the Georgian SSR (1937) * Order of Lenin (1939, 1954, 1960, 1964, 1974) * Order of the Red Banner (1940s) * Stalin Prize (1946, 1949) * Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1948, 1967) * Taras Shevchenko State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR (1965) * State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR (1971) *

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It repre ...

(1974)

External links

Bazhan's poetry in English translation

References