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
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, and Red Army veteran. He is considered to be one of the lead figures of the
Executed Renaissance
The Executed Renaissance (or "Red Renaissance", uk, Розстріляне відродження, Червоний ренесанс, translit=Rozstriliane vidrodzhennia, Chervonyi renesans) is a term used to describe the generatio ...
.
Biography
Kulish was born in the village of
Chaplynka, which in his letters he called Chaplyn. From age 9 he studied in a
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...
church and school. From 1905 Kulish studied at the
Oleshky
Oleshky ( uk, Оле́шки, Oleshky, ; russian: Алёшки) is a town in Kherson Raion, Kherson Oblast, southern Ukraine, located on the left bank of the Dnieper River with the town of Solontsi to the south. It is the oldest city of the obl ...
municipal eight-year school. Here he met with
Ivan Dniprovsky. In 1908 he enrolled into the Oleshky pro-gymnasium which was closed down before he could graduate. During his school years he published several short verses and epigrams in students' hand-written magazines which gave him a certain degree of fame among his peers. In 1913 for the first time he writes a play ''At fish catching'' (russian: На рыбной ловле) which later became the base for his comedy ''That was how perished Huska'' ( uk, Отак загинув Гуска).
At 22 he enrolled in the
Novorossiysk University
Odesa I. I. Mechnykov National University ( uk, Одеський національний університет Iмені І. І. Мечникова, translit=Odeskyi natsionalnyi universytet imeni I. I. Mechnykova), located in Odesa, Ukraine, i ...
Philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
Department. However his education was interrupted again because of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
as he was drafted into the Army. At first he served as a private in a reserve battalion. In 1914 he was sent to the Odessa school of
praporshchik
( rus, Пра́порщик, 3=ˈprapərɕːɪk, ) is a rank used by the Russian Armed Forces and a number of former communist states. The rank is a non-commissioned officer's and is equivalent to in navies. It is usually equivalent to Warrant ...
s (ensigns) after which he served at the front from 1915–1917. He continued to write short verses and small plays which were published in a military press-media. In 1917 already as an officer he chose the side of the
February Revolution.
From the start of 1918 he was a head of Oleshky council of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies. In July 1919 in
Kherson he organized the Dnipro Peasantry Regiment as part of
RKKA
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
. The regiment participated in the defense of
Kherson and
Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv ( uk, Миколаїв, ) is a city and municipality in Southern Ukraine, the administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv city, which provides Ukraine with access to the Black Sea, is the location of the most downriver brid ...
from the forces of
Anton Denikin
Anton Ivanovich Denikin (russian: Анто́н Ива́нович Дени́кин, link= ; 16 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New St ...
. During the government of Hetman
Pavlo Skoropadsky
Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi ( uk, Павло Петрович Скоропадський, Pavlo Petrovych Skoropadskyi; – 26 April 1945) was a Ukrainian aristocrat, military and state leader, decorated Imperial Russian Army and Ukrainian Arm ...
he was imprisoned for five months. After the return of the Red Army he was appointed as the chief of staff of Kherson and Dnipro uyezd Army groups.
After the demobilization in 1920 he worked as an instructor for several bodies of People's Education in Oleshky uyezd as well as edited the newspaper
Chervony Shliakh
''Chervonyi Shliach'' ( uk, Черво́ний шлях) was a political and literary-scientific monthly that was founded in 1923 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. It continued to be published until February 1936.
The first directors of the magazine were p ...
in
Zinovyevsk. During this time he putted together a Ukrainian alphabet ''Pervynka''. He also started to tour around the southern Ukraine organizing various schools and helping the hungry during the famine of 1921–1922. He later wrote a two-part story about this in Russian, ''Po vesiam i selam''.
In 1922 he worked in the governorate department of People's Education in Odessa as a school inspector. In 1924 Kulish wrote a play ''97'' where he described the famine of
Kherson region in 1921–1922. Together with another play ''Commune in steppes'' (1925) his works were staged in
Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.[Hart
Hart often refers to:
* Hart (deer)
Hart may also refer to:
Organizations
* Hart Racing Engines, a former Formula One engine manufacturer
* Hart Skis, US ski manufacturer
* Hart Stores, a Canadian chain of department stores
* Hart's Reptile Wo ...]
. In 1925 returned to Zinovyevsk where he edited
Chervony Shliakh
''Chervonyi Shliach'' ( uk, Черво́ний шлях) was a political and literary-scientific monthly that was founded in 1923 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. It continued to be published until February 1936.
The first directors of the magazine were p ...
. Later that year he moved to Kharkiv where he met with various prominent Ukrainian writers and poets such as
Mykola Khvyliovy
Mykola Khvylovy ( ; – May 13, 1933) (who also used the pseudonyms "Yuliya Umanets", "Stefan Karol", and "Dyadko Mykola") was a Ukrainian novelist, poet, publicist, and political activist, one of the founders of post-revolutionary Ukraini ...
,
Ostap Vyshnia,
Yuriy Yanovsky,
Volodymyr Sosiura
Volodymyr Mikolayovich Sosiura ( uk , Володимир Сосюра; January 6, 1898, in Debaltseve, Yekaterinoslav Governorate (today Donetsk Oblast) of the Russian Empire – January 8, 1965, in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union) was a ...
, and many others. Here Kulish became a member of
VAPLITE and worked with theatrical group
Berezil led by
Les Kurbas.
In November 1926 he was elected as the president of VAPLITE until January 1928. Simultaneously with it Kulish was a member of the editorial collegiate of
Chervony Shliakh
''Chervonyi Shliach'' ( uk, Черво́ний шлях) was a political and literary-scientific monthly that was founded in 1923 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. It continued to be published until February 1936.
The first directors of the magazine were p ...
. His works were published in the almanac ''Literary Fair''. Since the end of 1929 Kulish was a member of presidium of a new literary union ''Politfront''. Suddenly since 1930 all his fame was diminishing receiving all kinds of negative critical reviews. Kulish moved out of Kharkiv back to his native Kherson region. After the
Holodomor of 1933 he grew more and more upset with the Soviet regime. During that time his plays ''Narodny Malakhiy'', ''Myna Mazaylo'', ''Pathetic sonata'' were recognized as hostile to the communist regime.
Repression and death
At the first
All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers in Moscow (17 August – 1 September 1934) Mykola Kulish was publicly denounced as a bourgeois-nationalist playwright. Particularly critical of him was
Ivan Kulyk, who also mentioned the theatrical troop of
Les Kurbas as one who performed Kulish's plays.
In December 1934, after the burial of his friend Ivan Dniprovsky, Kulish was arrested by the agents of
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
and sent to the
Solovki prison camp in the White Sea.
Kulish was one of the "lost transport" of prisoners shipped back to the mainland in 1937 from Solovki. It is now known that he was shot on 3 November with 289 other members of the Ukrainian intelligentsia at
Sandarmokh near
Medvezhyegorsk
Medvezhyegorsk (russian: Медвежьего́рск; krl, Karhumägi; fi, Karhumäki) is a town and the administrative center of Medvezhyegorsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia. Population: 15,800 (1959).
History
A village in ...
,
Karelian ASSR
The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ( rus, Каре́льская Автоно́мная Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, r=Karelskaya Avtonomnaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respub ...
. The site was discovered in 1997.
A few years after the death of Stalin in 1953, Kulish was posthumously declared innocent of the 1934 charges and
rehabilitated.
Works
* 97
* Commune in steppes
* Farewell, village
* That was how Huska perished
* Khuliy Khuryna
* Zone
* Nook (Zakut)
* Eternal mutiny
* Legend about Lenin
* Colonies
* Narodny Malakhiy
* Myna Mazaylo
* Sonata Pathétique
* Maklena Grasa
* Autobiography from a notebook
See also
*
Chervony Shliakh
''Chervonyi Shliach'' ( uk, Черво́ний шлях) was a political and literary-scientific monthly that was founded in 1923 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. It continued to be published until February 1936.
The first directors of the magazine were p ...
References
External links
Library of Ukrainian LiteratureUkrainian centerLibrarian informational portalIsland of knowledgeKharkiv Oblast Universal Library
*
ttp://chtyvo.org.ua/authors/Kulish_Mykola/ Works of Mykola Kulish – E-Library ''Чтиво''Works of Mykola Kulish on Lib.ru
Critical articles
''Natalia Kuziakina'' — ''Mykola Kulish''
Playwright depth of Mykola Kulish''Yaroslav Holoborodko'' "Prosvita" in life and spiritual heritage of Mykola Kulish
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulish, Mykola
1892 births
1937 deaths
People from Kherson Oblast
People from Dneprovsky Uyezd
Ukrainian educators
Ukrainian dramatists and playwrights
20th-century dramatists and playwrights
Russian military personnel of World War I
Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War
Great Purge victims from Ukraine
Soviet rehabilitations
People convicted in relations with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists