In his lifetime Pavlo Zahrebelny was called a patriarch of Ukrainian literature and a contemporary classic. He was born on Aug. 25, 1924, in the village of Soloshyne, Poltava oblast. He fought in the Second World War and was severely wounded. He began writing in the 1950s, completing most of his novels in the 1960s-1970s, including Shepit (Whisper), Dyvo (Wonder), the trilogy Z pohliadu vichnosti (From the Point of Eternity), Rozhin (Acceleration), Levyne sertse (Lion’s Heart), Perekhodymo do liubovi (Let’s Come to Love), Namylena trava (Lathered Grass), Pervomist (First Bridge), later followed by Eupraksia, Roksolana, Ya, Bohdan (I am Bohdan), Pivdenny comfort (Southern Comfort), Tysiacholitnii Mykolai (Thousand-Year-Old Mykolai). He wrote scripts for the Dovzhenko Studio’s movies “Rockets Mustn’t Fly,” “Checked: No Mines,” “The Laurels,” and “Yaroslav the Wise.”
It is safe to assume that few if any of the conscious representatives of the technical intelligentsia, let alone progressive students of the humanities, have not been influenced by Zahrebelny’s works. For example, his true bestseller Roksolana was read in Ukrainian even by people with a poor command of the language. At the time his historical novels served as a powerful factor in the formation of the national identity and historical memory of the people. It was later, after the previously banned writings of Ivan Krypiakevych, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Dmytro Doroshenko, and Volodymyr Antonovych appeared in print, that our historical knowledge reached a qualitatively new level.
Zahrebelny ranked among intellectual authorities in Ukrainian society. In an interview to Den’ (he often acted as one of the newspaper’s experts) he said, “Young people often ask me what the secret of popularity is. It is simple: you must respect your readers in advance and bear in mind that they are as clever as you are. All people want and like to think. One must raise an ordinary individual to the level of Marcus Aurelius… I think I have said a lot of what I wanted to say in my life. I am quite frank in my books.”
Ivan DRACH, a poet and a public figure:
“In 1961, when I was expelled from the university, Ivan Dziuba brought my poem Nizh u sontsi (A Knife in the Sun) to Pavlo Zahrebelny. He had it published by the Literaturna hazeta and then hired me as head of the fiction literature department. This is how we got to know each other. At that time Zahrebelny published works by Mykola Vinhranovsky, Yevhen Hutsalo, Yurii Shcherbak, let alone Ivan Dziuba. One could say he provided refuge to young writers who later became known as shistdesiatnyky (the Sixtiers). They formed a group that was as an alternative to the existing writing circles.
“Zahrebelny is very popular in Ukraine and beyond its borders. Few can explore and reveal the historical layers of our existence with the kind of skill and talent he had. He was probably one of the few who earned his living by writing. I don’t know who of the contemporary writers can compete with him in this.”
Anatolii DIMAROV, a writer:
“Pavlo Zahrebelny is a unique writer. He has actually paved the way for the historical novel in our literature. Prior to this, novels about Ukrainian history were under a taboo. Zahrebelny wrote a number of excellent historical novels that were in such demand that copies were sold under the counter at a price several times higher than the one printed on the cover.
“I believe that his novel First Bridge handcuffed our whole party elite. I still wonder how he was able to get away with it, without being arrested and sent to the Solovetsky Islands. This novel is about the first bridge built near Kyiv and its builder, for whom there is nothing more important than this bridge. He doesn’t care which aggressor will use it to enter Kyiv so long as he can keep his job. The final scene shows this builder rushing to meet Genghis Khan, who is rumored to be approaching, to try and sell the bridge at a profit.
“After the novel appeared in print, I called Zahrebelny: ‘Are you still in one piece?’ And most surprising of all, not a bark from the government-run critics, not even from the most aggressive ones. Bur after Southern Comfort he was lost his position of the head of the Writers’ Union. At the time all Soviet public prosecutors rose in arms against him, the novel was discussed in Moscow, even though there was no Russian version available then. Zahrebelny made an excellent head of the Writers’ Union of the Ukrainian SSR. He had the nerve to attend the Ten Days of Literature in Azerbaijan, taking along two of Ukraine’s most persecuted writers, Hryhir Tiutiunnyk and Lina Kostenko. He knew how to help friends in need.
“We have lost a brilliant writer. A writer who ought to have become an academician of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine a long time ago. A writer who could have become a Nobel Prize laureate. But such is our country. Such is our memory.”
Mykola ZHULYNSKY, director, Institute of Literature at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine:
“Pavlo Zahrebelny is a unique figure in Ukrainian literature. For some fifty years he was one of the most outstanding Ukrainian writers, owing to his industriousness and sensitive approach to problems relating to our history and current realities. His acclaim was well deserved, for such novels as Wonder, Eupraksia, I am Bohdan, Roksolana, and Thousand-Year-Old Mykolai were truly innovative.
“This prose writer interpreted various periods in our history, such as Kyivan Rus’ or the Hetman State. His interpretation was fairly bold, considering that he published under the Communist regime, and his rendition was original. For example, I am Bohdan is Khmelnytsky’s confession.
“At the same time, as I said, he showed a very sensitive approach to current pressing problems. His novels Southern Comfort, Special Security Zone, and Stovpotvotrinnia (Pandemonium), and especially Brukht (Scrap) are evidence that the author was keenly aware of the political and socioeconomic discord in Ukraine and always acutely assessed what was happening.
“I was surprised by his Yulia abo zaproshennia do samovbyvstva (Julia, or an Invitation to Commit Suicide). It is about the Second World War and is brimming with life-giving energy and love — the main character is madly in love with a woman. One can recognize the author in him.
“I could also mention his story Hola dusha (Naked Soul) and even his last collection of journalist articles entitled Ukrainsky shliakh (The Ukrainian Road). All this adds up to one thing: Zahrebelny was a singular creative personality formed on the two wings of historical novels and interpretation of current realities. By the way, I don’t know anyone else who has read as many books as he did. He always showed an eager interest in young authors. In the 1960s, when he was the editor in chief of the newspaper Literaturna hazeta (eventually renamed Literaturna Ukraina), he actively supported young prose writers, poets, and journalists who would later become known as the shistdesiatnyky. In fact, he was the first to publish poems by Vinhranovsky, Drach, and Oliinyk. He also supported Vasyl Symonenko and Lina Kostenko.
“We will always miss him.”
