Mykola Khvylovy (real name – Mykola Hryhorovych Fitilev) is a Ukrainian prose writer, poet, publicist, politician, one of the founders of post-revolutionary Ukrainian prose.

Place of Birth, Education

He was born on December 13, 1893 in the village of Trostyanets, Kharkiv region (now the territory of the Sumy region). He came from a family of teachers.

He received his primary education at a local school, and later studied at the gymnasium of the city of Okhtyrka. However, from the 6th grade he was expelled due to his participation in a revolutionary organization, in particular for agitation among the peasants and his rebellious character.

Career

In 1914–1917, Khvylovy took part in the First World War, and later in the Civil War.

He began his creative activity in 1917. Already in 1919, three of his poetry collections were published in Kharkiv. After demobilization in 1921, he finally moved to Kharkiv.

The first collections of the writer’s poetry are considered to be “Youth” and “Dawn Symphonies”.

In 1923, his first prose collection called “Blue Etudes” appeared. Subsequently, he wrote a number of works, including: “Editor Kark”, “Puss in Boots”, “Solonsky Yar”, “Legend”, “Pig” and “Chumakiv Commune”. During this period, the writer also became one of the founders of the literary association “Hart”.

In 1924, the collection “Autumn” was published, which included “Elegy”, “I (Romance)”, “Silhouettes”, “On a Dead End” and others. In the same year, he published the story “Sanatorium Zone”.

In 1925, together with a group of like-minded people, he founded the Free Academy of Proletarian Literature (VAPLITE).

In 1927, the novel “Woodcocks” was published, the third part of which was destroyed by the Soviet authorities. In the same year, a journalistic treatise “Ukraine or Little Russia?” was written, which was not published during the author’s lifetime – it was published only in 1990.

Also in 1927, employees of the State Political Department of the Ukrainian SSR opened a case-form C-183, after which constant surveillance of Khvylov began.

In the period from December 1927 to March 1928, Khvylovy was abroad – in Berlin and Vienna.

In 1928 – 1930, the poet initiated the founding and publisher of the magazine “Literary Fair”.

In 1930–1931, he founded another periodical – the magazine “Prolitfront”.

Suicide

On May 13, 1933, in Kharkiv, Khvylovy committed suicide. This step was an act of protest against the Holodomor of 1932-1933, as well as a reaction to the arrest of his close friend Mykhailo Yalovyi.

Khvylovyi’s death was a landmark moment that symbolized the final collapse of the idea of Ukrainian national communism and the end of the era of national revival in the 1920s and 1930s.

Personal Life

From his first marriage to Kateryna Gashchenko in 1920, a daughter, Iraida, was born. After a divorce in 1922, she was adopted by Catherine’s new husband, Dmitry Kryvych.

In the second marriage with Yulia Umantseva, there was a stepdaughter – Lyubov. Khvylovy addressed one of the two suicide notes to her.

Nikolai Khvylovy: interesting facts

Here are some interesting facts from the life of Khvylovy:

• Very few details are known about the poet’s childhood, except for the memories that he was very fond of reading, going hunting with his father, and also had an unbearable character;
• in adolescence, his father, who then taught at the Krasnokutsk Craft School, joined the formation of the future writer. He introduced his son to Russian classical literature, in particular populist literature, as well as to Dickens, Hugo, Flaubert, Hoffmann;
• Khvylovy abused alcohol. He drank both for communication and to relieve tension, because he was a terrible neurotic. He broke his nerves during the First World War and the hostilities of 1918 – 1921;
• Before becoming a writer, Khvylovy worked as both a laborer and an editor. He also worked at the Kharkiv Locomotive Plant. But since 1921, his main income has been from literary activities.