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How a cold-blooded criminal became a leading figure of Ukrainian literature: Andriy Golovko
How a cold-blooded criminal became a leading figure of Ukrainian literature: Andriy Golovko

Video: How a cold-blooded criminal became a leading figure of Ukrainian literature: Andriy Golovko

Video: How a cold-blooded criminal became a leading figure of Ukrainian literature: Andriy Golovko
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Before being taken to a psychiatric hospital, a young Ukrainian journalist shot and killed his wife and daughter in one day. It was back in 1924. We are not talking about a simple madman, but about the future Ukrainian classic Andrei Golovko, a laureate of solid literary prizes and orders. In the prime of his work, talking about this episode was, to put it mildly, not accepted. Rumors circulated only somewhere in the foreign environment, on the sidelines of the Ukrainian cultural diasporas in Australia or Canada. Compatriots who studied Golovko's textbook novels during their school years, this story became known already in the post-perestroika times.

Cruel decision of the future Ukrainian literary classic

Literary Ukrainian community "Plow", of which Golovko was a member
Literary Ukrainian community "Plow", of which Golovko was a member

In May 1924, a note appeared in the Poltava district newspaper that the body of a shot woman was found outside the city. The name of the killer who took the life of his own young wife was also called. Much more shocking news was the crime of the next day. The next morning, Golovko got rid of his five-year-old daughter in a similar way. The journalist was promptly detained and sent to Kremenchug to clarify the circumstances.

At first, Golovko denied it, but quickly gave up and, without a shadow of remorse, explained his cold-blooded act. Like, lately I felt bad, life was not happy, thoughts of suicide arose. But he could not afford to leave his beloved family without a livelihood. Therefore, he decided first to free his wife and daughter from potential everyday hardships, and then, having finished the novel he had begun, settle scores with his own life. These facts from the personal life of the famous word-creator became widely known already at the end of the 90s, when shocking documents were presented to the public.

The "Black Hole" of the Writer's Biography and the Disappeared Interrogation Protocol

Burian began in a psychiatric hospital
Burian began in a psychiatric hospital

Since 1918, Golovko lived and worked in the Poltava region, collaborating with a city newspaper. In 1919, a collection of his poems "Gems" was published in a very small edition. Subsequently, Andrei Vasilievich entered Ukrainian history as a talented author of the textbook novels "Artem Garmash", "Burian", "Mother", a number of stories, plays and screenplays. But the period of the writer's life following these events was not voiced by historians for a long time. Officially, the biography was completed already in 1999, when the Kiev "Facts" published material about a little-known story from the life of the eminent classic. After Golovko's death, in his home archives of an elite Kiev apartment, the "Protocol of the interrogation of the guilty" was found, drawn up by the Kremenchug district policemen.

The Commission of Literary Heritage Researchers, on the basis of several examinations by Andrei Golovko, confirmed the absolute authenticity of the document, which had been hidden for many years. S. Yarmolyuk, a researcher of the biography and work of Golovko, wondered why a successful writer needed to keep a document exposing him all his life. He assumed that the paper got to Golovko after the expiration date. Official inquiries to psychiatric clinics in Poltava did not bring any results. The medical staff claimed that all archives with case histories were burned down during the Second World War. No criminal case was found in the archives of the SBU either. But there were many piquant stories in the life of the Ukrainian cultural figure.

Head-deserter and deliverance

With his work, Andriy Golovko has earned a worthy place among the figures of Ukrainian culture
With his work, Andriy Golovko has earned a worthy place among the figures of Ukrainian culture

The civil war found Andrei Golovko as a school teacher. He distinguished himself even then, being unable to decide for whom to be - red or white. It seemed that he saw himself as a Petliurist, but he immediately became a Denikinist, and, in the end, escaped from the White Army, settling in a remote village of Kobelyaksky district. In 1920 he voluntarily joined the ranks of the Red Army and even took command of the cavalry reconnaissance. But a year later, for obscure reasons, he deserted again. Moreover, running away from the Reds, the enterprising scout took a revolver with him.

Subsequently, the writer has repeatedly endowed his literary characters with similar traitorous qualities, arguing about motives and motives. Living in the everlasting expectation of arrest, Golovko could not cope with the role of head of the family. The wife turned out to be a painful woman, and the newborn daughter was a hassle. Livelihoods were sorely lacking, which greatly affected the family atmosphere. Then, feeling that life had gone downhill, Golovko decided to take a desperate step.

Further creativity, a clean biography of Andrei Golovko and literary awards named after the writer

Golovko's work was firmly associated with the example of Ukrainian classics
Golovko's work was firmly associated with the example of Ukrainian classics

While indefinitely on psychiatric treatment, Andrei Golovko became close to a nurse, who soon gave birth to his daughter. The writer recognized paternity, although he legalized it already in the post-war years. Here the Ukrainian writer began work on the novel "Burian". It was this work that lifted Andriy Golovko to the heights of Ukrainian literature. The works of the classic were included in the school curriculum, for which his biography was corrected and freed from unnecessary compromising facts. True, “Burian” had to be edited several times, because the initial version did not seem to the party elite to be accurate enough. At that time, Golovko's creative activity turned into a continuous social order.

Vladimir Martus, who studied the work of the writer, a candidate of philological sciences, described another deep hobby of Andrei Vasilyevich. For many years he had a passion for alcohol, as evidenced by the photos of recent years. Kievskaya street, regional Shevchenko library, school with a memorial room in Kozelshchina, Dnieper steamer are named after the respected writer Andrey Golovko. There is also an office in the Ukrainian capital dedicated to the writer's work in the State Museum-Archive of Literature and Art. And in 1979, the Ukrainian Writers' Union announced a literary prize named after him for the best novel of the year.

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