The memoir image of Kharkiv in the 1920s and 1930s in Ukrainian memoir literature of the twentieth century

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the memoir image of Kharkiv in the twenties and thirties of the last century in Ukrainian memoir literature. Kharkiv is a large city in the north-east of Ukraine, which in 1923 became the capital of Ukraine, absorbing the best of what was then in Ukraine, and a major industrial, economic, scientific, cultural, and educational centre. The city is actively developing. New architectural landmarks in the style of constructivism are appearing. The city, on the one hand, had a powerful state apparatus that controlled all spheres of the country's life, and on the other hand, it had an active development of free intellectual and cultural life. The city of that time quickly received its own memoir biography, and its appearance and specifics of inner life became the subject of numerous memoir reflections. In particular, the memoirs, autobiographies, autobiographical novels, and novels of Dmytro Bahalii, Ostap Vyshnia, Mykhailo Hrushevskii, Dokiia Humenna, Volodymyr Gzhytskii, Mike Johansen, Volodymyr Kulish, Vasyl Mynko, Valerian Polishchuk, Yurii Smolych, Vasyl Sokil, Volodymyr Sosiura, and Yurii Shevelev are the subject of this study. Some of the autobiographers (such as Mike Johansen and Yurii Shevelev) were native Kharkiv residents, while others (such as Volodymyr Gzhytskyi, Dokiia Humenna, Vasyl Mynko, Yurii Smolych, Vasyl Sokil, and Volodymyr Sosiura) came to Kharkiv when it became the capital of Ukraine, so the memoir portrait of the city is written both in its evolution and from the standpoint of first perception and understanding/misunderstanding. The memoir literary maps the city, paying much attention to its literary and artistic loci, often mentioned are the quarter with the conventional name Literary Fair, the Blakytnyi House, the Peasant House, the Berezil Theatre, and the Slovo House. Since 1931, the city's life has changed dramatically, with mass arrests and high-profile court cases, such as the SVU trial in the Kharkiv Opera House. In 1934, the capital of Ukraine was moved to Kyiv, and Kharkiv continues to develop as a powerful industrial, scientific, and intellectual centre.