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Osmachka, Todos : STARSHYI BOIARYN [THE BEST MAN]

[Munich?]; Prometheus, 1946

Original Wrappers. 8vo. 166 pages. 21 cm. First Edition. In Ukrainian. "Although his first poems were written in 1916, Osmachka began his literary career while he was a student at the Kyiv Institute of People's Education from 1920 to 1923. He belonged to the literary organizations Aspys and Lanka [Later known as 'Maisternia Revoliutsiinoho Slovaâ'� (Workshop of the Revolutionary Word) or MARS] and published his first collection of poetry, Krucha (The Precipice) , in 1922; it was followed by two more collections, Skytski vohni (The Scythian Fires, 1925) and Klekit ([Crane's] Clacking, 1929) . Like other members of MARS he was attacked and arrested for his 'unpolitical' literary works, but managed to save himself from execution by feigning insanity. During the 1930s he faced constant persecution by the authorities and was unable to publish any works. During the Second World War he fled to Western Ukraine, then to displaced persons camps in Germany, and finally to the United States. Osmachka's personal ordeal had lasting effects on him, and until his death he suffered from a persecution complex. Nonetheless he resumed his literary career in 1943 in Lviv with the publication of his fourth collection of poetry, Suchasnykam (To My Contemporaries) . In the displaced persons camps, where he was a member of the MUR literary organization, he published his epic poem, written in octaves, Poet (Poet, 1946) , as well as his first prose work, Starshyi Boiaryn (The Best Man, 1946)."� (Encyclopedia of Ukraine. ) Subjects: Ukraine; Fiction; Short Stories. OCLC lists 2 copies worldwide. (Cleveland Pub. Libr. , Toronto Pub. Libr. ) Light age toning and edgewear. Very good contion. Scarce and important (UKR-1-29)xx

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