Detachable Subdivision
"Rivne Professional College of
National University of Life
and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine"
“My sleep, my voice is restless
In my tragic homeland.”
(Bogdan-Ihor Antonych)
On October 5, 1909, Bohdan-Ihor Antonych, a Ukrainian poet-mystic, translator, and literary critic, was born. From an early age, he showed interest in poetry. A great merit in this was his nanny (she was a young girl), who loved poetry very much and often read to the child, and knew many of Shevchenko's poems by heart. In 1933, he graduated from Lviv University. He was a member of the Ukrainian student circle at the Scientific Section of the Society of Supporters of Education. After graduating from university, he worked as a writer and journalist; he published poems and articles on literature and art in Galician newspapers and magazines, in 1934 he edited the magazine "Dazhbog" and the magazine "Karby". He became a member of the Association of Independent Ukrainian Artists (ANUM). Antonych painted, played the violin, and composed music. Author of the poetry collections “Greetings to Life” (1931), “Three Rings” (1934), “The Book of the Lion” (1936). The collections “The Green Gospel” and “Rotations” were published posthumously in 1938. Author of the libretto for the opera “Dovbush” and the unfinished novel “On the Other Shore”.
Bohdan-Ihor Antonych enriched Ukrainian literature with monumental images of space, oceanic elements, paintings in which fantastic and realistic motifs are intertwined, and philosophical lyrics. He proclaimed the priority of national tradition in his work. He created his own concept of the world and influenced the further development of Ukrainian poetry, in particular, the work of representatives of the “Kyiv school” of the 60s and 80s.
He died on July 6, 1937 in Lviv from pneumonia. He was buried at the Yaniv cemetery.
In Soviet Ukraine, his works were banned. People started talking about Antonych only in the 1960s in the Ukrainian diaspora. Later, his poems were translated into many languages. A memorial sign to the poet was unveiled in his native village, and a monument was erected in Lviv.
“Red maples and silver maples,
Spring and wind above the maples.
The beauty of time is unfathomable,
Can't you really get drunk?
I, having sold my life to the sun,
for a hundred chervonets of madness,
always a passionate pagan,
poet of the spring hangover.”
(B.-I. Antonych. “Self-portrait”)
The Library and Information Center invites our users to view the book exhibition dedicated to the birthday of Bohdan-Ihor Antonych.
Svitlana ANDRIYCHUK,
Lead Librarian of the BIC
