Аннотация: Vynnychenko and Korolev. The replying reflections unto the Volodymyr Vynnychenko 's open letter
Vynnychenko and Korolev. The replying reflections unto the Volodymyr Vynnychenko 's open letter
Quite by chance in Wikisource I discovered the work by Volodymyr Kyrylovych Vynnychenko (1880 - 1951) - "The Open Letter to Russian Writers," - written in 1913.
This letter can be presented - very roughly and extremely simplistic - as a reaction-reproach to the attitude from side of a "Russian writers" to the letter "i" and to an ordinary villagers who lived (and are living?) in a white Ukrainian khatas [a khata - a peasant dwelling, a traditional peasant house (in Ukraine and a number of other areas)].
On this occasion I remembered Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (1907 - 1966) and his biography.
If I remember correctly, Sergei Korolev has Ukrainian roots.
A much of outstanding people from different fields of activity were of the Ukrainian origin!
I tried to imagine that Sergei Korolev lived all his life in a nice white khata (to be honest, I personally would not refuse - with a reasonable level of comfort), and would be intellectually focused on the problem of using the letter 'i'.
I assume that a Russian writers in their majority (those whom Volodymyr Vynnychenko meant) respected a residents of a white khatas.
But they (a Russian writers) may have anticipated a future that - sadly, - turned out, has minimum a common with a white khatas, with a wooden khats of a Russian peasants.
It is possible to find an examples of the ironic attitude of a Russian writers to a "Russian peasants". Perhaps Volodymyr Vynnychenko saw a situation through a prism with a slightly distorting effect...
Leo Tolstoy, as his biographers write, tried to facilitate the changing of the houses of some peasants onto a more modern type of dwelling, but he received a psychological resistance in response. Biographers convey this situation, at least with a bewilderment, with a perplexity.
If to skip a many logical links and chains in reasoning, the problem is as follows. From the past to the future, all the most valuable should be taken. And the ability to build a life (useful activities, personal relations, leisure, etc.) in a completely new conditions. In these new conditions, a very, a very much things has been changed compared to the past ... To learn, to master a general and a technical (a professional) culture...
As for a khatas built in a past epochs, they were built from the environmentally friendly materials. It was possible to live in them happily ever after, maintaining a health.
As a rule, both in Ukraine and in other territories of the Russian Empire on the tables of a many villagers there were a fish, a vegetables, a fruits, and other environmentally friendly products.
So, a life in a 'simple khatas' was not so bad. Was a lot of good. But to focus on the demonstration of a 'general respect' and a 'general reverence' for the style of life in a "simple khats" a some Russian writers may not have seen much a sense... And what degree of irony can be considered permissible? - There is a lot of unclear, of a turbid in this subject...
But, however, a living conditions have changed - very quickly and very radically.
There is a past, there are the emotions, there are the prospects and there are the achievements, for example, the achievements of Sergei Korolev ...
February 9, 2020 19:35
Translation from Russian into English: February 10, 2020 09:57.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Винниченко и Королёв. Встречные размышления к открытому письму Владимира Винниченко'.