Ostap Cherry: biography, creativity, life path and list of books

It is generally believed that the main difference between man and animals is a sense of humor and the ability to laugh. Whether this is true, scientists can only say geneticists, and then in a hundred or two hundred years, when they finally deal with human DNA. The only thing you can definitely be sure of now is the ability to overcome all difficulties with humor makes life not only colorful, but also more fun.

Ostap Cherry, whose biography interests many of his admirers, is a man of uneasy fate. He suffered two world wars, one revolution and a change of several political regimes. In addition, he was several times on the verge of death, and also spent many years in the camp on a fabricated charge. However, despite all these events, he was able to remain an honest and worthy person, and also did not lose his sense of humor, making millions laugh with him.

Biography of Ostap Vishny (Pavel Gubenko): the writer's childhood

The future humorist was born in the middle of November 1989 in the usual family of peasants in Poltava region (today the village of Grun, Sumy region). Besides him, the parents had sixteen more children. Despite the difficult life and poverty, parents raised and helped to get to their feet all their children. It is noteworthy that one of the brothers Ostap Vishny also became a writer-humorist under the pseudonym Vasil Chechvyansky. Filed great hopes and one of the sisters of Paul - Katerina. But soon she deliberately abandoned the literary career, arguing her act that there are so many writers in their family.

When Paul grew up, he was sent to study in the primary Zenkov school. After its termination the talented guy has continued the training in Military-feldsherskoj to a school of a city of Kiev. After her, Gubenko was eighteen years old, and he was able to get a job as a paramedic.

At first he worked in the army, but later he was able to get a transfer to the surgery of the Kiev hospital of the South-Western Railways. Despite the fact that Paul could not badly prove himself in medicine, he dreamed of writing. That is why he devoted all his spare time to self-education. His efforts were not in vain, and at twenty-eight years he passed an external exam in the gymnasium, which allowed him to enter Kiev University. Unfortunately, Paul could not finish it, because the revolution broke out, and then the civil war.

Life and work during the Civil War

According to the official biography of Ostap Vishny, in 1918 he was drafted into the medical unit of the Ukrainian People's Army (sometimes called the "Petlyura" military formation). Today it is difficult to say how much he shared their beliefs, but as a physician he had to help the wounded. And Pavel succeeded in this, since in a year he could be promoted to the position of the head of the railway medical-sanitary department of the UNR.

In thirty years Pavel Gubenko was captured by the Communists. Here he was considered a valuable "acquisition" and sent to Kharkiv, where they planned to shoot. However, upon arriving there, the writer was soon given a room in a communal apartment, although he was left behind. So Ostap Vishnya (biography of the author does not have exact information, why it happened, there were rumors that someone from the officials who loved the creativity of the beginning writer, begged him for pardon and provided with housing) for the first time escaped the execution.

Despite the war and a lot of work in the hospital, Pavel Gubenko wrote actively. Shortly before the captivity, the author published the first article of his own work entitled "Democratic Reforms of Denikin". This work quickly gained popularity, as the author accurately and sarcastically ridiculed the shortcomings of the authorities of the UPR and their policies. At the same time, he remained on the side of ordinary people, like his parents. Moreover, according to the memoirs of his relatives and friends, in all his work Gubenko demonstrated love for his people and country, despite all the weaknesses and shortcomings. This work, he signed a pseudonym Paul Grunsky.

Creativity in the period of the arrival of Soviet power

After the success of the first publication of satirical articles under the same pseudonym became quite often appear in the press. And in the summer of 1921, a famous work, "The Eccentric Boy," was published, which for the first time was signed by the invented name of Ostap Vishnya.

The biography of the writer has since been filled with many accidents. So, after the final arrival of the Soviet authorities on the territory of Ukraine with Ostap Cherry, accusations were dropped and he began to actively take part in the cultural and publishing life of his country. The writer becomes a participant in many literary organizations, such as "Gart" (the community of proletarian Ukrainian writers) and "Plow" (a community of peasant writers of Ukraine) and others. In addition, he works in the editorial office of the satirical magazine Chervoniy Perets (later called "Peretz"). It was in his editorial office that the first two issues of the publication were published. Later, his brother, a satirist Vasil Chechvyansky, served as editor of this magazine. In addition, the active work of the writer in the organizing committee of the Writers' Union is known.

Despite the difficulties of the formation of the new state, repression, lack of food and all the essentials, the writer does not lose his optimism and continues to actively write. As a member of the "Plow", he adhered to their main postulate - writing in Ukrainian. Thanks to this person, a new genre in literature appears soon: "smyshka" ("smile"). This is a kind of hybrid of a feuilleton with humor in the national style.

In his works of this and subsequent periods, Ostap Vishnya, whose biography was often compared with Gogol's biography, continued the satirical traditions of the latter, as well as Saltykov-Shchedrin, Chekhov and Ukrainian writers - Shevchenko, Franco and others.

Arrest and years of imprisonment

Despite the fact that Ostap Vishnen was forgiven for his work in the UPR, in 1930 a critical article by Alexei Poltoratsky on the writer's work was published in one of the literary magazines. After the arrest of Pavel in a few years, she was reprinted one of the publications.

In one of the most difficult periods for Ukraine, in 1933, the writer Ostap Vishnu was accused of terrorism and organizing an attempt on one of the party figures and was exiled to the Gulag for ten years. Today it is difficult to say what exactly contributed to this arrest. Perhaps the past of the writer, perhaps, his courage in creativity. In his notes, Ostap Vishnya himself said that sometimes it's easier to tell about something important and serious in the form of a joke, but while censorship and higher ranks will figure out what the salt is, it will already be printed.

According to the declassified archives of that time it becomes known that Ostap Chernya was constantly being spied. At one time he was planning to recruit, but changed his mind. In his letters and diaries, Pavel Gubenko spoke rather sharply about the policy of evicting Ukrainians by whole families, and also predicted a famine in the territory of his native country back in 1928, that is, five years before it began. Perhaps this was the last straw and led to a fabricated case and arrest.

It is worth saying that, despite all the misadventures, the writer was lucky enough to survive all, return and live to rehabilitation. After all, many of his fellow Peru were shot in the same years. His brother was shot in 1937.

Pavel Gubenko himself managed to avoid such a fate in the camp only by a miracle. In the same year that his brother Vasil was shot, in the corrective-labor Ukhta-Pechora camp, where the writer spent all the years of his punishment, came the order to vacate the place for a new party of prisoners, which was due to arrive soon. Translated into an unofficial language, this order meant to shoot some prisoners. For this they were sent to a neighboring zone. Among these suicide bombers was and Ostap Cherry. However, due to bad weather conditions, the transfer of prisoners to the place of execution was delayed. At this time, the camp chief was removed, and the order to shoot the writer was lost (according to other sources, the management simply regretted the writer).

Speaking about the years of imprisonment of this man, one can not help mentioning his wife Varvara Maslyuchenko, who for her beloved husband left her career in the capital and went to Siberia. Here she lived in the neighboring town for all ten years of imprisonment of Ostap Vishny. In 1943, after serving his entire term, the writer was released.

Biography of Ostap Cherry: life and work after liberation

Returning from prison, the writer continued his work. Over the years of exile, he did not write anything, in any case there is no information about the works of Ostap Vishny during the imprisonment.

In 1944, his first creation after liberation was published - Zenitka. Reading it, you can feel the changes in the manner of writing the author. In particular, he continues to joke, but his humor is more secretive. In addition, in order to avoid problems with censorship and authorities, Cherry increasingly introduces the image of the narrator into his grins and presents the whole work as if not with his words, but through the prism of the views of the other person. Despite this, the author's works continue to enjoy tremendous popularity among readers.

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, creativity and biography (Ostap Vishnya returns to the magazine "Peretz" and devotes a lot of effort to working on it), the writer was more calm and balanced. During this period, the author tries not to touch politics and prefers to write about nature and life.

In 1955, during the "thaw" Ostap Vishnya and his brother were shot and rehabilitated and found not guilty. The writer and his wife were able to return to Kiev, where he died a year later. In 1991, at the Kiev film studio, his biography was screened. Ostap Chernya was briefly shown during his imprisonment. The film was called "From the Life of Ostap Cherry", and the role of the writer was beautifully performed by Bogdan Stupka.

Works and books of the author

An interesting historical fact: among the Ukrainian writers, the works of Ostap Cherry occupy the second place in the number of books sold (the first, of course, belongs to the legendary Kobzar). So, in 33 years he wrote only two feuilleton, and in 35 - as many as 270!

Before the arrest, collections of his works were constantly published, most publishing houses of the USSR considered it an honor to publish a feuilleton, if it was signed by the pseudonym Ostap Vishnya. Biography (the list of the best books is presented below) the writer has developed in such a way that he managed to survive the period of mass purges precisely because of the unusual popularity among readers.

One of the most popular works and books by Ostap Cherry:

• Humoresque "My autobiography" (1927);
• The cycle of satirical articles "Mislivski Usmishki" (it was published after the writer's death, in 1958, the most beloved stories about hunting);
• Collections "Vishnevі ssmіshki sіl'skі", "Vishnevі sіmіshki theatrical", "Vishnevі ssmіshki krіmksі", "Вишневі усмішки закордонні", "Українізуймо" and others.

The works of the writer began to be translated into Russian in 1926. The first was the collection "Stories". The richest in translation was 1927, and after the writer paid less attention. A new surge in the popularity of Ostap Cherry began in the fifties. In most cases, these were stories about hunting and folk tales of the writer. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, the collected works of Ostap Vishny were periodically published both in Ukrainian and Russian and some other languages.

About the life of this amazing man, you can say a lot more. In particular, about what kind of person he was and how he regretted nothing to help his friends. It is very sad that today his work is not as popular as it was before, and the collection of his works can either be purchased at a flea market or downloaded from the Internet. It is also very unfortunate that the biographers focus mainly on the period of his imprisonment, and yet in his life there were many more bright and, no doubt, interesting episodes that could interest the readers.