Panas Mirny: biography, photo

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Few people who have achieved success in literature, music or other endeavors are able to remain unspoiled by fame. However, the Ukrainian writer, poet and translator Athanasius Rudchenko (better known under the pseudonym Panas Mirny) was not like that. He was able to remain humble and unassuming even after his novels and short stories became popular.

Panas Mirny, biography: childhood, youth, adulthood

Athanasius (Panas in Ukrainian) Yakovlevich Rudchenko was born in May 1849 in glorious Mirgorod.

The parents of the future star of Ukrainian literature were ordinary people who were accustomed to "live from the land" (like the villagers earn their living by farming and selling grown products). However, the boy's father was a smart man, and was able to learn to be an accountant and get a job in the county treasury.

From childhood, the future Panas Mirny knew that he had nothing else to rely on, except for his own strength. Therefore, after graduating from the Gadyach district school, heAt the age of fourteen, he got a job in the same city - in the county court.

Having inherited intelligence and diligence from his father, Rudchenko soon proved himself well and was able to make a career. After just a few years of work, he achieved a position as an assistant accountant in the county treasury.

Athanasius was not yet twenty-five when he was appointed to the Poltava Treasury Chamber, where he held various positions at various times. Over time, Rudchenko rose to the prestigious title of real state councilor.

Mirny Panas: the beginning of a creative journey

Despite his excellent reputation and high position as an official, Rudchenko largely disagreed with the political situation in the Russian Empire. Especially in relation to the recently liberated from serfdom and left with virtually no land and the possibility of earning peasants, whose problems I knew firsthand. Therefore, at the beginning of his career as an official, Afanasy Rudchenko took up his pen. He was inspired to this act by his own older brother, already known to many in literary circles under the pseudonym Ivan Bilyk. However, unlike his brother, who is actively involved in collecting and publishing Ukrainian folklore, Athanasius was more interested in writing his own works.

Despite the fact that later Panas Mirny became famous as a prose writer, his first published work was the poem "Ukraine". But Rudchenko soon realized that he was much better able to express his ideas in prose. And the second published work of the author was the story "Dashing beguiled".

After a successful debut, Mirny's stories and novels began to appear quite often in periodicals abroad (mainly in Lvov and Geneva). This was due to the fact that in those years in the Russian Empire there was a ban on printed publications in the Ukrainian language. Therefore, such literature was printed in nearby countries where the laws did not prohibit it, and then secretly transported across the border and distributed. Also related to this ban is the fact that both Athanasius and his brother Ivan, being officials, wrote under pseudonyms (photo of Panas Mirny and his older brother Ivan Bilyk - below).

After all, for their activities, they could not only lose the job that fed them, but even end up in jail.

Creative achievements and social activities of the writer

In the seventies and eighties of the 19th century, short prose by Afanasy Rudchenko began to be published quite often.

In 1880, the Rudchenko brothers published the novel “Hiba roar of will, how is the day again?” A little later, Panas Mirny independently takes on the new novel Poviya. It is translated into Russian as "Prostitute" or "Walking". The first two parts of the new novel were published in the almanac "Rada" already in Ukraine, the third - in 1919 in the Literary and Scientific Bulletin.

In the second half of the eighties, Panas Mirny becomes more famous, and soon publishes a collection of short stories "The Picking from the Ridnoy Field". In parallel, his works continue to be published in various publications on both sidesDnipro.

During these years, the play "Limerivna", "The Tale of Truth and Falsehood", "Overwise", "Catch" and other works were published.

Besides the secret, but very active literary activity, Panas Mirny also participated in the public life of the society. A short biography of the writer usually mentions his participation in the secret Poltava revolutionary circle "Uniya", as well as the fact that he was a member of the commission of the city duma in Poltava. However, in addition to this, Afanasy Rudchenko actively advocated the equality of women, who, in his opinion, should also be able to earn their own living.

Personal life and the last years of the life of the writer

Despite his literary fame and success in his career, Afanasy Rudchenko has always remained a man of rare modesty. Many of his close people did not know for a long time that he was the same mysterious Panas Mirny. The writer believed that all efforts should be devoted to helping ordinary people, and not to spend them on self-promotion.

Perhaps it was because of his modesty that Rudchenko married at a fairly mature age. In the writer's diary there were references to his failures in relationships with women in earlier years. However, having met the beautiful Alexandra Scheideman at the age of thirty-nine, who was already going to marry a St. Petersburg doctor, the writer lost his head and made every effort to conquer his beloved.

A month before the writer's fortieth birthday, the lovers modestly celebrated their wedding. From this marriage, Afanasy Rudchenko had three sons. Tounfortunately, two of them died during World War I and the Civil War.

The youngest son became the director of the museum dedicated to the memory of Panas Mirny in Poltava, opened in the writer's house after his death from a stroke in January 1920.

Creative legacy

During his seventy years of life, Panas Mirny wrote many works. The most famous are his stories "Morozenko", "Dashing Beguiled", the novels "P'yanitsya", "Dashing People", "Hungry Will", the short stories "Catch", "Dream" and the play "Limerivna". Also, the writer is the author of two novels: “Hiba roar of will, how can the nursery be more?” (together with his older brother) and "Povia".

Among other things, Panas Mirny tried his hand at writing poetry. Known for his poems "Before the present day music", "Before the brothers-immigrants", "Ukraine" and others.

The writer was also engaged in translations into Ukrainian. He was the author of the translation of "Thoughts about Hiawatha", "Princess Polunichka", as well as Schiller's "Orleans girl" (on which he worked until his death).

Screening of the novel "Poviya"

In 1961, based on the second novel by Panas Mirny "Poviya", the film "Walking" was shot at the Dovzhenko film studio. Starring Lyudmila Gurchenko.

Writer Panas Mirny managed to achieve almost everything that people dream of: he made a great career in the service, became famous as a writer, married his beloved woman and lived with her for thirty years. were in his life andsorrows, however, unlike most of his heroes, he knew how to overcome everything and remain a worthy person.