Ukrainian neoclassics

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The group of "neoclassics" ( Ukrainian : Неокла́сики ) was an association of poets and writers that emerged in Ukraine in the early 20th century .

“Neoclassic” (from ancient Greek “new” and Latin “model”) stands for a movement in literature and art in Ukraine. This emerged much later than the recourse to the classical literary movement and found its expression both in the use of old themes and subjects, the recourse to mythological figures and motifs as well as in the demand for a "pure", social and political content liberated art and culture and the praise of worldly pleasures.

The group of "neoclassics" included Mykola Serow , Pawlo Fylypowytsch , Mychajlo Draj-Chmara , Jurij Klen (pseudonym of Oswald Burghardt) and Maksym Rylskyj . The "neoclassics" positioned themselves as aesthetes and rejected populism and romanticism . In addition to their artistic work, the members of the association were also active as important literary critics and theorists of Ukrainian modernism.

The "neoclassics" belong to the generation of the so-called "shot rebirth", the generation of Ukrainian artists and writers who fell victim to the Stalinist purges in the late 1930s .

In contrast to other groups, the “neoclassics” were not united by an organized structure, nor did they appear through ideological and aesthetic manifestos. However, their presence was very important for literary events, which manifested itself between 1925 and 1928 as an influence both on a creative level and in the area of ​​literary discourse.

The “neoclassics” tried to incorporate the forms and methods of ancient Greek and Roman art into their work. This was interpreted by the representatives of the official authorities as a negation of Soviet reality. Serow, Pavlo Fylypowytsch, M. Draj-Chmara were arrested in 1935. They were accused not only of espionage for foreign states, of preparing and attempting to carry out terrorist attacks against government officials and the party, but also of belonging to a secret counterrevolutionary organization whose leader Mykola Zerow was suspected to be.

The "neoclassic" M. Rylskyj, who was also accused, was released after a while. Jurij Klen (actually: O. Burkhardt) managed to travel to Germany because of his German origins, where he stayed. M. Serow was shot in 1937, Fylypowytsch died in Solowki in 1937 and M. Draj-Chmara died in the concentration camp in Kolyma in 1939 .

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