Chaplenko Vasyl.Pyvoryz: Historical and Everyday Prose.Kraków; Lviv, 1943

Chaplenko Vasyl. Pivoiriz: historical-domestic novella / cover by Volodymyr Balyas.

Kraków; Lviv: Ukrainian Publishing House, 1943. — 120 p. — 15 × 11 cm.

Published in Volodymyr Balyas's edition. Minor rubbing, natural yellowing of the paper, minor damage to the corners. Inscription "Gifted by Myroslava Savchak". Good condition.

The book has historical and cultural value as a publication of the "Ukrainian Publishing House" from the war years.

INFORMATION

The novella takes the reader to 17th-century Ukraine through the adventures of the traveling deacon Teofan Kozka. Pivoiryz was the name given to such wandering vagabonds who went from village to village, living on tips, singing, and occasional earnings — a half-school, half-vagrant figure, perfect for showing the era from the inside. The text is generously enriched with folk proverbs, songs, and satirical sketches.

Vasyl Chaplenko (1900–1990) — prose writer, linguist, and literary critic, from 1943 in emigration in Germany, later in the USA. "Ukrainian Publishing House" operated in Kraków, and from 1941 also in Lviv, and was the only legal Ukrainian publishing structure in the General Government: through it, most Ukrainian books of Galicia were published during the war years, from school readers to contemporary prose. The cover was designed by graphic artist Volodymyr Balyas.