Forgotten acquaintance of Maksym Rylskyi: Valia Mykhalchuk (from comments on writer’s letters)

Abstract

The article addresses some issues within comments on Maxym Rylskyi’s epistolary heritage. Based on the analysis of the preserved correspondence between the writer and Yaroslav Vitoshynskyi in the 1950s—1960s, in comparison with the discovered archival documents, an assumption was made that there were inaccuracies in the comments on Maksym Rylskyi’s published correspondence. According to the author of the paper, the letters don’t tell about Valentyn Mykhalchuk, some person that remains thoroughly unidentified, but about composer Valerian Mykhalchuk who became a victim of political repression in 1937. The biographical information of the possible mutual acquaintance of both correspondents is taken from his investigative case. Given the possible high level of inaccuracy in this type of sources, since the arrestees used to give deliberately false testimonies under pressure, thus incriminating themselves and others, only non-political information was included in the analysis. An important source was the retained materials of the retrial, including the characteristics of people who knew Valerian Mykhalchuk personally. It’s true that such documents may also contain memory errors due to their diachronic nature in relation to the events described, so they should not be trusted unconditionally. The proposed hypothesis requires further validation, which, if confirmed, not only corrects the error made in the comments to Rylskyi’s published correspondence but also broadens the knowledge about the writer’s social circle in the 1920s and 1930s. In addition, the paper indicates the incorrect dating of Maksym Rylskyi’s poem “The ‘Brothers’ Liberator’ is going on…”