Few people who have achieved success in literature, music, or in other endeavors are able to remain unspoiled by fame. However, the Ukrainian writer, poet and translator Afanasy Rudchenko (better known under the pseudonym Panas Mirny) was not like that. He was able to remain a modest and unpretentious person even after his novels and stories gained popularity.
Panas Mirny, biography: childhood, youth, adulthood
Afanasy (Panas in Ukrainian) was born Yakovlevich Rudchenko in May 1849 in the glorious Mirgorod.
The parents of the future star of Ukrainian literature were ordinary people who were accustomed to “live from the land” (how the villagers earn their living by farming and selling the grown products). However, the boy's father was a clever 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 there was nothing more to count on him, except for his strength. Therefore, after graduating from the Gadyach district school, at the age of fourteen he got a job in the same city - in the district court.
Having inherited intelligence and diligence from his father, Rudchenko soon established himself well and was able to make a career. After only a few years of work, he achieved the position of assistant accountant in the county treasury.
Athanasius was not yet twenty-five when he was appointed to the Poltava State Treasury, where he held various positions at different times. Over time, Rudchenko rose to the prestigious rank of Actual State Councilor.
Peaceful Panas: the Beginning of a Creative Path
Despite the excellent reputation and high official position, Rudchenko was largely disagree with the political situation in the Russian Empire. Especially in relation to the recently liberated from serfdom and left almost without 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 the pen. His elder brother, already known to many in literary circles under the pseudonym Ivan Bilyk, inspired him to this act. 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 soon Rudchenko realized that in prose he was much better able to express his ideas. And the second published work of the author was the story "Dashing Having Confused."
After a successful debut, Mirny's stories and tales began to appear quite often in periodicals abroad (mainly in Lviv 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 published in the neighboring countries, where laws did not prohibit this, and then secretly transported across the border and distributed. This ban is also associated with 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).
Indeed, for their activities, they could not only lose the job that fed them, but generally end up in jail.
Creative achievements and social activities of the writer
In the seventies and eighties of the XIX century, a small prose by Athanasius Rudchenko began to be published quite often.
In 1880, the Rudchenko brothers published the novel “Hiba howling wills, how do you know?” A little later, Panas Mirny independently takes up the new novel Povіya. 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 became more famous, and soon published a collection of short stories “Zbiranitsya from the Field of the Field”. In parallel, his works continue to be published in various publications on both sides of the Dnieper.
During these years, the play “Limerivna”, “The Cossack about Truth and Crivdu”, “Overwisdom”, “Catch” and other works were published.
In addition to secret, but very active literary activity, Panas Mirny also participated in public life. A short biography of the writer usually mentions his participation in the secret Poltava revolutionary circle "Uniya", and also that he was a member of the commission of the City Duma in Poltava. However, apart from this, Afanasy Rudchenko actively advocated for the equal rights 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 a writer
Despite the writer's fame and career successes, Athanasius Rudchenko has always remained a man of rare modesty. Many of his close people did not know for a long time that he was that same mysterious Panas Mirny. The writer believed that all efforts should be devoted to helping ordinary people, and not to waste them on self-promotion.
Perhaps it was because of his modesty that Rudchenko married at a fairly mature age. In the diary of the writer there were references to his failures in relations with women in earlier years. However, having met at thirty-nine years old the beautiful Alexandra Scheidemann, who was about to marry a St. Petersburg doctor, the writer lost his head and made every effort to subdue his beloved.
A month before the writer’s fortieth birthday, lovers modestly celebrated the wedding. From this marriage, Athanasius Rudchenko had three sons. Unfortunately, two of them died during the First World War 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 heritage
During his seventy years of life, Panas Mirny wrote many works. His stories “Morozenko”, “Dashing Beguiled”, the novels “P'yanitsya”, “Dashing People”, “Hungry Will”, short stories “Catch”, “Sleep” and the play “Limervna” are best known. The writer is also the author of two novels: "Hiba howl of will, how yasla rebuke?" (together with the elder brother) and "Powiya".
Among other things, Panas Mirny tried his hand at writing poetry. Known for his poems “Until the Museums,” “Before the Brothers-Proclamations”, “Ukraine” and others.
He was also engaged in translations into Ukrainian. He wrote the translation of “Dumi about Gayyavatu”, “Tsarivni Polunichki”, as well as Schiller’s “Orleanska divchini” (on which he worked until his death).
Screen adaptation of the novel "Povіya"
In 1961, based on Panas Mirny’s second novel “Povіya”, the film “Walking” was shot at the Dovzhenko film studio. The main role was played by Lyudmila Gurchenko.
The writer Panas Mirny managed to achieve almost everything that people dream of: he made an excellent career in the service, became famous as a writer, married his beloved woman and lived with her for thirty years. There were sorrows in his life, but he, unlike most of his heroes, was able to overcome everything and remain a worthy person.