It is generally accepted that the main difference between humans and animals is a sense of humor and the ability to laugh. Is it really so, only genetic scientists can tell, and then in a hundred or two hundred years, when they finally deal with human DNA. The only thing you can be sure of right now is the ability to overcome all difficulties with humor makes life not only more colorful, but also more fun.
Ostap Cherry, whose biography interests many of his fans, is a man of difficult fate. He had to survive two world wars, one revolution and the change of several political regimes. In addition, he was on the verge of death several times, and also spent many years in the camp on trumped-up charges. However, despite all these events, he was able to remain an honest and worthy person, and also did not lose his sense of humor, making millions of readers laugh with him.
Biography of Ostap Cherry (Pavel Gubenko): writer’s childhood
The future comedian was born in the middle of November 1989 in an ordinary family of peasants in the Poltava region (today the village of Grun, Sumy region). In addition to him, his parents had sixteen children. Despite the difficult life and poverty, parents raised and helped all their children to stand on their feet. It is noteworthy that one of the brothers Ostap Vishni also became a writer-humorist under the pseudonym Vasil Chechvyansky. One of Pavel’s sisters, Katerina, also showed great hope. But soon she deliberately abandoned her literary career, arguing that there were so many writers in their family.
When Pavel grew up, he was sent to study at the Zenkov elementary school. After graduation, the talented guy continued his studies at the Military Paramedic School in Kiev. After her, Gubenko was eighteen years old, and he was able to get a job as a medical assistant.
At first he worked in the army, but later was able to achieve transfer to the surgery of the Kiev hospital of the South-Western Railways. Despite the fact that Pavel managed to prove himself well in medicine, he dreamed of writing. That is why he devoted all his free time to self-education. His efforts were not in vain, and at the age of twenty-eight he passed exams at the gymnasium as an external student, which allowed him to enter Kiev University. Unfortunately, Paul could not finish it, because the revolution broke out, and after that the civil war.
Life and work during the civil war
According to the official biography of Ostap Vishnya, in 1918 he was drafted into the medical unit of the army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (sometimes this military formation is called "Petliurists"). Today it is difficult to say how much he shared their beliefs, but as a physician he had to provide assistance to the wounded. And Pavel succeeded in this, since in a year he was able to rise to the post of head of the railway medical department of the UPR.
At thirty, Pavel Gubenko was captured by the Communists. Here he was considered a rather valuable “acquisition” and sent to Kharkov, where they planned to shoot him. However, upon arrival there, the writer was soon given a room in a communal apartment, although supervision was left behind. So Ostap Vishnya (the author’s biography does not have accurate information on why this happened, there were rumors that one of the officials who loved the work of a novice writer requested a pardon for him and provided him with accommodation) for the first time escaped execution.
Despite the war and a lot of work in the hospital, Pavel Gubenko actively wrote. Shortly before captivity, the author published the first feuilleton of his own composition entitled "Democratic Reform Denikina." This work quickly gained popularity, as the author accurately and caustically ridiculed the shortcomings of the UNR authorities and their policies. However, he remained on the side of ordinary people like his parents. Moreover, according to the memoirs of his relatives and friends, in all his work Gubenko showed love for his people and country, despite all the weaknesses and shortcomings. He signed this work with the pseudonym Pavel Grunsky.
Creativity during the advent of Soviet power
After the success of the first publication, feuilleton under the same pseudonym began to appear quite often in the press. And in the summer of 1921, the famous work “Eccentric God, God!” Was published, which was first signed by the fictitious name Ostap Vishnya.
The biography of the writer has since been filled with many incidents. So, after the final arrival of Soviet power in Ukraine, Ostap Vishny was charged, and he began to actively participate in the cultural and publishing life of his country. The writer becomes a member of many literary organizations such as "Garth" (community of proletarian Ukrainian writers) and "Plow" (community of peasant writers of Ukraine) and others. In addition, he works in the editorial office of the satirical journal Chervoni Pepper (later became known as Pepper). It was in his edition that the first two issues of the publication were published. Later, his brother, the satirist Vasil Chechvyansky, served as editor of this magazine. In addition, the writer's active work in the organizing committee of the Writers' Union is known.
Despite the difficulties of the establishment of a new state, repression, lack of food and all the necessities, the writer does not lose his optimism and continues to write actively. As a member of the Plow, he adhered to their main tenet - to write in Ukrainian. Thanks to this man, a new genre in literature soon emerges - "smile" ("smile"). This is a kind of hybrid feuilleton with humorous folk style.
In his works of this and subsequent periods, Ostap Cherry, whose biography was very often compared with the biography of Gogol, continued the satirical traditions of the latter, as well as Saltykov-Shchedrin, Chekhov and Ukrainian writers - Shevchenko, Franco and others.
Arrest and years of imprisonment
Despite the fact that Ostap Vishne was forgiven for his work in the UNR, in 1930 a critical article by Aleksey Poltoratsky on the work of the writer was published in a literary journal. Already after Pavel’s arrest, a few years later she was reprinted by one of the publications.
In one of the most difficult periods for Ukraine, in 1933, the writer Ostap Vishnyu was accused of terrorism and organizing an attempt on one of the party leaders and was sent to the Gulag for ten years. Today it’s hard to say what exactly contributed to this arrest. Perhaps the past of the writer, perhaps his courage in creativity. In his notes, Ostap Vishnya himself said that sometimes it’s easier to talk about something important and serious in the form of a joke, but until censorship and the highest ranks figure out what the salt is, it will already be printed.
According to the declassified archives of that time, it becomes known that Ostap Vishnya was constantly spied on. At one time they planned to recruit him, but changed their minds. In his letters and diaries, Pavel Gubenko spoke rather sharply about the policy of evicting Ukrainians with whole families, and also predicted famine in the territory of his native country back in 1928, that is, five years before it began. Perhaps this was the last straw that led to the trumped-up case and the arrest.
It is worth saying that, despite all the misadventures, the writer was quite lucky to survive everything, return and live to rehabilitation. After all, many of his comrades in the pen were shot in the same years. His brother was shot in 1937.
Pavel Gubenko himself managed to avoid such a fate in the camp only by a miracle. In the same year that his brother Vasil was shot, in the forced labor camp of Ukhta-Pechora, where the writer was serving all the years of his punishment, an order came to make way for a new party of prisoners, which was due to arrive soon. Translated into an unofficial language, this order meant the execution of some prisoners. To do this, they were sent to a neighboring area. Among these suicide bombers was Ostap Cherry. However, due to bad weather conditions, the transfer of prisoners to the place of execution was delayed. At this time, the head of the camp was removed, and the order to shoot the writer was lost (according to other sources, the leadership simply felt sorry for the writer).
Speaking about the years of this man’s imprisonment, one cannot help but mention his wife Varvara Maslyuchenko, who, for the sake of her beloved husband, quit her career in the capital and went to Siberia. Here she lived in the neighboring city for all ten years of the imprisonment of Ostap Cherry. In 1943, after serving his entire term, the writer was released.
Biography of Ostap Cherry: life and work after liberation
Returning from prison, the writer continued his work. Over the years of exile, he did not write anything, in any case there is no information about the works of Ostap Vishny of the detention period.
In 1944, his first creation was published after liberation - "Zenithka". Reading it, you can feel the changes in the writing style of the author. In particular, he continues to joke, but at the same time his humor is more secretive. In addition, in order to avoid problems with censorship and the authorities, Cherry increasingly introduces the image of the narrator into his grins and presents the whole work, as it were, not from his own words, but through the prism of the views of another person. Despite this, the author’s works continue to be very popular with readers.
After the end of World War II, the work and biography (Ostap Vishnya returns to the journal Pepper again and devotes much effort to working on it) of the writer were more calm and balanced. During this period, the author tries not to touch politics and prefers to write about nature and life.
In 1955, during the “thaw”, Ostap Vishnya and his executed brother were rehabilitated and found not guilty. The writer and his wife were able to return to Kiev, where he died a year later. In 1991, his biography was filmed at the Kiev film studio. Ostap Cherry was briefly shown during his stay in custody. The film was called "From the Life of Ostap Cherry", and the role of the writer was perfectly performed by Bogdan Stupka.
