Bohdan Khmelnytskyi: Tetralogy

Hnat Hotkevich is a monumental figure without exaggeration, a true titan of Ukrainian culture. His giftedness reached unprecedented heights, combining the talents of a poet, novelist, translator, teacher, ethnographer, composer, theater artist, actor, director, bandurist, art critic, historian, artist, engineer... His creativity and organizational activities covered the whole of Ukraine - from Slobozhanshchyna to the Carpathians. He was one of the most prominent representatives of the Ukrainian Shot Renaissance.

The historical drama tetralogy «Bohdan Khmelnytskyi» was completed in 1929. Its only edition was published in the same year in the sixth volume of the eight-volume collection of Hnat Khotkevich's works, printed by the Kharkiv cooperative publishing house "Rukh" with a circulation of 2,000 copies. It was from this drama that the artist's tragedy probably began. After all, in the last part of the «Pereyaslav» tetralogy, Khotkevich, going against the official ideology, condemned the signing of the Pereyaslav agreement, calling this act the enslavement of Ukraine by Russia.

«Bohdan Khmelnytskyi» by Hnat Hotkevich is not just a historical drama, it is a real masterpiece of Ukrainian literature, which makes you think about complex issues of Ukrainian history, identity and freedom.