The Illness

Eugene Pluzhnyk's novel «The Illness» immerses the reader in the life of the Kyiv intelligentsia and artistic circles of the 1920s. The central character of the work is the factory director Ivan Orlovets. His life at first glance seems like an embodiment of rationality: a clear daily routine, work, family, ambitious plans to build a "bright future".
However, this artificially constructed stability suddenly cracks. A visit to the opera, where Ivan is dragged by his friends, becomes fatal. The meeting with the famous singer Iryna Zavadska challenges the hero's established ideas about life. He is faced with a burning question: if the new era proclaims such beautiful ideals, why do people continue to live a gray, miserable existence?

Pluzhnyk masterfully depicts the "illness" of the generation of that time – the gap between the declared ideals and the terrible reality. «How can I build something beautiful for everyone when I have no strength or will to create something even decent for myself?» – this question, which torments the soul of Ivan Orlovets, becomes the key one in the novel.