This book is a biography of one of the most outstanding Ukrainian poets of the 20th century. It tells the story of a descendant of a noble Ukrainian family, in which a struggle between two souls—Ukrainian and Polish—persisted from generation to generation; the son of “that Tadeusz,” a pupil of Kyiv’s Old Community, and a prominent member of the neoclassical “Quintet” — Maksym Rylsky.
However, the young artist arrived at the “purity and simplicity” of neoclassicism only after going through a period of fascination with the “dark towers” of symbolism, sinful temptations, and “enchanting poison.” The art of balance took root after experiences of opium-induced visions, narcotic paradises, and the aestheticization of evil.
Seeking new values in a world forsaken by God, the poet values Homer and Baudelaire, antiquity and decadence, equally. A separate narrative thread of the book is the story of Maksym Rylsky’s coexistence with the Soviet regime, an analysis of his texts with hidden meanings, coded texts that convey to us the tragic conflicts of the era of the Great Terror. In the hardest times, he remained faithful to his beloved muse, the religion of beauty and harmony.
Vira Ageyeva is a professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. She is a recipient of the Shevchenko Prize.
