“When I was little, often woke up at night from fright. Because of this, my mother and grandmother took me to whisper. The road stretched through the forest. Picturesque district in Cherkasy region, but deaf, deserted. Kholodny Yar is kilometers away10. And here we come to whispering, she cast a spell over me, poured eggs.Returning home, we passed by a well, into which the Germans threw the shot people from the village of Vdovychyne. I heard this story more than once in our village... I felt like that 10 years. And just imagine, what were the impressions for me!I wanted to say that, describe what was seen and felt. Now to me 76, and I'm still writing about it, that stirs the imagination".
About literature, which became a matter of life, and about his own need to create during the war, Volodymyr Kobzar, the winner of this year's contest for writers "Kentavrida" from the charity foundation «Its Craft" spoke.
Volodymyr Fedorovych Kobzar is an experienced writer. And creative, and vital. Born in Russia, in the then Bashkir Republic, where his father was a prisoner of war. And he began his acquaintance with Ukraine from school. And still does not stop it.
"Until I was nine years old, I did not hear the Ukrainian language. Heard it for the first time in a village in the Chigyrin region,- says Mr. Volodymyr. - For a whole year, I lived with a grandmother’s house in Matviivka - authentic, a true Ukrainian village. With customs, traditions, sayings. There I got to know Ukraine".
And there he began to write. Story, stories, tales. Wrote about everything, what bothers, makes you worry, that affects. This truthfulness of life awarded the author membership in the National Union of Writers of Ukraine.
"The subject of my works changed. Over the years I understood:an artist in his work, like a man in a boat. floats, where the waves carry, and he does not know where he will go,- says Volodymyr Fedorovych.- Let's say, more 10 years ago I didn't even think about it, that I will write novels. And he has already written two".
A good writer does not set himself the goal of proving something
The story "Sacred Ways, or Vo and Sagi», sent by Volodymyr Kobzar to the "Kentavrida" competition,- one of the three novels, written during the last seven years. Works are diverse, but they are all about adventure and all for older children and youth.The author hopes to publish them under one cover someday.
The first story,"The smell of violets",- about the period 19-th century and industrial everyday life of the Chumaks. By the way, in 2015 year, it brought the author a victory in the international competition "Korniychukov Prize".The second is about modern teenagers.Well, the third story,"Sacred Ways",with which this year the writer distinguished himself in the competition «Kentavrida»,- about the adventures of our ancestors.
"The story came out of the idea to write something about the people of Trypil. I read a lot of literature about those times. But simply describing historical facts would be dry and uninteresting. I wanted an adventure,- Volodymyr Fedorovych shares the secrets of creativity.- When I invent a plot, then I put myself in the place of the character. The hero of "Holy Paths" -18-year-old boy Vo, which remained the only one, who survived three thousand years before the new era after a meteorite hit the earth and the resulting drought. In my imagination, these events took place somewhere in the Carpathians. And so this boy went across the scorched earth to the east - to Kherson, Kirovohrad region,- looking for warmth and light there.And found land, where the grass grew green.Those lands are the sacred places of the Scythians. It was a steppe corridor in the south of Ukraine, by which they went from Asia to Europe. Right there, where are the battles now".
In the Great Steppe, between the Dnipro and the Bug, Vo met the captive Sagi. The boy freed the girl from captivity, to fight together for their future and give rise to the tribe of Ukrainian ancestors.
"In order to say, what is the essay about, it must be read,- says the author.- I did not set myself the goal of conveying any opinion. I only conveyed the story through my feelings and thus touched the imagination and mind of my reader. A good writer does not set himself the goal of proving something..
You have to return yours. Territories - to release, and history - to revive
Volodymyr Kobzar is currently working on historical works of the period nationally-liberation struggle of the Ukrainian people 1917-21 years. Writes two novels - about the Central Rada and about Pavlo Skoropadskyi. The events of modern Ukraine strengthened the desire to talk about that happened a century ago.
«That, what we are going through now, began during the liberation struggle 1917-21 years.Ukraine actually won then.She declared independence, but was crushed by neighbours and circumstances,- says the writer.- If we knew our history deeply, we would not allow many things, which happened then and are happening now. We have some people who still think, that the war had begun 24 February 2022-oh. In fact, it is, it all started 100 years ago. And then, fighting for independence, the country was in times worse circumstances.And people still went and died for Ukraine".
Over 30 years ago, Volodymyr Kobzar was fascinated by the Makhno period. And then I saw it, how many of us, Ukrainians, we don't know about ourselves.
"We used to be taught the history of Russia. Ukraine only flickered somewhere in the refracted light,- recalls Volodymyr Fedorovych. - And it turns out, we have our own huge history. And the role of the writer in its preservation is important. We lack works about the revolution, about the famine. So, partly they were, but they were banned. There are gaps in the history of Ukrainian literature over the past hundred years. We do not have the creativity of many writers, and this negatively affected the process of formation of national consciousness. You have to return yours. Territories - to release, and history - to revive".
Writer: Iryna Shatalova
