«FISH» FROM LITERATURE: SAMIYLO SHCHUPAK

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the activities of Samiyl Shchupak in the 1920s and 1930s. It is clear from the name and surname that he was a Jew by origin. Obviously, this explains that he managed to get out from any situation. He constantly held managerial positions in various media bodies. In particular, he was the editor of the magazine «Globus», the newspapers «Bilshowyk» and «Proletarska Pravda» in Kyiv. After moving to Kharkiv, he edited «Literary Gazeta» and for some time the magazine «Krytyka».

Researching today the events of almost 100 years ago, it is possible to assert argued that he was obviously a negative character and a vulgar critic of the era of literary discussion in 1925-1928. Demonstrating his passion for communist ideology, this character was not afraid to mock the position of the real patriots of the time from the group of neoclassicists and VAPLITE. Using his position, he published his articles in periodicals. However, his limitations were noticeable already in those days when, thanks to O. Shumskyi, People’s Commissar of Education of the Ukrainian SSR, he was given the nasty nickname «literary fish». Quite interesting characteristics of S. Shchupak can be found in the memoirs of that period, in particular, in the memoirs of G. Kostyuk and V. Kulish.

Despite faithfully serving the Bolshevik ideology, S. Shchupak suffered the same fate as other talented representatives of the Shot Revival. In 1936, he was arrested. He was sentenced to death for anti-Bolshevik activities and terrorist attacks on March 10, 1937, and was shot the same day. However, immediately after the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1956, his children managed to remove the charges from him and rehabilitate him, while the majority of Ukrainian writers were waiting for the return to the restoration of Ukrainian statehood at the end of the 20th century.