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[THE FATE OF UKRAINIAN SOLDIER IN RUSSIAN ARMY] Shtutsernik Nechipor Zachiny-voroty i yego potomstvo [i.e. Shtutsernik Nechipor Zachiny-vorota and his posterity]

Pogossky A.F.

Item #2312

St. Petersburg: Dosug i delo, 1872. 116 p. 21x15 cm. In the publisher's wrappers. The text is decorated with capital letters with plant decor. In good condition, rare foxing, a minor tear on p. 71 along the lower margin. Later spine is glued to the cover.

First edition. The story of a simple soldier-shtutsernik (one who carries a shtutser - a rifled muzzleloading gun in the 16th-19th centuries) Nikifor Zavorotin (Nichipor Zachiny-vorota) from Ukraine, whose fate took a sharp turn after his fifteen years of service, about his incredible luck and marksmanship, about his life after the army, his character and family. The book is written in Russian, but in conversation of the main hero the mix of Ukrainian and Russian is used.

One of the scenes depict Crimean War and the battle of Sebastopol, in which Zavorotin takes part together with another Ukrainian soldier, defending Malakhov kurgan. When Zavorotin returns to his home village to his wife and baby daughter, the later proclaims ‘Чуете, моска-ли ввже вертают с полков, ей богу вертают’, meaning that the soldiers are coming back home, in this context soldiers called ‘Muscovites’, her father corrects her, but the author’s willingness not to shy away from the touchy national subject is evidential in this little episode, as well as further in text.

Alexander Fomich Pogossky (1816-1874) - Belarusian writer, journalist, publisher, teacher and public figure, was much involved in issues of public education. He came from the nobility of the Vitebsk province, the Roman Catholic faith, was born in Polotsk on February 26, 1816. The literary activity of Pogossky, as a "military Dal", with his search for a person in the servant of Nikolaev's times, with his ardent preaching in defense of humane principles in the treatment of soldiers, had - as is recognized by all - its share of influence on a noticeable improvement in the life of the lower military servants, our fatherland. Most of Pogossky's works were published in separate editions more than once (some withstood up to eight editions) both during the life and after the death of the author. Pogosky's stories and short stories were also published in collections: in three parts in 1866 (published by the author) and in three volumes in 1878 (published by Fenu). Pogosky's complete works were published in four volumes in 1899-1900. All editions were published in St. Petersburg.

Беларусь: Энцыклапедычны даведнік. P. 547.

Not in the Worldcat.

Price: $2,500.00