Vasyl Stefanyk’s Path in Ukrainian Literature (60th anniversary of the writer in the Western Ukrainian press)
Authors: Gabor Vasyl 
Published: September 2022

The article analyzes a wide range of reports in the Western Ukrainian press of 1931 focusing on the life and artistic legacy of the famous Ukrainian writer Vasyl Stefanyk during the celebration of his 60th anniversary. We aim to study the responce of leading periodicals to the anniversary of the writer, genre features and themes of publications, the prevalence of certain opinions among the back-then critics and the resulting repercussions among readers.
It was found that the leading Galicia journals, such as “Dilo”, “Literaturno-Naukovyi Vistnyk”, “Hromadskyi Holos”, “Novyi Chas”, “Novi Shlia¬khy”, “Nova Zoria”, “Hospodarsko-Kooperatyvnyi Chasopys” etc. dedicated separate issues to V. Stefanyk’s jubilee, published independent supplements and a one-day newspaper “The Path: For Vasyl Stefanyk on the 60th Anniversary of His Life Journey” (Lviv, 1931).
In many publications, the authors, in particular, Bohdan Lepky, Katria Hry-nevycheva, Olha Kobylianska and Volodymyr Doroshenko, vividly portrayed the image of V. Stefanyk as a person and a creative personality.
It was establishedthat during the celebration of the 60th anniversary of V. Stefanyk various camps were extensively advertising him: the Communists were furious that the 60-year-old writer “does not have such a flexible neck as some young people do”, others kept depicting him as “a poet of boundless sorrow”, still others tried to label him as the “peasant poet” and so on. D. Dontsov was primarily interested in “Stefanyk’s man” and “Stefanyk’s universe”, i. e. the earth, and Vaclav Morachevsky, referring to V. Stefanyk as a “poet of the village”, emphasized that his legacy is devoid of any trends or programs. From a class standpoint, the famous author’s works were analyzed by Antin Krushelnytsky, who rightly emphasized his pioneering achievements in Ukrainian literature.
The authors of the publications, in particular Luka Lutsiv, also argued that Stefanyk was so original that it was difficult for critics to place him in any existing group or trend or style.
The keynote of many publications about V. Stefanyk during the celebration of his 60th anniversary was primarily the image of the path (literary and socio-political) chosen and followed by the writer throughout his life.
Among the enthusiastic publications about V. Stefanyk during the celebration of his 60th anniversary in the Western Ukrainian press, we found several intensely critical articles about the writer. Against the background of the almost unanimous positive perception of V. Stefanyk, the fierce criticism by O. Nazaruk and M. Pasika, paradoxical as it may seem, made it possible for readers to gain a deeper understanding of V. Stefanyk as a human being, with his virtues and shortcomings, without diminishing his greatness though.
Based on the analyzed material, it was concluded that the Western Ukrainian press celebrated the 60th anniversary of Vasyl Stefanyk in 1931 on a massive scale, deeply and critically analyzed his artistic legacy and way of life, thereby portraying the true image of the writer and man.

Keywords: Vasyl Stefanyk, “Path”, 60th anniversary, Western Ukrai¬nian press, criticism.