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Yulian Opilsky  (real name — Yuri Lvovych Rudnytskyi (Юліан Опільський in Ukrainian); 8 October 1884, Ternopil — 9 February 1937, Lviv — Ukrainian writer — historical novelist. Brother of the famous scientist Stepan Rudnytskyi, brother-in-law of lawyer Stanislav Dnistryanskyi.

Life
The future writer was born in Ternopil in 1884. Encyclopedias give his date of birth as December 8, but he was actually born on October 8. The Rudnitsky family had many children. In 1896, his mother Emilia died of tuberculosis, and two years later, after a stroke, his father, Lev Denisovich Rudnytskyi, who taught geography and history at the First Ternopil State Gymnasium and lived near the educational institution in an elegant house that has survived to this day ( Kaminna Street, 2).

In 1891, the family moved to Lviv, where the father continued to teach, and the son studied first in the Polish-language school, then, from the 2nd grade, in the Lviv Academic Gymnasium. Among his teachers were Ivan Verkhratskyi, I. Levitskyi, Ivan Kopach, Petro Ogonovskyi. He studied well: in geography, the history of his native land, world history, he showed "remarkable" success, in Latin, his native and German languages, natural history - "very good", only in mathematics, Greek and Polish - "good".

In 1898, four children were orphaned in the family: the eldest of the sons, Levkov, was 23 years old at the time, and later he would become a famous lawyer. Stepan — 22, he was a student of University of Lviv, later a professor, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine — the founder of Ukrainian geography. Sofia's sister is 14, after studying at the Lviv National Music Academy and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, she will marry Professor Stanislav Dnistryanskyi, and will become famous as a famous pianist-pedagogue and music critic. The younger Yurk was 13 at that time. The school council helped the talented student, and his older sister took care of him. He graduated from the gymnasium in 1902.

For four semesters he studied philosophy, German and classical philology at University of Lviv, where he listened to the lectures of Oleksandr Kolessa and Kyril Studinsky. He completed his studies in Graz (Austria), where he obtained a higher education in 1907.

During his student years, Rudnytskyi traveled to Italy, Greece, and Egypt. Museums, historical places certainly attracted his attention; collected maps of cities, made notes. Vivid impressions were superimposed on rich knowledge - everything was needed later, when he wrote historical prose, and for now he wrote poems in Ukrainian and German. Knowing German, Italian and Slavic languages, knowing Latin and ancient Greek, Rudnytskyi freely read the works of foreign authors, made translations from English.

After graduating from the university in 1907, he returned to his native gymnasium, where he taught German and history.

During the First World War, he was in a village in the Carpathians, actively working as a writer and teacher.

From 1917, he worked as a referent of the Regional School Council, edited school textbooks, and headed the pedagogical journal Ukrainian School (Українська школа in Ukrainian).

The writer died on February 9, 1937 in Lviv, where he was buried at the Lychakiv Cemetery, plot No. 69.

Creative activity
Yulian Opilskyi is the first Ukrainian writer of the Ternopil region, the author of historical novels, novels, stories about Ancient Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Kyivan Rus', as well as works that tell about events in the lands of Ukraine before 1812.

1916 - Lviv Prosvita published his "Textbook on the Science of the German Language" ("Підручник до науки німецької мови" in Ukrainian). 1918 - the novel "I'm coming to you. A historical story from the time of Sviatoslav I (960-972)" ("Іду на вас. Історичне оповідання з часів Святослава (960—972)" in Ukrainian) was published, under which there was a previously unknown pseudonym - Yulian Opilsky

September 17, 1919 - completed the novel "Opyri" ("Ghouls" or "Упирі" in Ukrainian). This is Yulian Opilskyi's greatest work, by all accounts it is a historical novel, the first part of which "In the Kingdom of Golden Freedom" was published in 1920 (genre description - "Historical novel from the beginning of the 17th century", dedication - to Maria Stepanivna, "the dearest wife, single assistants"). The second and third parts ("The Black Way", "Ivanko"), although announced as ready for printing in 1928, were not published during the author's lifetime. The novel depicted Crimean Tatar-Turkish attacks on Ukrainian lands, the suffering of "yasir" (slaves), exposed the Polish nobles as hateful and insidious ghouls. The images of the extortionist and salesman Bialoskurskyi, his depraved wife Beata, the belittled daughter Lineshka, the werewolf burgher Ivashka were the embodiment of those social forces that plundered the region, together with the Tatars, sucked the last juices out of the working people, and the noble nobility wanted to make their own profit from this. In this novel, quite traditional for Ukrainian literature, the writer showed a good knowledge of history, the ability to build a sharp, almost adventurous plot, resorted to openly journalistic assessments and generalizations.

The most socially significant and artistically perfect work in the artistic heritage of Yulian of Opilsky is the novel "Twilight" (("Сумерк" in Ukrainian) published in 1922), which, due to its anti-nobility and anti-Catholic pathos, was immediately included in the so-called "index", i.e. prohibited. Only in 1970, the novel "Twilight" was published in Russian translation in Moscow. It is possible to draw a parallel and claim that the novels "Twilight" and "Ghosts" are works in which the writer had a polemic with Henryk Sienkiewicz and his novel "With Fire and Sword".

The 1920s were the time of the writer's final self-determination, the period of the most intensive work. Opilsky became a prose writer faithful to historical themes, one of the active builders of a bridge between pre-October and new literature, which continued the classics in the Ukrainian lands, divided between different states even after the October Revolution.

Under the pressure of the circumstances that developed in Western Ukraine during the time of Poland, Yulian Opilsky leaves the period of national history (XIV-XVII centuries), which is "delicate" from the point of view of Polish-Ukrainian relations, and turns to the times of Kievan Rus', to the materials of the life of the Scythians, Persians, and Arabs, Varangians, Romans, Goths, Germans. The second edition of the story "I'm coming to you" (1928) contained an announcement about the following works of the writer with a definition of their genre form and historical background: "Dancer from Pybast" ("an essay on ancient Egyptian life", 1921), "Harmione" ("an essay on life of the Black Sea at the end of the 5th century before Christ", 1921); "Twilight" ("a story from the 15th century", 1922); "The Werewolf" ("stories from the 11th century", 1922); "Kiss of Ishtar" ("an essay on Old Babylonian life", 1923); "Schoolboy from Memphis" ("an essay on ancient Egyptian life", 1927); "The Giant's Shadow" ("a story from 1812", 1927). There were also stories and short stories prepared for printing: "Crosses and Idols", "Spirit of the Steppe" and "Perun's Sowing". The title page of the manuscript of the story "Crosses and Idols", dated 1921, has been preserved. Apparently, this was the first title of the work now known as "Idols will fall."

Yulian Opilsky allowed "free" treatment of historical facts, but under the condition - "if the style is restrained well." The writer advised to "deliberately" beware of illustrating the story, "stuffing" the work with a "collection" of psychological or ultra-bloody horrors - the story must be experienced in order to help the reader understand past and present events.

Among the genres of Yulian Opilsky's historical prose, we distinguish two thematic groups. The first includes those of them based on real facts from the history of Ukraine. Written in different years, they constitute a content-stylistic unity and create a panorama of life in Ukrainian lands over the centuries: the rise of Kyivan Rus' during the reign of Sviatoslav I and Volodymyr ("I'm coming to you", 1918; "The Werewolf", 1922; "Idols will fall" and " Children of Odin" were printed after the author's death ("Idols will fall" in 1938; "Children of Odin" in 1985)); the struggle against the Polish nobility and Tatar-Turkish attackers in the 16th and 17th centuries. ("Ghouls", 1920: the second and third parts of the novel - "The Black Way" and "Ivashko" - were printed in the magazine "Ternopil" as early as 1991-1994), against the Polish and Lithuanian nobility in the 14th and 15th centuries ("Twilight", 1922), foreign feudal lords and Roman Catholic expansion during the time of Danylo Halytskyi ("The Golden Lion", 1926); the situation of Ukrainians in 1812 ("Shadow of the giant", 1927).

The second thematic group includes stories from the ancient history of the peoples who lived on the territory of Ukraine ("Harmione", 1921; "Under the Eagles of Roma", 1929), from the history of Egypt during the time of Pharaoh Ramesses II ("Dancer from Pibast", 1921), ancient Babylon ("Kiss of Ishtar", 1923) and Greece ("Allah", 1931-1932).

The works of Yulian Opilskyi were mainly published by the Publishing Union, published by the printing house of the Shevchenko Scientific Society or the Stauropegion Institute.

1932 - the novel "Allah" was published in the magazine "New Ways". The story "Children of Odin" (summer 1932) appeared in print as early as 1985 (magazine "October").

Tribute

 * In 1989, a commemorative plaque (sculptor O. Malyar, architect S. Dyryavko) was installed on the house in Ternopil where the Rudnytsky family lived . Yulian Opilsky Street is located in the historical part of the city of Ternopil, not far from the center.


 * Streets in Lviv (the Novy Svit area), Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zymna Voda, and Volodymyr are named in honor of Yulian Opilskyi.

Sources and literature

 * M. Ilnytskyi. Опільський Юліан / Енциклопедія історії України : у 10 т. / редкол.: В. А. Смолій (голова) та ін. ; Інститут історії України НАН України. — К. : Наукова думка, 2010. — Т. 7 : Мл — О. — С. 604. — 728 с. : іл. — ISBN 978-966-00-1061-1.
 * Literature for significant and memorable dates of Ternopil Oblast for 2004: Bibliographic list. — Ternopil, 2003.
 * Bohdan Pindus, V. Frolenkov. Yulian Opilsky… p. 678. /.