The Trickster's Enduring Trolling. The Metadramaturgy of Oleksandr Korniychuk

The experience of an impartial biography of the most famous Ukrainian playwright of the Soviet era, Oleksandr Yevdokymovych Korniychuk (1905–1972), the most odious figure of Ukrainian culture and the theatrical establishment of the 20th century, is presented. Having received all possible awards, Korniychuk was perceived by people accustomed to thinking about where they are, as someone who, in his stage incarnation, personified the negativity of Soviet ideology with its Byzantineism and the hidden anti-humanity of the socialist experiment.

An attempt is made to refute the usual optics of the view of Korniychuk as purely negative; based on the study of the details of his biography, it is shown how in the 1920s–1930s a peasant from Khrystynivka becomes a city dweller, witty - sarcastic, frank - cunning; In the 1930s–1950s, the townsman turns into a statesman (who in 1944 even tries to defend the independent place of the Ukrainian SSR in the world), the sarcastic becomes satirical, the sly becomes caustic; in the 1950s–early 1970s, the statesman becomes indifferent, the satirical becomes indulgent, the caustic becomes wise.

It is shown that if a reasonable person, weighing the possible life risks of Soviet existence on the scales of fate, sought to remain himself, was favored by the state, was in social prominence, realized himself and had the opportunity to go abroad at any time, he had to behave in a manner that Korniychuk elegantly did. This is a large-scale sketch of a model of conformist social behavior of a talented person under the conditions of undemocratic existence.