The publication contains the works of Mykola Khvylovy (1893–1933), an original Ukrainian writer who entered national history as a leading exponent of the ideas of the Executed Renaissance, a complex and controversial period in history. It was the writer who substantiated in his pamphlets the need for Ukrainian culture to be guided by the best world models, and not to be limited only to imitating russian themes, plots, and practices of text creation. With his sharp journalistic speeches, he protested against the forced russification of Ukrainians, and moscow chauvinism, naively hoping that under the conditions of the current regime, it would be possible to create favorable conditions for the development of the Ukrainian language and culture.
His pen produced the phrase "Europe or 'Prosvita'?", which became a reference point for many intellectuals. By "Prosvita" the writer understood the provincial backwardness of Ukraine in colonial conditions, and by "Europe" he meant new forms oriented to highly artistic examples of other literatures.
Mykola Khvylovy is an innovator and experimenter in prose, signs of expressionism and elements of naturalism are revealed in his works. The writer's artistic prose attracts with its original writing style, it shows the illusions, hopes, and moral vacillations and catastrophes of man in the first third of the 20th century, in days of incredible cruelty, hopes, and modernization.
