Chechviansky, Vasyl

Chechviansky, Vasyl [Чечвянський, Василь; Čečvjans'kyj, Vasyl'; pen name of Василь Губенко; Vasyl Hubenko], b 28 February 1898 in Chechva (now Hrun), Zinkiv county, Poltava gubernia, d 15 July 1937 in Kyiv. Writer- humorist, brother of Ostap Vyshnia. For many years Chechviansky was secretary of the editorial board of Chervonyi perets’ and contributed his works to the journal. He was a member of the writers’ organization Pluh and of the All-Ukrainian Association of Proletarian Writers. His works began to appear in the early 1920s. During his brief but prolific life he published the following collections of humorous sketches and parodies: in 1928, Tsari pryrody (The Tsars of Nature) and Ekh, tovaryshi ... (Bah, Comrades ...); in 1929, Kadylo (The Censer), Mizh inshym (By the Way), Ozdorovlennia aparatu (Reviving the Apparat), Oskudienie (Impoverishment), Perelyvannia krovy (Blood Transfusion), and Faktor (Factor); in 1930, Ne vam kazhuchy (Without Telling You), Parodiï (Parodies), and Respublikantsi (Republicans); in 1933, Neshchasni (The Unfortunates); and in 1934, Utyliu -put'ovku! (A Pass to the Scrap!). Chechviansky was arrested in November 1936 and shot the following summer. He was rehabilitated in 1957. Two of his collections were published in 1959: Vybrani humoresky (Selected Humorous Sketches) and M'iakyi kharakter (A Softy).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]