Hordiienko, Kost O.

Hordiienko, Kost O. [Гордієнко, Кость; Hordijenko, Kost'], b 3 October 1899 in Mykytyntsi, Proskuriv county, Podilia gubernia, d 18 December 1993 in Kharkiv. Socialist-realist writer and journalist. A member of the literary organization Hart and later the All-Ukrainian Association of Proletarian Writers, he wrote 21 story collections and 10 novellas, including Avtomat (The Automaton, 1928), Povist' pro komunu (Tale about a Commune, 1930), Ataka (The Attack, 1931), and Skvar i syn (Skvar and His Son, 1935; rewritten as Sim’ia Ostapa Tura [Ostap Tur’s Family, 1958]). His novels include Dity zemli (Children of the Earth, 1937; rewritten as Zarobitchany [Migrant Workers, 1949]) and the trilogy Buimyr (1939–68). Many of his works are set in the countryside of the Lebedyn region (now in Sumy oblast). Hordiienko also wrote a collection of articles about the literary Ukrainian language, Slovo pro slovo (A Word about the Word, 1964), and a collection of musings and reminiscences, Riasne slovo (The Abundant Word, 1978).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]