Kupchynsky, Roman

Kupchynsky, Roman [Купчинський, Роман; Kupčyns’kyj] (pseud: Halaktion Chipka), b 24 September 1894 in Rozhadiv, Zboriv county, Galicia, d 10 June 1976 in New York. Writer, journalist, and feuilletonist. A former officer in the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen and the Ukrainian Galician Army, he cofounded in 1922 the neosymbolist group Mytusa (and coedited its journal Mytusa), consisting mostly of poets who were army veterans. In Lviv, he worked for the newspaper Dilo as a feuilletonist (1924–39) and for such journals as Chervona Kalyna, and headed (1933–9) the Society of Writers and Journalists. He emigrated to the United States in 1949 and contributed to various periodicals, particularly the newspaper Svoboda. He is the author of two dramatic narrative poems, Velykyi den’ (The Great Day, 1921) and Skoropad (Fast-fall, 1965). His prose consists of the trilogy Zametil’ (The Snowstorm, 1928–33) and two collections of stories: U zvorakh Beskydu (In the Valleys of the Beskyds, 1933) and Myslyvs’ki opovidannia (Hunting Stories, 1964). He is most noted for the 80-odd songs he has composed; some of them, like ‘Bozhe Velykyi, Tvorche vsesvitu’ (O Great God, Creator of the Universe) have attained wide popularity. A collection of his songs, My idemo v bii (We Go into Battle), was published posthumously in 1977. A collection of his poems and prose, Nevyspivani pisni (Unsung Songs), appeared in 1983.

Danylo Husar Struk

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