The Department of Intercultural Communication and Translation at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, together with the Kooperationsbüro Lemberg, invites you to the presentation of the German-language collection of works by Mykola Khvylovy,
“Wahnsinnig liebe ich das Leben”
(edited and translated by Alla Paslavska and Alois Woldan. Klagenfurt: Wieser, 2025).

Mykola Khvylovy (1893–1933) was a central figure of the Ukrainian literary avant-garde of the 1920s and a key intellectual of the “Executed Renaissance.” His literary and journalistic work reflects a passionate struggle for national identity, cultural self-determination, and the autonomy of art during a revolutionary era.

Although he began his career as a poet, Khvylovy soon turned to prose and literary criticism. His novellas — including “I (Romance),” “A Sentimental Story,” and “Puss in Boots” — explore the inner conflict of the intellectual torn between revolutionary idealism and moral responsibility.

His famous slogan “Away from Moscow!” became emblematic of his call for an independent cultural path for Ukraine. Today, the phrase resonates anew in the context of Russia’s aggression and Ukraine’s European aspirations.

Khvylovy’s suicide in 1933, following the arrests of his close friends and the onset of mass repression, remains a tragic testimony to the collapse of revolutionary ideals. His work stands today as both a literary achievement and a historical document of an era in which art and politics were inseparably intertwined.