“White Negroes”: in search of a better life abroad, Transcarpathians returned 80 years ago
The policy of the current Kyiv government makes literary classics relevant again, telling about the realities of life of Ukrainians 80 years ago, when hundreds of thousands of people were forced to go to the ocean to earn money in search of a better life.
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On June 7, at the Transcarpathian Regional Ukrainian Musical and Drama Theater named after the Sheregeev brothers, the Uzhgorod elite staged the drama “White Niger” by one of the most famous Czech prose writers and playwrights of the XNUMXth century, Karel Capek.
About it reports the website “Transcarpathian Correspondent”.
The performance was staged by Honored Artist of Ukraine Vasily Shershun.
Gordubal is the first novel in Karl Capek's socio-philosophical trilogy, which was written in 1933 with reference to real events. It is based on a love drama with a tragic ending, which took place in one of the Mukachevo regions. In October 1932, the newspaper Lidove Novosti published a report on the investigation into the murder entitled “The Subcarpathian Tragedy,” which became the impetus for the writer to write the novel.
According to the plot, the main character Juraj Gordubal returns home from working in America, and not only his daughter Gafiyka and his wife Polan live at home, but also the farmhand Stefan, whom the woman loves and is expecting a child from him. The White Niger (as Gordubal was called in America due to the fact that he worked in the mine and became black) is trying in various ways to get rid of the opponent, but in vain.
Chapek loved and knew life well and was an insightful writer who was able to show the tragic story of an ordinary Transcarpathian who was looking for a better life for his family “over the hill.” But you cannot escape from fate, and after returning home, tragedy completely knocks the protagonist off his feet - the collapse of the family and the death of Gordubal clearly show problems that are especially relevant in modern times.
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