Today, on the 107th anniversary of the birth of Oles Honchar, his work takes on a special resonance. The writer, who himself went through the crucible of the Second World War, left us not only artistic evidence, but also deep reflections on the nature of this phenomenon. Today’s war in Ukraine forces us to read his texts in a new way, to look into the lines of his diary, where he tried to understand the duality of war: its sanctity and curse.
For Honchar, war is a struggle for his native land, for the right to life, so he and thousands of others went to the front, knowingly risking their lives. But at the same time, he saw war as an unspeakable evil that takes away youth, destroys people’s destinies, and leaves only desolation behind. In his diary entries there is despair and anger, because wars are started by politicians, and peoples suffer.
Honchar’s understanding of the war was not limited to historical or political reasons. He looked deeper into human nature itself, looking for an answer to the question: why do wars repeat themselves? Why do the powers of this world mercilessly drag into them those who do not need this struggle?
Today, when Ukrainians are once again forced to fight for their right to exist, Honchar’s thoughts sound even more distinct. His war and our war are part of one great historical process of struggle for freedom, in which the word becomes a weapon, and the memory of the past helps to understand the future.
Street art and Gonchar: when the word sprouts through concrete
Photo: IA “FACT”
This street art is well known to Dnipro residents. It appeared in 2016 at the Televiziyna public transport stop and immediately became part of the city landscape. But this is not just a work of street art – it is a reminder of the power of Oles Honchar’s words, in particular his novel The Cathedral, in the modern media space.
Graffiti not only refers to the classics of Ukrainian literature, but also reinterprets it through the prism of today. Themes of war, violence, humanism – all this acquires a new sound, because the work of art turns into a social commentary. This drawing is a manifesto pointing to the absurdity of war: weapons that grow in size contrast with human life, which only suffers from it.
The “Word on the Wall” project, of which this street art was a part, quickly spread in social networks and traditional media. Radio Svoboda, TSN, ICTV, the Ukrainian Book Institute, the local editions “Zorya” and “Cultural Capital” — they all talked about this work, because it became a kind of bridge between literature and modern communication. And later even merch appeared – a “WEAPONS” t-shirt, which also referred to Goncharov’s ideas.
Photo: IA “FACT”
This is not just an artistic gesture, but a deep social action. She asks questions that cannot be ignored. How is war changing? Why do weapons increasingly distance a person from direct violence? How does this affect moral choice?
Honchar wrote about spirituality. About the fact that cathedrals will be the first witnesses of humanity for future generations – “no one has yet solved the formulas of eternal beauty.” But will this beauty be enough for us today so as not to lose ourselves? Sobor Honchara is a cautionary novel that should be a table book of a Ukrainian. Every time there is a temptation to demolish a monument for the sake of another cafe, it is worth thinking: are we not sacrificing cultural heritage too easily? After all, culture cannot be secondary when spirituality is at stake.
We need to do more than just observe. We need to act. Speak. Look for answers. Because silence in those moments when weapons become more valuable than human life is a road to nowhere.
The writer puts an end to chaos when he interprets reality artistically
Oles Gonchar thought deeply about the nature of war, connecting it with the internal destruction of man, his moral and spiritual decline. He emphasized that dark instincts, aggression and the thirst for destruction are the driving force behind wars. Back in June 1943, he wrote down in his diary a terrifying image of wartime reality: “The whole country writhes in convulsions, like a living organism being torn apart alive by a beast. A person with all his thoughts and feelings is trampled by the heavy boot of a soldier, and the soldier, crushed physically and morally, dies without knowing why”.
These thoughts echo the thoughts of thinkers of the 20th century, in particular, Ernst Junger, who wrote that war exposes a person’s primal instincts, tearing away all conventions from him, and Z. Freud, who believed that thanatos – the desire for death, the desire to destroy is deeply rooted in human nature. Gonchar, like many other artists who survived the wars, tried to find an answer to a controversial question: how does humanity combine the ability for spiritual improvement, scientific and technical progress, and culture — with aggression and the desire to destroy one’s own kind?
The horrors of World War II proved that war defies both humanity and rational logic. It is an irrational, tragic phenomenon generated by the dual nature of man. That is why wars driven by the dark instincts of the inhuman in man will continue as long as humanity exists.
Gonchar returned to these thoughts during trips to Germany. In 1963, while near Weimar, where Goethe worked, he visited Buchenwald. The contrast between high culture and the terrible past of this place stunned him: “They are almost next to each other: magical places where one of the greatest creations of human genius was born, and the factory of death…“. How could one country give the world Bach and Mozart, and at the same time give birth to Nazism and gas chambers? This question troubled him even during a visit to Austria, when he saw the Mauthausen concentration camp against the backdrop of the magnificent Alps.
Such historical paradoxes make us think about human nature. Why does war always return? Is it possible to change the course of history if the roots of violence are laid in the very essence of humanity? Gonchar does not give definitive answers, but his reflections are a warning for us. After all, if humanity does not find a way to overcome this inner darkness, war will continue to destroy life and civilization.
Pain, protest, art
For Oles Honchar, the war was not a test that would “rehabilitate” the nation, as some “ideologues” believed. When he was asked in Indonesia in 1964 whether war really strengthens the people, his answer was categorical: “Terrible, ominous words! Unfortunate is the nation that believes that wars must heal it!”
Gonchar perceived war as an absolute evil – illogical, cruel, senseless. Diary entries from the Second World War reveal his inner struggle: fear and despair coexist with courage and humanity. Here are the lines written after the death of the brothers: “I’ve been hiding and crying all morning today. I will join the infantry, I will disappear, I don’t want to live. I was left alone with my orphaned company. Rain, longing, he has to have a bride, Raya, at home. Damn war!” This is not just a cry of pain – it is the position of a person who saw death up close and could not accept it as a “necessity”.
Despite all the horrors of the war, Gonchar remained an artist. He noticed beauty even among the ruins – he painted landscapes on the border of Slovakia and Austria, where nature still lived between the explosions. The war became a Rubicon for him: crossing it, he realized his own vocation. Memories of fallen friends, experiences of the past spilled into literature – first in “Blue Stone”, then in “Man and Weapons”, “Cyclone” and other works.
His prose is not just the memories of a former fighter. This is an artistic manifesto against war, written by a man who knew it from the inside and never accepted its existence.
Literature and war: between the live broadcast and the understanding of history
Modern wars take place almost in real time. The explosion has just gone off, and social media is already flooded with videos marked with a shocking content warning. Official summaries come later, when those interested have already seen everything: the flames of fires, torn buildings, human pain – all this is already in public access, at a distance of a few clicks.
In such a reality, it is difficult for literature to compete with instant video ethers. As long as the war continues, it needs, first of all, immediate reactions. However, when it comes time to summarize, it is literature that can give the events the necessary depth and meaning. It will not just record the facts, but also reflect the era, bury its tragedies in the texts and give a chance for a new reality to start with a clean slate.
But will it happen? More than once, it seemed that each specific war that has gone down in history will become a watershed between the past and the future, and literature will voice the word that will summarize history, extract the necessary experience and pave the way forward. However, while the war continues, there is no sense of completion. Will the current story get its logical ending, or will it remain open, blurred, uncertain? Can a new literature grow through this chaos? There is no answer yet. But we will witness it – as well as a summary of everything else that is happening today, live on the air.
