The Family Hearth. Narrations

The series “Non-Canonical Canon” is an attempt to speak about all those writers we barely knew, whose works we read without fully understanding the realities of their time. The series gathers a wide range of Ukrainian authors and texts, each accompanied by contextual essays from literary scholars.

Yevhen Hutsalo was a Ukrainian Sixtier writer, poet and journalist — one of the few authors who managed to preserve his originality and satirical voice during the Brezhnev stagnation and continued writing after Ukraine gained independence.

In the novella The Family Hearth, Hutsalo portrays life in the small village of Zbarazh recovering after the war. Hanka’s husband has died and she now raises three children alone. Desperately seeking justice, she finds the strength to build a new home for her children and defend her truth despite the arbitrariness of petty officials. Hutsalo not only creates vivid portraits of local villagers and sharply satirical depictions of everyday life, but also tells a deeply moving story about maternal love.

In the other texts included in this edition the writer reflects on growing up and family ties, closeness to nature and the colorful life of the village.