The Third Kharkiv

The concept of the “Third Kharkiv” was coined by Yurii Shevelov in his essay The Fourth Kharkiv. For him the period when Kharkiv served as the capital of Soviet Ukraine was the city’s most vibrant historical moment. As Shevelov himself wrote:

“You proclaimed Kharkiv the capital of Ukraine? Fine, we will make it one. We will fill it with Ukrainian content. The Third Kharkiv — the Kharkiv of Khvylovy and VAPLITE, of Kurbas’s Berezil, of ARMU exhibitions in the halls of the former monastery, of fierce and passionate debates at the Blakytnyi House of Literature on Kaplunivska Street, of Oriental Studies courses, of Ukrainian students Ukrainian in origin, spirit, program and aspiration, of factories and institutions slowly becoming Ukrainianized — unique, impossible to recreate, overflowing with life and the madness of daring. The Third Kharkiv, the Kharkiv of our young youth.”

The book gathers essays on some of the defining figures of the Third Kharkiv and their works, including Mykola Khvylovy, Mykola Kulish, Les Kurbas and Arkadii Liubchenko.