Beyond the Limits of Pain

The “Non-Canonical Canon” series is a way to talk about those we did not know, whose texts we read without understanding the context of their time. It brings together a wide range of Ukrainian authors and their works. Each text is accompanied by reading guides by Ukrainian literary scholars.

Beyond the Limits of Pain is an autobiographical novella by Osyp Turianskyi, depicting his harrowing experience of captivity during World War I. Sixty thousand Austrian prisoners fell into Serbian hands and during their retreat westward they were forced to march through the mountains toward Albania. Ultimately, forty-five thousand perished from cold and disease.

At the center of the story are seven soldiers who manage to escape their guards. Around them — an icy wasteland, suffering, the awareness of inevitable death and a struggle for survival. This is a shocking, traumatic book — a testimony of a soldier who survived while all his companions died.