{"id":37634,"date":"2026-06-11T05:24:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T09:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/?p=37634"},"modified":"2026-06-11T14:02:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T18:02:50","slug":"a-literary-intersection-s-y-agnon-and-vasyl-makhno","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/a-literary-intersection-s-y-agnon-and-vasyl-makhno\/","title":{"rendered":"A literary intersection: S.Y. Agnon and Vasyl Makhno"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Left to right:<\/em> Mariana Maksymiak, Director of the Agnon Literary Center in Buchach, Ukraine, and Ukrainian writer Vasyl Makhno. Discussion and literary reading at Art-Dvir, 24 May 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Hebrew-language writer Shmuel Yosef Agnon is a towering figure in world literature. His often-complex works explore the intersection of modernity and traditional Jewish life, bringing to life the Jewish shtetl in which he grew up, watched change, and disappear. For his work, Agnon was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966, which he shared with the poet Nelly Sachs.<\/p>\n

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Bust of Nobel prize-winning writer Shmuel Yosef Agnon, across the street from where he lived in Buchach, on the banks of the Strypa River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Much of Agnon\u2019s writing is shaped by ideological conflicts and geographical change.<\/p>\n

The first nineteen years of Agnon\u2019s life were spent in the western Ukrainian town of Buchach. In acknowledging his work, the Nobel Prize committee noted: \u201cAgnon\u2019s unique quality as a writer is apparent chiefly in the great cycle of novels set in his native town of Buczacz [Buchach], once a flourishing center of Jewish piety and rabbinical learning, now in ruins. Reality and legend stand side by side in his narrative art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Buchach played a pivotal role in his literature, Agnon has remained an enigma in the land of his birth. In recent years, however, there have been attempts to return the writer to Ukraine. In 2025-2026, several institutions launched initiatives<\/a> to honor Agnon, establishing cultural ties between Ukraine and Israel.<\/p>\n

As part of these efforts, Ukrainian writer Vasyl Makhno recently presented his newest novel, The Angel and the Donkey: With Poems About Fire and Water,<\/em> in Buchach<\/a>, Kyiv<\/a>, Odesa, and Ternopil<\/a>. The novel explores the real life of Agnon and the imaginary writer Victor Preisner, and the intersection of space and time between Buchach and Jerusalem, where Agnon lived for many years and died.<\/p>\n

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\"The Angel and the Donkey. With Poems About Fire and Water\", Ukrainian writer Vasyl Makhno\u2019s newest novel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The novel was an outgrowth of a 2019 literary residency in Buchach headed by Mariana Maksymiak of the Agnon Literary Center. UJE supported three residencies between 2019 and 2021.<\/p>\n

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The audience during the literary event at Art-Dvir.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Below is a video of a discussion between Maksymiak and Makhno. The conversation took place in the courtyard of the building where Agnon lived in his youth. Events in the courtyard, known as Art-Dvir, are supported by the nonprofit organization Buchach-Art.<\/p>\n

Vasyl Makhno and Mariana Maksymiak, Buchach, Ukraine, Art-Dvir, 24 May 2026 <\/strong>(in Ukrainian)<\/span><\/p>\n