Журнал Viche 2014 №1

№1, 2014

Yuriy SHCHERBAK: “Confession is always needed because it purifies the soul”

It is hard to believe, but it is true: the new extensive novels “The time of Christ’s death” and “The time of a big game”, nominated for the National prize of Ukraine named after Taras Shevchenko of 2014, were written ... by an ordinary pen by the known writer and journalist Yuriy Shcherbak. The tricky handwriting of the Doctor of Medical Science, the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine in Israel, and then in the USA, and later - in Canada, can be deciphered only by his wife. She reprints the texts. And now she is waiting when her husband will finish memories that do not have a name yet. The previous – “The beginnings and ends” - again and again makes the author doubt.
Yuriy Mykolayovych doesn’t shy to share them. He has been hesitating for a long time, not for the first time he lay aside reams of paper, changes refills in the ball-point pen, and finally, after requests or insistences of the old friends, during one of the meetings recognizes that will write his memoirs, but they will have a different name. He doesn’t know which one, and that’s why we agree: no single word about them, as well as about politics. It goes only about life, the relationships between people and nations, good and evil, love and freedom, spirituality and culture, successes and failures. Also it is about the romantic aspirations of youth, plans and dreams.