Чотири вершники Апокаліпсиса

Ispansʹkyĭ pysʹmennyk Visente Blasko Ibanʹi͡es, naĭbilʹshe vidomyĭ u nas za tvorom "Krov i pisok", a takoz͡h ĭoho hollivudsʹkoi͡u ekranizat͡sii͡ei͡u, pid chas Pershoï svitovoï z͡hyv u Paryz͡hi ĭ tam napysav sviĭ roman, shcho stav usesvitnʹo vidomym. Upershe opublikovanyĭ u 1916 rot͡si, u rozpal Velykoï viĭny, vin rozpovidai͡e istorii͡u dvokh rodyn: frant͡suza Denuai͡e ta nimt͡si͡a fon Hartrotta, odruz͡henykh na dvokh sestrakh, dochkakh arhentynsʹkoho zemlevlasnyka. Z pochatkom voi͡ennykh diĭ rodychi opyni͡ai͡utʹsi͡a u protylez͡hnykh taborakh. Iz dopomohoi͡u obraziv vichnykh suputnykiv li͡udstva, chotyrʹokh vershnykiv Apokalipsysa - Morovyt͡si, Viĭny, Holodu i Smerti - avtor opysui͡e nastroï suspilʹstva ĭ te z͡hakhitti͡a i spustoshenni͡a, u i͡ake porynula tohochasna I͡Evropa. I popry i͡ake na ïï poli͡akh smerti vidrodz͡hui͡etʹsi͡a neperemoz͡hne prahnenni͡a z͡hyty.<br><br>Dli͡a ukraïnt͡siv roman aktualʹnyĭ i͡ak nikoly. Chy ne na koz͡hniĭ storint͡si my vpiznai͡emo znaĭomi emot͡siï: nebaz͡hanni͡a viryty u moz͡hlyvistʹ viĭny, pryholomshenistʹ pershykh dniv, podalʹshu eĭforii͡u, pokhvylynne ochikuvanni͡a novyn i viru v shvydku peremohu...

Spanish writer Vicente Blasco Ibanez, best known for his work "blood and sand", as well as its Hollywood film adaptation, lived in Paris during the first World War and wrote his novel there, which became world-famous. First published in 1916, at the height of the Great War, it tells the story of two families: the Frenchman Denouille and the German von Gartrot, married to two sisters, the Daughters of an Argentine landowner. With the outbreak of hostilities, relatives find themselves in opposite camps. With the help of images of the eternal companions of humanity, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – Pestilence, War, Famine and death – the author describes the mood of society and the horror and devastation that Europe at that time plunged into. And despite this, an invincible desire to live is being revived in its fields of death.

For Ukrainians, the novel is more relevant than ever. Not on every page we recognize familiar emotions: unwillingness to believe in the possibility of war, the shock of the first days, the subsequent euphoria, the minute-by-minute wait for news and the belief in an early victory...