Shayan, Wolhodymyr [Volodymyr Shai a , or, W odzimir Szajan] (1908-1974) — The Creation of Humanity

Bad Wörishofen, Germany "New Epoch" [The Ukrainian Humanistic Thought] | Printed by Hans Holzmann | Edition Petro Pawlowych First Edition, First Printing pp. 8. 16mo., measuring 4" x 5.75". Single-stapled plain card covers. Comprises of Shayan's distinctly apocalyptic vision of the world; penned in a seeminlgy psychographic, freewheeling-style, disregarding traditional grammar and structure. Replete with grave, ominous, assertions that, "mankind is not yet existing", "humanity has not yet been created", and that "humanity must still be created". Writing at length he goes on to say that "mankind has been lashed, tortured and killed. There are we who realize the days of Apocalypsis. The unshakable foundations of earth have been blown up by dynamite. World's hard solid has been melted in flames of universal fire-brand. The fused fiery mass still vibrates by the pains of agony of the dismembered human bodies, of dying faces, of groaning, malediction, and pain of death. The furious and bloody mass of human flesh rolls down into the abyss of hell". A harrowing vision, no doubt, shaped by the immense scale of death and destruction wrought by all sides over the course of the Second World War. The Lviv-born author, Wolhodymyr Shayan, was a noted Ukrainian philosopher, linguist, philologist, Orientalist-Sanskritologist, religious scholar, one of the founders of the Ukrainian Free Academy of Sciences, and widely considered a pioneer of Ukrainian Rodnovery, or, Slavic Native Faith, who was particularly active during the interwar period (roughly between 1918-1939). A remarkable artifact of Ukrainian new paganism by one of its modern founders, and forming part of the rich literary output by Ukrainian exiles in displaced persons camps throughout the allied territories following the end of World War Two. Verso of front cover states that the publication was "Printed with the permission of U.N.R.R.A" [United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration; An international organization created by the Allied and associated powers to plan, co-ordinate, and administer relief (food, fuel, clothing, shelter, medical, and other essential services) for victims of the Second World War in areas controlled by the Allied powers. (Source: Encyclopedia of Ukraine)]. Additional references: [Lesiv, Mariya (2013). The Return of Ancestral Gods: Modern Ukrainian Paganism as an Alternative Vision for a Nation. McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion. Vol. 2. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. ISBN 978-0773589667]. Exceptionally scarce in commerce; equally scarce amongst institutional holdings. Corresponds to OCLC #600208115. We note one copy at the British Library (see BL UIN: BLL01003361151). Small rectangular offset to the upper-left margin of the front cover. Faint, unobtrusive, institutional stamp to the lower-margin of the title page, otherwise, the extremities and text-block remain entirely without blemish; near fine.