Биография автора
Iurii Mezhenko (1892, Kharkiv – 1969, Kyiv) was a bibliographer, literary scholar and collector. He completed his studies at Moscow University in 1917. Mezhenko held various important roles throughout his career, serving as the head of the Council of the National Library of Ukraine (1919-1922), director of the Ukrainian Scientific Institute of Bibliology (1922-1931) and editor of the journal “Bibliolohichni visti” (1923-1930). After the liquidation of the institute, he faced accusations of nationalism and was forced to work outside Ukraine as a supervisor in the bibliographical section of the State Public Library in Leningrad (1934-1945). Upon his return to Ukraine, Mezhenko assumed the directorship of the Central Scientific Library of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1945-1948). His literary output predominantly focused on library science, encompassing reviews and some contributions to the history of literature and theatre. In the early stages of the Ukrainian struggle for independence (1917-1920), Mezhenko authored philosophical essays such as Tvorchist’ indyviduuma i kolektyv [Creativity of the Individual and the Collective, 1919], wherein he posited the nation as ‘permanent and lasting’, with writers serving as conveyors of ‘national urges and demands’. While under Soviet rule, he faced constraints in continuing this line of thought but managed to produce articles of interest, including Pro V. Kobylians’koho [About V. Kobyliansky, 1920] and Tvorchist’ M. Khvyl’ovoho [The Works of M. Khvylovy, 1923].