Стаття присвячена життю та творчій діяльності гумориста Юрія Вухналя. Іван Ковтун (справжнє прізвище митця) належав до когорти найяскравіших сатириків періоду Розстріляного відродження. Відновивши з колегами жанр гуморески, Юрій Вухналь не лише висміював недоліки тодішнього комсомольського буття, але й загальнолюдські вади (лінощі, пияцтво, хуліганство). Аналіз матеріалів архівно-кримінальної справи письменника дозволяє відтворити останні місяці його життя, показати методи «роботи» співробітників НКВС із мистецьким середовищем України, змоделювати життя письменницької спільноти під прицілом репресивних спецслужб.
The article is devoted to the life and creative activity of the little-known humorist writer Yuri Vukhnal. His real name was Ivan Kovtun and he worked in the 1920s-1930s in the genre of social and political feuilleton. He was one of the most famous satirists of that period. Yuri Vukhnal tried to realize his creative potential also in the texts for children, novels. He recoved the genre of humor with his colleagues. Yuri Vukhnal not only ridiculed the shortcomings of the then Komsomol existence, but also the universal flaws (laziness, drunkenness, hooliganism). The analysis of materials of the writer-criminal case of the writer allows to recreate the last months of his life. By the example of Yuri Vukhnal we can to show the methods of «work» of the NKVD with the artistic environment of Ukraine, to simulate the life of the writing community under the gun of repressive intelligence services. The author, based on the different materials, most of which are introduced for the first time, have clarified the biographical information on the repressed writer, in particular, regarding the dates and circumstances of his arrest. Comparing archival-criminal cases of the repressed satirists, it was possible to fill in some information gaps, as well as to simulate the range of interests discussed by the literary environment of issues during the period of collapse of national construction and increasing pressure of Soviet repressive bodies. However, behaviors during the interrogations by Yuri Vukhnal added additional touches to his creative biography and prosopographic portrait.
