Taras Bulba — Mykola Hohol

Taras Bulba is a novella by Mykola Hohol from the Mirgorod cycle (1835), revised in 1842. An epic work about the Zaporozhian Cossacks of the 15th–17th centuries.

Taras Bulba, an old Cossack, sends his sons Ostap and Andriy to the Sich to learn the warrior's craft. Ostap is destined to become a hero, while Andriy, for the love of a Polish woman, betrays his comrades. The climax is the tragic death of both sons and Taras himself.

The work combines heroic pathos, epic breadth, and psychological depth, remaining one of the landmark texts about Cossack Ukraine.