Myth and Madness

During Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity in the winter of 2013-14 Dr. Natalka Slovyanka a beautiful young psychiatrist from Donbas tries to cure her mysterious patient of his "philosophical intoxication." Telesyk is a storyteller who hears voices in the wind. His mind drifts between the immuring reality of the psikhushka and an imaginary world inhabited by witches nymphs and dragons. He engages the other patients in a fairy tale of the quest for a horse that eats burning embers and drinks fire a myth that parallels Ukraine's search for its identity. Both patient and therapist embark on their own quests -- Telesyk to free himself from the prison of his mind and Natalka to escape the dark secrets of her past. As different as East and West they realize that they must unite to slay the family of dragons that are threatening their existence. Myth and Madness blends magical realism with historical events on the Maidan to tell the story of a nation's quest for its identity. Daniel Hryhorczuk is a Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received his BA in English (creative writing) from Northwestern University where his short story "The Ice Cross" won first place in the Orgy of the Arts. He received his MD from the University of Illinois. His first novel Caught in the Current revisited the world of his youth -- ethnic America and offbeat Europe during the psychedelic sixties. The Midwest Book Review described it as "one amazing read and decidedly establishes Daniel Hryhorczuk as a talented author of wit imagination and a fundamentally gifted storyteller." His second novel Myth and Madness explores Ukraine's "revolution of dignity" during the winter of 2013/14. He has received commendations from the City of Chicago the White House and the Ukrainian government for his work on social and health issues in Ukraine. He lives in the Chicago area with his wife Christine and his sons Nicholas and Alex.