In his 1898 short story “The Cossack Way,” Ivan Bunin writes: “I liked the khokhly very much at first sight. I immediately noticed the sharp difference that exists between a Great Russian muzhik and a khokhol. Our peasants are mostly worn-out folk, wearing zipuns full of holes, lapti and onuchi, with emaciated faces and uncombed hair. While the khokhly produce a pleasant impression: tall, healthy and strong, they look at you calmly and gently, are dressed in clean, new clothes.” Ivan Bunin (1870-1953) became the first Russian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1933.
A century before Ivan Bunin, British traveler Dr. Edward D. Clarke observed the very same difference between Ukrainian Cleanliness and Russian Filth: I’d Rather Dine on the Floor of a Ukrainian House than on the Table of Any Russian Prince >
World-famous painter Ilya Repin portrayed two nations in a similar way >
