Borislav Is Laughing

"Borislav Is Laughing" is novel by the Ukrainian author Ivan Franko. Together with "Boa-Constrictor" and a number of short stories, it describes the development of the oil industry in the Borislav region - the rise and growth of both the oil barons and the oil workers. Franko made a close study of his subject. This was thee first time the workers' theme was dealt with in Ukrainian literature - and one of the first in world literature. Of "Borislav Is Laughing" Ivan Franko wrote: "This was an attempt to show the native labour movement of the Borislav oil workers, which ended with the great Borislav fire in the autumn of 1873."