A book about the Transcarpathian strongman Ivan Croton has been published

A biographical book "Ivan "Croton" Strong" was published in Kyiv – the Gazeta.ua informed.

The publishing house "Nash Format" released a full version of the novel "Ivan "Croton" Strong" by journalist and writer Anton Kopynets.

The writer was a close friend of Ivan Strong (the real name of the athlete was Firtsak), spent a lot of time with him writing down ideas and comments that were published two years after the death of the strongman. These exceptional physical abilities of Ivan Strong perhaps defined his fate full of adventures, good friends, supporters and insidious enemies

This novel will be interesting for fans and scholars of ethnography, history, geography, as the language on the book is extremely rich and colorful, full of exotic Transcarpathian dialects and, probably for the first time in Ukrainian literature, of urban descriptions of major European cities in Europe in 1920-1930 through the eyes of a Ukrainian.

The main storyline of the novel is a colorful biography of the strongest man in the world in 1928 – twenty-year-old Ivan Firtsak – a native of Transcarpathian village of Bilky, who in search of a better life went to Czechoslovakia, where his victories in fighting tournaments quickly brought him the glory of an incredible and invincible athlete. Later Ivan joined the Prague circus and toured with stunning stunts in Europe and the USA. On posters the athlete was named as "Ivan Strong".