Based on a rich collection of primary and secondary sources, Leonid Ushkalov presents his biography of the famous Ukrainian philosopher and theologian Hryhorii (Gregorius) Skovoroda (1722-1794). However, this book not only a biography of a prominent person, but also a vivid presentation of the life and culture of eighteenth-century Ukraine. The eleven chapters of the book describing Skovoroda's development are framed by two separate stories, a Prelude and a Finale. They are intended to give Skovoroda's biography as much depth as possible and to show his paramount role in the Ukrainian spiritual tradition.

Dr Leonid Volodymyrovych Ushkalov (1956-2019) was a Ukrainian literary critic, writer, academic, and author as well as editor of numerous scholarly books. He was born in the town of Krasnopillia, in the Sumy region. From 1977 to 1982 he studied at the Faculty of Philology of Kharkiv State University. After graduation, he worked as a lecturer and professor at the the Hryhorii Skovoroda National Pedagogical University of Kharkiv. In 1989, he defended his first doctoral thesis Hryhorii Skovoroda's Works and Ancient Culture at the Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and in 1996 his second doctoral thesis Ukrainian Baroque Literature and its Relationship to Philosophy. He died at the age of 63. Subsequently, the Ukrainian Literature and Journalism Department of the Skovoroda University of Kharkiv, where he had taught for many years, was named after Leonid Ushkalov.