Ukrainian Male Authors 1880-1920

Passion's Bitter Cup
Biographical Notes

Selected Short Fiction by

Mykola Chernyavsky (1868-1946)
Ivan Franko (1856-1916)
Hnat Khotkevych (1877-1938)
Yevhen Mandychevsky (1873-1937)
Mykhaylo Mohylyansky (1873-1942)
Stepan Vasylchenko (1879-1932)
Volodymyr Vynnychenko (1880-1951)
Sylvester Yarychevsky (1871-1918)
Mykhaylo Zhuk (1883-1964)

Translated by Roma Franko
Edited by Sonia Morris

Mykola Chernyavsky (1868-1946)

Chernyavsky was born into a village priest’s family in Eastern Ukraine. He graduated from a theological seminary in 1889, taught in a church school from 1889-1901, worked as a statistician in Chernihiv and Kherson until 1919, and then returned to teaching. He wrote historical poems, sonnets, eighty short stories, five novellas, and lyrical poetry influenced by Shevchenko and Ukrainian folk poetry. Under Soviet rule he became less active as a writer and translator, and ceased publishing in 1933. Even though he distanced himself from politics, he was accused of nationalism and persecuted by Soviet authorities. His works were prohibited until after Stalin’s death, but even after his rehabilitation, not all his works were published.

Ivan Franko (1856-1916)

The greatest man of letters in Ukraine, Franko, the son of a village blacksmith, was born in the county of Drohobych in Halychyna, Western Ukraine. He studied classical philology and Ukrainian language and literature at the University of Lviv, began work on his doctorate at the University of Chernivtsi in 1891, and completed it with distinction at the University of Vienna in 1893; however, because of his involvement in radical socialist movements for which he was imprisoned three times as a young man, he was denied a tenured appointment to the university in Lviv that now bears his name.

A man of prodigious talents and an indefatigable worker, his literary and scholarly output fills more than fifty volumes. He wrote lyrical and philosophical poetry, short stories, novellas, novels, and dramas; articles devoted to Ukrainian, Slavic, and Western European literary criticism, theory and history; studies pertaining to Ukrainian linguistics, folklore and ethnography; detailed analyses of old and medieval Ukrainian literature; and treatises in which he expounded his philosophical, sociological, political, and economic views. He served as editor and publisher of Ukrainian literary journals, as well as of Ukrainian, Polish, and German newspapers, and he was a prolific translator who worked with fourteen languages.

In recognition of Franko’s invaluable contributions to Ukrainian literature and culture, and of his vast knowledge of world cultures, he has been referred to as the "Ukrainian Moses" who toiled to lead his people to the promised land of freedom envisaged by Shevchenko, and as "the golden bridge" between Ukrainian and world literatures.

Hnat Khotkevych (1877-1938)

Born in Eastern Ukraine, Khotkevych worked as a professional railroad engineer in Kharkiv. He was a scholar, a highly popular modernist writer of short stories, novels, and plays, and a translator of Shakespeare, Moliere, Hugo and Schiller. He was also a composer, a gifted bandura performer and teacher, a theatre director, an editor, and a civic figure. Forced to emigrate to Western Ukraine in 1906 after organizing a railroad strike, he returned to Kharkiv in 1912, and later participated in Soviet cultural life. One of the most widely read authors in Ukraine, an eight-volume collection of his works was published in 1928-32. Arrested during the Yezhov terror in Ukraine (1937-38) when the intelligentsia was decimated, he perished under unknown circumstances. He was rehabilitated after Stalin’s death, and a collection of his works was published in two volumes in 1966.

Yevhen Mandychevsky (1873-1937)

Mandychevsky was born into a village priest’s family in the Ternopil region in Western Ukraine. After studying at the University of Lviv and at universities in Austria and Berlin, he taught in classical high schools in Lviv, Peremyshl, and Ternopil, and served as editor of the pedagogical journal Molodizh (Young People). He wrote poetry and short stories that he contributed to the leading literary journals of the day. In his stories about the lives of peasants and school-aged youths he masterfully portrayed the frame of mind and the spiritual state of individuals confronted with life crises. The date of his death is assumed to be 1937.

Mykhaylo Mohylyansky (1873-1942)

Born in Chernihiv in Eastern Ukraine, Mohylyansky studied and practised law in St. Petersburg. After the 1917 Revolution, he lived in Kyiv, participated actively in its literary life, and contributed numerous articles on Ukrainian literature and politics to newspapers and journals. He wrote sophisticated, psychologically astute short stories, incorporating contemporary Freudian concepts such as the stream of consciousness. After his works were banned by the Bolsheviks, he wrote under pseudonyms and turned his attention to translating and to writing articles on literary theory and Ukrainian authors. During the Stalinist terror of the 1930s, his daughter and son were sent to labour camps, and he moved to northern Russia to be near his daughter, who was executed in 1937. He died in Krasnoyarsk in 1942.

Stepan Vasylchenko (1879-1932)

Vasylchenko was born in the province of Chernihiv in Eastern Ukraine. He graduated from a teachers’ seminary and taught in the provinces of Kyiv and Poltava. During the 1905 Revolution he was arrested for taking part in workers’ demonstrations in the Donbas region, and spent three years in prison. His short stories, based on his life experiences, focus on the hard lives of teachers in that era, the turbulent events of the 1905 Revolution, and the horrors of World War I. The realism of his stories, plays, and film scripts is often tempered by fantasy, humour, and the rich language of folk poetry. Unable to countenance Soviet rule and policies, but also unable and unwilling to completely abandon his literary career, he turned to translating and writing stories for children. He died in Kyiv.

Volodymyr Vynnychenko (1880-1951)

Vynnychenko, a writer, statesman, and politician, was born in Eastern Ukraine. He studied law at the University of Kyiv, but was expelled in 1902 for revolutionary activities, and spent a year in prison. Between 1903-17, he fled abroad a number of times to avoid political persecution.

An active participant in Ukraine’s fight for independence, he assumed key positions in 1918-19 in Ukraine’s autonomous government. When efforts to set up an independent Ukrainian state failed, he went into permanent exile in 1920 and devoted himself to pursuing a literary career in France. His short stories, novels, and dramas, some of which were translated and staged in various theatres in Europe, faithfully depict the lives and the language of the working class, petty criminals, and revolutionaries, and are based on the premise: to thine own self be true. Accused of total amorality, his works were banned in Soviet Ukraine. He died in Mougin, France.

Sylvester Yarychevsky (1871-1918)

Yarychevsky was born into a tailor’s family in Western Ukraine. He joined the Ruthenian Radical Party in 1891and studied at universities in Lviv and Vienna. He taught in town schools, administered a residence for Ukrainian students and, during WWI, served as the chief magistrate of Seret, Bukovyna, where he died. When he was twenty, he began publishing his literary works in a number of periodicals in Western Ukraine. His short stories and novellas, among the first in Western Ukraine to introduce urban themes and Viennese life, realistically depict all levels of society. He also wrote poetry, prose poems, novellas, plays, feuilletons, and critical articles, and translated contemporary German poetry.

Mykhaylo Zhuk (1883-1964)

Zhuk was born into a working class family in Eastern Ukraine. He studied at the Kyiv School of Art, the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, and the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts. He taught in Chernihiv, where Kotsyubynsky, one of the most talented Ukrainian modernist writers, encouraged him to write short stories, poetry, children’s stories, and critical articles. He illustrated his own works, designed posters, book covers, and bookplates inspired by folk art, and created an impressive portrait gallery of leading Ukrainian authors and artists. From 1925-1953 he taught at the Institute of Art in Odessa, and he died there in 1964. A scholarly album containing reproductions of his artistic works was published in 1987.

Passion's Bitter Cup Contents

Passion's Bitter Cup Introduction

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