Ukrainian Male Authors 1880-1920

Riddles of the Heart

Biographical Notes

Selected Short Fiction by

Mykola Chernyavsky (1868-1946)
Ivan Franko (1856-1916)
Hnat Khotkevych (1877-1938)
Mykhaylo Kotsybynsky (1864-1913)
Osyp Makovey (1867-1925)
Mykhaylo Mohylyansky (1873-1942)
Panas Myrny (1849-1920)
Leonyd Pakharevsky (1883-1941)
Valeriyan Pidmohylny (1901-1937)
Stepan Vasylchenko (1879-1932)
Volodymyr Vynnychenko (1880-1951)

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 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 volmes in 1966.

Mykhaylo Kotsyubynsky (1864-1913)

One of the most talented Ukrainian modernist writers, Kotsyubynsky was born in Vinnytsya in Western Ukraine. In 1882 he was expelled from a theological seminary for his Populist views and placed under police surveillance for the rest of his life. Unable to obtain a formal higher education, he embarked on an ambitious reading program to satisfy his intellectual needs. In his short stories, that he began publishing in 1890, there is a clear progression from a realistic, populist style to one that increasingly incorporates and masters impressionistic techniques and devices. Drawing upon his keen interest in man’s internal spiritual states, the horrors of the 1905 Revolution, and his perceptive observations of the people among whom he was living, be it in his own land or during his work-related expeditions to Bessarabia and Crimea, he explored both the dark side of human nature, and its optimistic, life-affirming traits. A number of his short stories draw on pagan demonology and folk legends, and are marked by a subtle psychological realism and a lyrical impressionism.

Osyp Makovey (1867-1925)

Makovey was born into a peasant family near Lviv in Western Ukraine. He graduated from the University of Lviv in 1893, and began working first as an editorial assistant, and then as editor, of some of the leading newspapers and journals of the day. In 1901 he earned a doctorate from the University of Vienna and began teaching Ukrainian language and literature at pedagogical seminaries in Chernivtsi, Lviv, and Zalishchyky. He served in the Austrian army in WWI, and was jailed in 1921 for alleged anti-government activity. He embarked on his literary career by publishing translations of German poetry, and then went on to write poetry, short stories, two novelettes, numerous critical articles, introductions to the works of various authors, and studies of Ukrainian authors. He is best remembered, however, for his feuilletons that are marked by satire, humour, and good-natured observations of human foibles.

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.

Panas Myrny (1849-1920)

Panas Myrny is the pseudonym of Atanas Rudchenko. He was born in Myrhorod in Eastern Ukraine, worked as a government official, and attained the status of a full govenrment councillor. At the outset of his literary career he wrote poems, dramas, and short stories that he started publishing in 1872. A few years later, he turned his attention to writing novels about the intelligentsia, the peasantry, and the new social processes brought about by the abolition of serfdom and the reforms of 1861. He was particularly interested in the shifting dynamics in village life after the introduction of these reforms. A translator of Shakespeare and Longfellow, he expanded the lexicon of the Ukrainian literary language and enriched Ukrainian syntax through his talent for rhythmic and melodious phrasing.

Leonyd Pakharevsky (1883-1941)

Pakharevsky was born in a village near Kaniv in Eastern Ukraine. After graduating from Kyiv University and the Lysenko School of Music and Drama, he embarked on a promising career in the theatre as an actor, director, playwright, and critic. In 1905 he began publishing short stories in major journals and newspapers, and over the years his prose style evolved from populism to impressionism. Like a number of other authors, he stopped participating in the literary and cultural life of Ukraine during the Soviet period and traded in his career for a teaching position in a school for workers in Kyiv. It is generally assumed that despite his attempt to lower his profile, he suffered political persecution during the Soviet terror of the 1930s, and died in either 1938 or 1941.

Valeriyan Pidmohylny (1901-1937)

Pidmohylny was born in Eastern Ukraine. He studied at the University of Kyiv and embarked on a literary career in 1919 by writing impressionistic short stories. These earlier works, a number of which focussed on harsh revolutionary realities such as the famine of 1920-21, were subjected to severe official criticism. During the inter-war period he worked closely with several publishing houses, served on the editiorial board of a prestigious journal, and became known as an influential writer, literary critic, and translator of French literature. With the onset of the Soviet reign of terror in the 1930s, he shared the fate of a host of other talented, creative individuals; he was expelled from the editorial board in 1930, arrested in 1934, detained in various prisons and concentration camps, and then shot to death in 1937 on the Solovets Islands along with other writers and intellectuals. After Stalin’s death, he was partially rehabilitated in 1956.

Stepan Vasylchenko (1879-1932)

Vasylchenko was born in the province of Chernihiv in Eastern Ukraine. He graduated from a pedagogical 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.

Riddles of the Heart Contents

Riddles of the Heart Introduction

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