Ukraine, represented in best works our writers, is gradually finding its way to the minds and hearts of readers around the world. In our selection, we take it for granted that the works of our classics are known and loved by Ukrainian scholars and students of departments of Ukrainian language and literature in other countries. We also do not mention writers of Ukrainian origin who lived and worked abroad without positioning themselves as representatives of Ukrainian culture: the same Joseph Conrad, who was born in Berdichev, but is known throughout the world as a British writer. Writers of the Ukrainian diaspora more than deserve a separate article. Here we tried to gather representatives of modern Ukrainian literature: authors who live and work in Ukraine, whose works are translated and published in other countries of the world.

Polish investigation into Ukrainian sex

Oksana Zabuzhko, Comora

Even if you are one of those who don't like Zabuzhko, you can't help but agree that she is a master of modernism, a deep connoisseur of Ukrainian history and an attentive student of human relations. Some novels come to us exactly when we should read them: this one is about the danger of complete immersion in another person, about total love, which requires a woman to renounce herself, her talent, mission and space, her soul and destiny. The novel was published in English, Bulgarian, Dutch, Italian, German, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Swedish, Czech languages. Other works by Oksana Zabuzhko: “Sister, Sister”, “The Tale of the Kalinov Sopilka”, “The Museum of Abandoned Secrets” are also published in translation abroad.

Perversion

Yuri Andrukhovich, “Lileya”

A completely crazy plot, and it’s clear why foreign readers liked it. Imagine a scientific symposium in Venice, the theme of which is: “Post-carnival world: what’s in store?” Ukrainian writer Stanislav Perfetsky gets to the symposium through Munich, driven by a strange married couple: Ada Citrina and the mute Doctor Janus Maria Riesenbock. In Venice, Perfetsky, rushing for a prostitute, ends up at a sectarian worship service: representatives of migrants different nationalities a new deity is worshiped, to whom a large fish is sacrificed at the end of the ceremony. And then the plot twists in such a way that Perfetsky finds its ending only on the remote island of San Michele, having finally discovered the only priest who can listen to his confession and talk to him about Ukraine. The novel was published in many languages, as was another cult work of the author, “Moscoviada”.

Mesopotamia

Sergey Zhadan, “Family Dozville Club”

"Mesopotamia" is nine stories in prose and thirty poetic clarifications. All the texts in this book are about the same environment, the characters move from one story to another, and then into poetry. Philosophical digressions, fantastic images, exquisite metaphors and specific humor - everything that is so attractive in Zhadan’s works is here. These are the stories of Babylon, retold for those interested in questions of love and death. Stories about the life of a city lying between two rivers, biographies of characters who fight for their right to be heard and understood, chronicles of street clashes and daily passions. The novel is very popular abroad.

Cult

Lyubko Deresh, “Kalvarya”

“Cult” is the first novel by Lubomir (Lyubka) Deresh. Back in 2001, the young author was 16 years old. Some people define the genre of this work as fantasy, but, be that as it may, Deresh’s novel “says hello” to such masters of gothic and fantasy as Poe, Zelazny or Lovecraft. The novel has been translated and published in Serbia, Bulgaria, Poland, Germany, Italy and France.

Picnic on Ice/Death of a Stranger

Andrey Kurkov, “Folio”

Kurkov is perhaps one of the most published Ukrainian writers abroad; his translations of “Picnic on Ice” were published by the best publishing houses. On english book was published under the title “Death and the Penguin”, and this version was retained in many languages. Today the novel has been translated into five languages, including English, German, and Italian. Why did the plot interest foreign readers? Because this is a very interesting intellectual detective story. Journalist Viktor Zolotarev receives an unusual assignment from a major newspaper: to write obituaries of prominent influential people, although all of them are still alive. Gradually, he realizes that he has become a participant in a large game of shadow structures, from which it turns out to be an almost impossible task to get out of it alive. Kurkov's works have been translated into 37 languages.

Tango of Death

Yuriy Vinnichuk, “Folio”

The novel was named the 2012 BBC Book of the Year. The novel takes place in two storylines. In the first we meet four friends: a Ukrainian, a Pole, a German and a Jew who live in pre-war Lviv. Their parents were soldiers of the UPR army and died in 1921 near the Bazaar. Young people go through all the vicissitudes of their age, but never betray their friendship. Second story line has other characters, and its action takes place not only in Lviv, but also in Turkey. Both lines intersect in an unexpected ending. Vinnichuk's works were published in England, Argentina, Belarus, Canada, Germany, Poland, Serbia, USA, France, Croatia, and the Czech Republic.

Difficulties

Taras Prokhasko, “Lileya”

Difficulties - who are they? Hutsuls call this people who differ from others in knowledge and skills, which can benefit or harm other people. The novel is dedicated to the “alternative” history of the Carpathians, its action takes place in the period from 1913 to 1951. The Carpathians were both a very archaic environment and, paradoxically as it may sound, a very open zone of intercultural communication. This second myth, about the open Carpathians, is its alternative history. Prokhasko's works have been translated into English, German, Polish, and Russian.

Licorice Darusya

Maria Matios, “Pyramid”

The most famous novel by Maria Matios, rightly called “a tragedy adequate to the history of the twentieth century,” and Darusya herself - “in an almost biblical way.” The action takes place in Bukovina, in a mountain village where Darusya and her parents live, and where the NKVD officers come after the occupation Soviet troops Western Ukraine. Now Darusya, whom her fellow villagers consider crazy and for some reason call her “sweet,” lives alone. It's the 70s outside. Darusya remembers her young and loving parents, who were “grinded” by the millstones of the regime, and sometimes reminds people living around her of the sins they committed. But a moment comes and Darusya’s life changes. The novel went through 6 reprints. “Licorice Darusya” was released in Polish, Russian, Croatian, German, Lithuanian, French, Italian.

Oko prіrvi/Chotiri romani

Valery Shevchuk, “A-BA-BA-GA-LA-MA-GA”

Valery Shevchuk is a living classic. The publishing house of Ivan Malkovich has released a book with four of the author’s most famous novels, including “Tear the Eye.” The genre of this novel is a historical-mystical dystopia. Its action takes place in the distant 16th century, but the author hints, of course, at the totalitarian regime of the USSR. Shevchuk’s works have long been published in English, Polish and German.

Ostannє bazhanya

Evgenia Kononenko, “Anneta Antonenko’s show”

How do writers who lied their whole lives die? They served the regime, wrote books that no one read, although the writer’s family lived in abundance for the fees. No one will leave this life until they tell the truth. Even if a notebook with an autobiography falls into the hands of his son, having lain in a pile of unnecessary drafts for a decade and a half. Evgenia Kononenko is a wonderful author and translator fiction. Her works have been translated into English, German, French, Croatian, Russian, Finnish, Polish, Belarusian and Japanese.

Most of the country became part of the USSR, but the history of Ukrainian national movement it didn’t end there and even got new impulse. The Bolsheviks, whose position in the first years of Soviet power was extremely unstable, tried with all their might to earn the loyalty of the population, using not only the stick, but also the carrot. Particularly on the outskirts former empire new government strengthened its position by flirting with local nationalists. This policy manifested itself most clearly in Ukraine, where the Bolsheviks launched an entire state program to Ukrainize everything. Who and how built a new nation in Soviet Ukraine - in the material of Lenta.ru.

In the fight against chauvinism

“A decisive struggle against the remnants of Great Russian chauvinism is the primary task of our party,” Joseph Stalin declared in 1923. The Father of Nations was absolutely right in his logic.

Victory in Civil War only partially strengthened the power of the Bolsheviks. They broke the organized resistance, but some discontent remained among certain sections of the intelligentsia, workers and peasants. In March 1923, Lenin suffered his third stroke, retired from political activity, and everyone understood that his days were numbered. The question of maintaining power after the death of the leader was in the air.

On top of that, local nationalists are firmly established in the leadership of the union republics, including Ukraine. Although they recognized Soviet power, the memory of how “bourgeois nationalists” at one time were independent rulers haunted the proletarian nationalists. How will they behave if the central government weakens or is unable to quickly solve problems that arise here and there?

In order to pacify local rulers and stabilize local power, the Bolsheviks in April 1923, at the XII Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, proclaimed a policy of indigenization aimed at replacing the Russian language and culture in the union republics with the languages ​​and culture of representatives of national minorities. This was presented under the slogan of the fight against the same Great Russian chauvinism that was associated with Russia’s imperial past.

The main exposers of Great Russian chauvinism and supporters of Ukrainization were (Radomyslsky), Nikolai Skripnik (Skrypnik), (before the revolution he lived under the name Moisha Dolgolevsky) and Joseph Stalin (Dzhugashvili). The participants of the congress quite consciously and persistently supported Ukrainian culture as opposed to Russian culture.

Here is what, for example, Zinoviev said: “I cannot agree with those comrades who said at the Ukrainian conference: two cultures are fighting in Ukraine; Which one wins - we don't care. So, comrades, you can’t talk about it. Comrade Lenin’s school teaches us in the national question that we must actively help those nations that have hitherto been oppressed and driven.”

Other speakers shared a similar opinion. It is not surprising that indigenization was accepted as an official policy on the national issue at the XII Party Congress.

The Bolsheviks, declaring the fight against Great Russian, Great Power, Great Russian chauvinism, were essentially talking about the same thing. The question is what exactly they meant by Great Russian chauvinism. An ideology aimed at promoting national superiority was mixed with the right of Russians in Ukraine to study, read newspapers and watch plays in Russian. In the process of forced Ukrainization, the Bolsheviks took from the people natural law use your native language.

Positive discrimination

Immediately after the proclamation of indigenization in Ukraine, its regional version begins - Ukrainization. The resolution of the Central Executive Committee () and the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) of the Ukrainian SSR “On measures to ensure equality of languages ​​and assistance in the development of the Ukrainian language” truly declared the equality of languages ​​in Soviet Ukraine. On paper.

But equality was guaranteed only if, within a certain administrative-territorial unit, the national “minority” accounted for more than 50 percent of the inhabitants. Naturally, such cases were the exception rather than the rule. So there was no equality.

And this circumstance did not suit the leadership of Soviet Ukraine. Emmanuel Quiring, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Communist Party, said: “We cannot limit ourselves to recognizing the formal equality of nations, since it will lead to actual inequality. Now Ukrainian language and culture must be placed in a privileged position.”

Officials who did not speak Ukrainian were ordered to learn it within a year, otherwise they would face dismissal. For those who were just planning to enroll in public service, knowledge of Ukrainian has become a prerequisite, despite the fact that the number educated people who could cope with the responsibilities of civil servants and speak the Ukrainian language was clearly insufficient.

Ukrainian media played an important role in the success of Ukrainization. If at the beginning of the process there was practically no press in Ukrainian, by 1933 373 of 426 periodicals of the Ukrainian SSR were published in Ukrainian. Their total circulation exceeded 3.6 million copies, accounting for 89 percent of the total print media.

Book publishing deserves special attention. In the early 1920s in Ukraine, books in Russian and Ukrainian were published in approximately the same circulation - half a million each. However, the further we went, the more this ratio changed. The number of Russian books peaked at two million copies in 1925, but later fell to approximately one million.

The circulation of books in the Ukrainian language grew steadily: before the Great Patriotic War it was already 6.5 million. A similar picture persisted until the collapse of the USSR, when the market, rather than party decrees, demonstrated that residents of Ukraine were more interested in reading in Russian rather than in Ukrainian.

The success of Ukrainization largely lies in the fact that by the beginning of the revolution, the population of Ukraine mostly consisted of illiterate peasants lacking a clear national self-identification. But in the early 1920s, three things happened simultaneously most important events. Peasants went en masse to the cities to become workers. The Bolsheviks announced an educational program to train yesterday's peasants to work in factories. And then indigenization began.

Coming to the cities, they perceived the culture and the language that was offered to them and which allowed them to realize themselves. If at the beginning of Ukrainization two thirds of the population of Ukraine were illiterate, then by 1934 no more than eight percent remained. School education almost entirely in Ukrainian. Ukrainian did not use Russian at all.

Much credit for the matter of Ukrainization belongs to the then Secretary General of the Ukrainian Communist Party. Stalin praised him: “None of the previous secretaries in Ukraine resorted to such strong pressure when carrying out Ukrainization.”

The dominant nation among fraternal peoples

At the same time as the people, the party apparatus also became Ukrainized. And he even walked in front, as the duty of every communist required. After all, it was the party leadership that developed and applied in practice specific provisions for indigenization. In 1920, Ukrainians made up 20 percent of the Ukrainian Communist Party. However, already in 1933 this figure tripled.

The number of Russians naturally decreased. Their situation generally worsened, since to enter the civil service it was necessary to know the Ukrainian language. Those who could not learn Ukrainian or did not use it in the workplace, no matter for whatever reason, faced dismissal.

Ukrainians suddenly, but quite clearly, became the titular and even dominant nation. And representatives of other nations, including Russians, preferred to become Ukrainized. This is how Vladimir Zatonsky, People's Commissar of Education of the Ukrainian SSR, described this situation: “Some people now call themselves Ukrainians, since the status of the dominant nation is beneficial in all respects.”

Ukrainization was carried out so quickly that the leadership of the Ukrainian SSR experienced a shortage of local Ukrainian qualified personnel. To solve this problem Soviet authority invited Ukrainian political and public figures, including outspoken nationalists. The total number of returnees amounted to 50 thousand people.

In recent months, the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow has not disappeared from the city news. At the end of October, its director Natalya Sharina faced a criminal case for allegedly distributing among readers books by the Ukrainian nationalist Dmitro Korchinsky, which are recognized as extremist in Russia. Last week the library was searched again. Official Kyiv called them a provocation.

The Village asked Kyiv literary critic Yuri Volodarsky to help understand what modern Ukrainian literature is. The editors asked him to select ten most important books written after Ukraine gained independence, in both Ukrainian and Russian, to show the value of modern Ukrainian literature and the importance of the Library of Ukrainian Literature for Moscow.

YURIY VOLODARSKY

publicist, critic, jury member of the Ukrainian literary award “BBC Book of the Year” (Kyiv)

I considered it necessary to recommend a list of books from the period of Ukrainian independence, that is, written after 1991. These books may not be the best, but they are probably the most significant in Ukrainian literature. In addition, I tried to choose books that had already been translated into Russian. Because otherwise the Russian reader is unlikely to be able to read them: there are people who say that the Ukrainian language is some kind of non-existent language, but they themselves will not be able to understand Ukrainian either on paper or by ear.

To denote modern Ukrainian literature, local criticism uses the term “suchasna Ukrainian literature”, in abbreviation - suchakrlit. Although this term is a little ironic, it is used in the Ukrainian literary community.

The situation with Russian-language authors is interesting, because there is debate about whether they can be considered part of modern Ukrainian literature. I am of the unequivocal opinion that it is not only possible, but absolutely necessary. The problem is that for the last 24 years, Russian-language poets and prose writers in Ukraine have been somehow pushed aside from the general literary process. The last two books on this list were written in Russian.

Yuri Andrukhovich - “Moscoviada”

"Moskoviada", 1993

Yuri Andrukhovych is one of the founding fathers of modern Ukrainian literature. You could even say that it started with him. “Moscoviada” is his second novel, dedicated to the Moscow period of the life of the author, who studied at the Gorky Literary Institute. This is a kind of programmatic book about the fact that Ukraine is not Russia and that a Ukrainian is not Russian. Main character travels around Moscow, communicates with different people, gets into everyday situations and gradually gets drunk. That is, this is such an alcohol trip, reminiscent of “Moscow - Petushki” by Venedikt Erofeev. But in Andrukhovich’s work the hero does not die, and as it develops the action becomes more and more phantasmagorical. And it is at the end that declarations are made that the Ukrainian person is not Russian. To understand the differences between Ukraine and Russia, “Moscoviada” is a must-read.

Oksana Zabuzhko - “Field research of Ukrainian sex”

“Polish investigation into Ukrainian sex”, 1996

Oksana Zabuzhko’s story “Field Research of Ukrainian Sex” was published in the mid-1990s, and then critic Lev Danilkin called the author a national feminist. He was absolutely right in the sense that this is also a declaration, and this is inherent in the literature of the first years of Ukrainian independence. This is a book about female love and dependence on a man, which the heroine overcomes in the course of the story, but also with pronounced national overtones. Although the title of the book sounds shocking, in reality the book is quite chaste. By the way, several years ago Zabuzhko released a grandiose novel, “The Museum of Abandoned Secrets,” which many called almost the main book of suchukrlit. Much of it is dedicated to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, although the author said that the book is not about the UPA, but about love. They managed to translate it into Russian. Now it is impossible to imagine the release of such a book in Russia.

Sergei Zhadan - Voroshilovgrad

Sergei Zhadan is the main character of modern Ukrainian literature. He is both a poet and a prose writer, winner of many awards, including the BBC Book of the Year, which can be considered an analogue of the Russian " Big book" and "Russian Booker". The title of the novel “Voroshilovgrad” is not directly related to the real Voroshilovgrad, which is now called Lugansk. The novel is about the need to take care and protect your own. His hero is a restless young man who hangs out in the city doing office work, and then finds out that his brother has disappeared and what is left of him is a gas station, which must be saved from the raiders laying claim to it. The leitmotif of the novel is two words that are often mentioned there: “vdyachnіst” and “vіdpovіdalnіst”, which can be translated as “gratitude” and “responsibility.” Zhadan is characterized by the ability to work in different literary registers: he combines a strong narrative with a purely poetic approach. And in his later novels there is always a mythological component: in “Voroshilovgrad” the hero, by traveling by bus, actually crosses the River Styx and goes to the kingdom of the dead. We do not quite understand what is happening to the hero: is it reality or fiction, reality or some kind of symbolic journey.

Taras Prokhasko - “Difficult”

“Uneasy”, 2002

Taras Prokhasko is considered one of the most original Ukrainian authors, but he writes catastrophically little. He is the author of just one short novel, Uneasy. This is Ukrainian magical realism, which grows not in accessible flat areas, but in rugged remote areas. For Pavic it was the Balkans, and for Prokhasko it was the Carpathians. The writer depicts a completely mythological Carpathian world, where its own laws apply, not only social ones, but also the laws of the world order. The main character marries one woman, and each subsequent woman is his daughter from the previous one. Naturally, incest should not be taken literally; it also has a mythological character. Prokhasko is a unique Ukrainian writer. His novel could not have been written anywhere except the Carpathians.

Yuri Izdryk - “Wozzeck”

If Prokhasko is Ukrainian mythology, and Zhadan is social literature, then Izdryk is such an introverted, essay-like, almost plotless prose with a huge number of references to other texts of suchukrlit. The text is filled with sensations from everything in the world: from what a person sees, what he reads, from what he reads about what he sees, and what he sees in what he reads. Reading Izdryk is always difficult: he doesn’t favor the plot. The hero of “Wozzeck” is Izdryk himself, who appears in different guises. It is characteristic that almost all the writers on this list are from the west of Ukraine. These are representatives of the so-called “Stanislav phenomenon”, the name of which is associated with Ivano-Frankivsk, which was called Stanislav until 1961. This phenomenon characterizes a sharp departure from socialist realism Soviet period and the rapid manifestation of postmodernism in Ukrainian literature.

Alexander Irvanets - “Rivne/Rivne”

This novel is important, but also secondary. Alexander Irvanets is a colleague of Yuri Andrukhovich in the group “BuBaBaBu” (“Burlesque, farce, buffoonery”), with which suchukrlit began in the mid-1980s. The novel “Rivne/Rivne” is about the city where Irvanets lived a significant part of his life. This is a kind of dystopia in which Moscow extends its influence over most of Ukraine, and the border between Russian-controlled Ukrainian territories and those that have retained independence runs through the middle of the city of Rivne. Therefore, part of the city is called in Ukrainian, and part in Russian. And there is a great contrast between life in these parts of the city. A dull “scoop” on one side and a completely prosperous, joyful, meaningful life from the point of view of the arts in the second half. To any person who is well acquainted with Russian literature of the second half of the 20th century, this plot inevitably resembles Vasily Aksenov’s novel “The Island of Crimea”.

Maria Matios - “Sweet Darusya”

“Licorice Darusya”, 2004

Maria Matios is also a representative of Western Ukrainian literature, or rather its rural discourse. She was born in the Chernivtsi region, a territory that was either under Austria-Hungary or under Russia. It passed from hand to hand and became a battlefield for different powers, which trampled it and destroyed it simply because they passed there. main character novel - a girl whose family was destroyed by the NKVD, she was left alone and silent. This is probably main novel about what happened in western Ukraine after it came under Soviet control.

Sofia Andrukhovich - “Felix Austria”

"Felix Austria", 2014

Sofia Andrukhovich is the daughter of Yuri Andrukhovich. Her novel Felix Austria won the BBC Book of the Year last year. The name is a Latin fragment of a phrase that one of the Austro-Hungarian emperors once said: “Let others wage war! You, happy Austria, get married!” The action takes place in Stanislav, now Ivano-Frankivsk, in 1900. The main character is a Rusyn (that is, Ukrainian) maid in an Austrian-Polish family, whose owner is both her friend and everything else. It turns out to be an interesting symbol: the mistress symbolizes Austria-Hungary, and the maid symbolizes the Ukrainian lands within it. This is a deconstruction of the myth in Ukrainian culture about the supposedly happy and carefree days of Western Ukraine as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is not true. Even though life was better than under the Soviets, it is also clear that grace is illusory, and Andrukhovich shows this in a single family. Towards the end, the author recalls that Austria-Hungary, whose prosperity seemed unshakable, after some 18 years will cease to exist at all.

Vladimir Rafeenko - “Demon of Descartes”

Vladimir Rafeenko, in my opinion, is the most significant Russian-language writer in Ukraine. Previously, he lived in Donetsk, and in July 2014, for all obvious reasons, he moved to Kyiv. Rafeenko is a successor to Gogol's tradition. His novels are always phantasmagoria, but with a very strong social component and a very peculiar language, which combines high and low styles, switching registers from mythological to realistic. When Rafeenko lived in Donetsk, his books were practically unknown in the rest of Ukraine. They were published in marginal Donbass publications, but then he won Russian Prize prizes for two years. First it was “Moscow Divertissement”, and then “Descartes’ Demon”. The latter was published in Eksmo, and Rafeenko became famous in his homeland. This is a ridiculous way: to become famous in Kyiv, you need to be published in Moscow.

Karine Arutyunova - “Say Red”

Karine Arutyunova started writing quite late: she published her first book when she was over 40. She writes short prose, which is marked by a very special author’s style. This is such an exclusive attention to the evidence of all the senses. In her works there are many shades, colors, olfactory and tactile sensations, always very subjective evidence of the world. This prose can be called women's prose, but not in terms of plots, but in terms of temperament. If you asked me what this book was about, I wouldn't be able to answer. It's about everything. There are a million everyday situations, but it is not they themselves that are important, but their perception and the ability to present them in the author’s originality. In addition to novels, there are also short stories. Reading them is sometimes faster and more joyful - at least for those who are looking for tactile, sound, visual and other small pleasures in life.

cover image: LiveLib ; 1 – ozon.ru, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 – LiveLib, 9 – labirint.ru, 10 –

Historically, the Ukrainian people have always been creative, loved to sing and dance, invent poems and songs, myths and legends. Therefore, for many centuries, truly great and talented people have worked in all corners of Ukraine.

Ukrainian literature is phenomenal and unusual in its essence. Each historical stage is famous Ukrainian writers described metaphorically and topically. That is why very real characters look at us through the lines from yellowed sheets of paper. And as we delve deeper into the narrative, we begin to understand what worries the author, inspires, frightens and encourages. It is quite possible to learn history from the masterpieces of Ukrainian literature - events are described so truthfully and sometimes painfully.

Who are all these geniuses of the pen who penetrate the soul with words and make us laugh and cry with them? What are their names and what did they do? How did they achieve success and did they find it at all? Or maybe they never learned that their creations brought them eternal fame and veneration, forever inscribing their name in the classics of Ukrainian literature?

Unfortunately, not all Ukrainian writers were able to enter the world literary arena. Many masterpieces have never been in the hands of the Germans, Americans, or British. Hundreds of wonderful books did not receive their well-deserved awards in literary competitions France or Germany. But they are really worth reading and understanding.

And although hundreds of talented people have written on the “nightingale language,” perhaps it’s worth starting with a unique and phenomenal woman. This brilliant poetess, whose lines express a storm of emotions, and whose poems remain deep in the heart. And her name is Lesya Ukrainka.

Larisa Petrovna Kosach-Kvitka

Lesya, being a weak and small woman, showed incredible fortitude and courage, becoming example to follow millions of people. The poetess was born in 1871 into the noble family of the famous writer O. Pchilka. At birth the girl was given name Larisa, and her real name there was Kosach-Kvitka.

Since childhood, suffering from a terrible disease - bone tuberculosis - Lesya Ukrainka was bedridden almost all the time. Lived in the South. The beneficial influence of the mother and passion for books (especially the master of Ukrainian literature - Taras Shevchenko) bore fruit.

From a young age, the girl began to create and publish in various newspapers. Like many famous Ukrainian writers, in her works Larisa adhered to the sentiments and traditions of T. G. Shevchenko, creating several cycles of lyrical and philosophical poems.

About Lesya's work

Intrigued by magical mythology and world history Lesya has devoted many books to this topic. Most of all she liked novels about Ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, about humanism and human qualities, about the fight against despotism and evil, as well as Mystic stories about the undead and nature of Western Ukraine.

It should be noted that Lesya Ukrainka was a polyglot and knew more than ten languages. This gave her the opportunity to make high-quality literary translations of the works of Hugo, Shakespeare, Byron, Homer, Heine and Mickiewicz.

The most famous works that everyone is recommended to read are “The Forest Song”, “Possessed”, “Cassandra”, “The Stone Lord” and “Songs about Freedom”.

Marko Vovchok

Among the famous writers of Ukraine there was another extraordinary woman. Many called her the Ukrainian George Sand - just as her patron Panteleimon Kulish dreamed. It was he who became her first assistant and editor, giving her the first impetus to develop her potential.

Woman with a fiery heart

Marko Vovchok was a fatal woman. As a child, her mother sent her to a private boarding school, away from her father’s bad influence, then to Orel to live with a rich aunt. There the endless love cycles began. Marco Vovchok - Maria Vilinskaya - was a very beautiful girl, so it is not surprising that crowds of gentlemen revolved around her all her life.

Among these gentlemen were famous writers whose names are well known to us. Even though she tied the knot (as she later admitted, not for love) with Opanas Markovich, her husband could not do anything with the attractive energy of this young lady. Turgenev, Kostomarov and Taras Shevchenko fell at her feet. And everyone wanted to become her teacher and patron.

"Marusya"

The most famous work Marco Vovchok presents the story “Marusya” about a girl who gave her life to help the Cossacks. The creation impressed readers and critics so much that Maria was awarded an honorary award from the French Academy.

Men in Ukrainian literature

The creativity of Ukrainian writers was also under the auspices of talented men. One of them was Pavel Gubenko. Readers know him under the pseudonym Ostap Cherry. His satirical works made readers laugh more than once. Unfortunately, this man, who smiles at us from newspaper pages and literature textbooks, had few reasons for joy in his life.

Pavel Gubenko

Being a political prisoner, Pavel Gubenko honestly served his required 10 years in a forced labor camp. He did not abandon creativity, and when his stern superiors instructed him to write a series of stories from the lives of prisoners, even there he could not resist irony!

The writer's life path

But life put everything in its place. The one who previously accused Ostap Vishnya himself ended up in the dock and became an “enemy of the people.” And the Ukrainian author returned home ten years later and continued doing what he loved.

But these long years in correctional camps left a terrible imprint on Pavel Gubenko’s condition. Even after the war, returning to the already free Kyiv, he still could not forget the terrible episodes. Most likely, the endless inner struggles of a man who always smiled and never cried led to his tragic death from a heart attack at the age of 66.

Ivan Drach

A short excursion into the work of Ukrainian writers ends with Ivan Drach. Many modern authors still turn to this master of (self-)irony, witty words and humor for advice.

Life story of a genius

Mine creative path Ivan Fedorovich Drach began, while still a seventh grader, with a poem eagerly published in a local newspaper. As soon as the writer has finished high school, began teaching Russian language and literature in a rural school. After the army, Ivan entered the philological department of Kyiv University, which he never graduated from. And all because a talented student will be offered a job in a newspaper, and then, after the course, the writer will receive the specialty of film playwright in Moscow. Returning to Kyiv, Ivan Fedorovich Drach begins working at the famous film studio named after A. Dovzhenko.

For more than 30 years creative activity From the pen of Ivan Drach came a huge number of collections of poems, translations, articles and even film stories. His works have been translated and published in dozens of countries and appreciated throughout the world.

An eventful life tempered the writer’s character, fostering in him an active civic position and a unique temperament. The works of Ivan Fedorovich express the sentiments of the sixties and children of war, thirsting for change and praising the achievements of human thought.

What's better to read?

It is better to start getting acquainted with the work of Ivan Drach with the poem “Pero”. This is exactly what it is life credo and conveys the leitmotifs that permeate the entire work of the brilliant poet and writer.

These famous Ukrainian writers made an invaluable contribution to the domestic and world literature. Decades later, their works convey to us current thoughts, teach and help in various life situations. The work of Ukrainian writers has enormous literary and moral value, is perfect for teenagers and adults and will bring pleasure from reading.

Each of the Ukrainian authors is unique in their own way, and their unusual individual style will help you recognize your favorite writer from the first lines. Such a writer’s “flower garden” makes Ukrainian literature truly extraordinary, rich and interesting.