Ivan Matviiovych Steshenko (; – 1 August 1918) was a Ukrainian politician, writer, translator, and academic of the

Shevchenko Scientific Society The Shevchenko Scientific Society (), founded in 1873, is a Ukrainian scientific society devoted to the promotion of scholarly research and publication. Unlike the government-funded National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the society is a pu ...

. He had several pen-surnames: Serdeshny, Sichovyk, Svitlenko, and Stepura.

Biography

Founders of the Ukrainian academy of arts

Steshenko studied in

Kiev University The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

from 1892 to 1896. At that time he was an active member of the Literary

Hromada In Ukraine, a hromada () is the main type of municipality and the third level Administrative divisions of Ukraine, local self-government in Ukraine. The current hromadas were established by the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine, Government of Uk ...

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. Steshenko was publishing his works in various Lviv periodicals: ''Pravda'', ''Zoria'', and ''Dzvinok''. After graduating from the Department of History and Philosophy in 1896, he worked as a teacher in women's school, gymnasium. In politics he became influenced by

Mykhailo Drahomanov Mykhailo Petrovych Drahomanov (; 18 September 1841 – 2 July 1895) was a Ukrainian intellectual and public figure. As an academic, Drahomanov was an economist, historian, philosopher, and ethnographer, while as a public intellectual he was a ...

and Mykola Kovalevsky. Later together with other activists such as

Lesia Ukrainka Lesya Ukrainka (, ; born Larysa Petrivna Kosach, ; – ) was one of Ukrainian literature's foremost writers, best known for her poems and plays. She was also an active political, civil, and feminist activist. Among her best-known works are ...

he formed the Ukrainian social-democratic club (circle). At about that time he wrote his drama ''Mazepa''. After all this he was put in prison in 1897 for four months, following exile from Kiev and prohibition of teaching. That forced him to go into intense writing. At that time he was preparing the Ukrainian dictionary, wrote a book about Kotliarevsky's work (1898), and its own poetry collections such as ''Khutorni Sonety'' (Farmstead sonnets, 1899) and ''Steppovi Motyvy'' (Steppe Motifs, 1900). He also was publishing various articles in the newspaper '' Kievskaya Starina''. Upon returning to Kiev, he became the leader of the

society and worked closely with the Society of Ukrainian Progressionists. He also became a secretary of the Kiev Literary-Artistic Society before it was closed in 1905. At about that time he published the biography of Kotliarevsky (1902) and was co-publisher of a magazine ''Shershen'' (1905). After he was reinstated as a teacher in 1906, from 1907 to 1917 he was teaching literature in the First Commercial School in Kiev and Lysenko Music and Drama School. During that time he was also a secretary and a deputy-chairman of the Ukrainian Scientific Society. In 1913–14 he was an editor for the Kiev monthly periodical ''Siayvo'', and in 1908 he published a history of Ukrainian drama. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

he was elected as the member of the Kiev Civic Executive Committee and the

Tsentralna Rada The Central Rada of Ukraine, also called the Central Council (), was the All-Ukrainian council that united deputies of soldiers, workers, and peasants deputies as well as few members of political, public, cultural and professional organizations o ...

. Steshenko also was one of the founders of the Society of School Education. Later he was appointed first as the

Secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

and then as the Minister of Education. Steshenko also founded the State Academy of Arts. Soon Steshenko was murdered while on vacation. His assassin was never found. Ivan Steshenko was buried in the

Baikove Cemetery Baikove Cemetery () is a historic cemetery memorial in Holosiivskyi District of Kyiv, Ukraine. It is a National Historic Monument of Ukraine and is known as a necropolis of distinguished people. History The cemetery was established in 1833 a ...

in Kiev. Out of his translations were works of

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

, and others. Serhiy Yefremov while on the way to Poltava wrote in his diary: "I just found out from Kost Ivanovych ovkachscary details about the murder of Steshenko. He was charged to be killed by the regional

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

organization of the Zinkiv Povit, and was executed by one of the members of the organization. His name's Bashlovka. The reason why Steshenko was sentenced to be executed is unknown."

Family

Steshenko had a wife Oksana Steshenko, a daughter and a son: Iryna and Yaroslav. Ivan was a son-in-law to Mykhailo Starytskyi, father of Oksana.

References

External links

Biography of Steshenko

Biography at Ukraine Young

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steshenko, Ivan 1873 births 1918 deaths 20th-century Ukrainian male writers 20th-century Ukrainian politicians Education ministers of Ukraine Members of the Central Council of Ukraine Members of the Shevchenko Scientific Society People from Poltava Governorate Politicians from Poltava Ukrainian Democratic Party (1904) politicians Ukrainian Social Democratic Labour Party politicians Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni Writers from Poltava Writers from the Russian Empire