Vasyl Semenovych Stefanyk ( uk, Васи́ль Семе́нович Стефа́ник; May 14, 1871 – December 7, 1936) was an influential

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, ...

and political activist. He was a member of the Austrian parliament from 1908 to 1918.

Biography

Early years

Vasyl Stefanyk was born on May 14, 1871 in the village of Rusiv in the family of a well-to-do peasant. He was born in the historical region of Pokuttia, then part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. Today it is part of

Kolomyia Raion Kolomyia Raion ( uk, Коломи́йський райо́н, translit=Kołomyjśkyj rajon) is a raion (district) of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (region). The administrative center of the raion is the city of Kolomyia. Population: . On 18 July 2020, a ...

Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вська о́бласть, translit=Ivano-Frankivska oblast), also referred to as Ivano-Frankivshchyna ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вщина), is an oblast (region) in western Ukraine ...

. He died on December 7, 1936 in the same village, Rusiv, at that time the part of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. His primary education Stefanyk was at the Sniatyn City school. He later studied at Polish gymnasia in

Kolomyia Kolomyia, formerly known as Kolomea ( ua, Коломия, Kolomyja, ; pl, Kołomyja; german: Kolomea; ro, Colomeea; yi, ), is a city located on the Prut River in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast ( province), in western Ukraine. It serves as the ad ...

and

Drohobych Drohobych ( uk, Дрого́бич, ; pl, Drohobycz; yi, דראָהאָביטש;) is a city of regional significance in Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Drohobych Raion and hosts the administration of Drohobych urban h ...

. He was expelled from the Kolomea gymnasium for the participation in a revolutionary group. He eventually graduated from the Drohobych gymnasium, and enrolled in the University of Kraków in 1892.

In culture

Stefanyk's "Blue Book" was republished in Ukraine in 1966 under the title "The Maple Leaves" in an edition lavishly illustrated by Mykhaylo Turovsky. Three stories from the "Blue Book" were the basis of the classic Ukrainian 1968 film " The Stone Cross" by

Leonid Osyka Leonid Mikhailovich Osyka ( uk, Леонід Михайлович Осика) (March 8, 1940 in Kyiv – September 16, 2001 in Kyiv) was a Ukrainian movie director, producer, and screen writer. Osyka was awarded the Oleksandr Dovzhenko State Pr ...

Abroad

Stefanyk was deeply concerned with the destiny of Ukrainian immigrants to Canada and often mentioned them in his many writings. One of his stories, ''The Stone Cross'' (Kaminnyi Khrest), (later made into a movie) is a stirring account of an immigrant's departure from Stefanyk's native village, Rusiv. The man upon whom it is based died in 1911, in Hilliard, Alberta. The monument that was erected to commemorate Vasyl' Stefanyk is located at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, east of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...

, Alberta. That is a statue that was a gift from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

to the

Association of United Ukrainian Canadians The Association of United Ukrainian Canadians (AUUC; uk, Товариство Об'єднаних Українських Канадтсив) is a national cultural-educational non-profit organization established for Ukrainians in Canada. With ...

. The statue was sculpted by W. Skolozdra in 1971 to mark the 100th anniversary of Vasyl Stefanyk.

Bibliography

*Lepky, Bohdan. Vasyl’ Stefanyk: Literaturna kharakterystyka (Lviv 1903) *Hrytsai, Ostap. Vasyl’ Stefanyk: Sproba krytychnoï kharakterystyky (Vienna 1921) *Kryzhanivs’kyi, S. Vasyl’ Stefanyk: Krytyko-biohrafichnyi narys (Kiev 1946) *Kostashchuk, V. Volodar dum selians’kykh (Lviv 1959) *Kushch, O. Vasyl’ Stefanyk: Bibliohrafichnyi pokazhchyk (Kiev 1961) *Kobzei, T. Velykyi riz’bar ukraïns’kykh selians’kykh dush (Toronto 1966) *Lesyn, V. Vasyl’ Stefanyk — maister novely (Kiev 1970) *Lutsiv, L. Vasyl’ Stefanyk — spivets’ ukraïns’koï zemli (New York–Jersey City 1971) *Struk, Danylo. A Study of Vasyl Stefanyk: The Pain at the Heart of Existence (Littleton, Colo 1973) *Wiśniewska, E. Wasyl Stefanyk w obliczu Młodej Polski (Wrocław 1986) *Chernenko, Oleksandra. Ekspresionizm u tvorchosti Vasylia Stefanyka (New York 1989) *Hnidan, O. Vasyl’ Stefanyk: Zhyttia i tvorchist’ (Kiev 1991) *Mokry, Włodzimierz. Ukraina Wasyla Stefanyka (Cracow 2001) *Struk, Danylo. The

Encyclopedia of Ukraine The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' ( uk, Енциклопедія українознавства, translit=Entsyklopediia ukrainoznavstva), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies. Development The work was creat ...

, vol. 5 (1993)

External links

Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine: Vasyl Stefanyk

"Eye on Culture" with Tania Stech, Kontakt TV, Vasyl Stefanyk
* *
Vasyl Stefanyk ″The Stone Cross″ Translated from the Ukrainian by Joseph Wiznuk in collaboration with С. H. Andrusyshen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stefanyk, Vasyl 1871 births 1936 deaths People from Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Ukrainian Austro-Hungarians Ukrainian Radical Party politicians Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1907–1911) Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1911–1918) Ukrainian writers in Polish Jagiellonian University alumni