The term Ukrainian literature () is normally used to describe works of literature written in the

Ukrainian language Ukrainian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first language, first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians. Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of t ...

. In a broader sense it can also relate to all literary works created in the territory of

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Ukrainian literature mostly developed under foreign domination over Ukrainian territories, foreign rule by the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

, the

Austria-Hungary Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, enriched Ukrainian culture and language, and Ukrainian authors were able to produce a rich literary heritage. Ukrainian literature can be traced back to

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

when Rus' chronicles and

Epic poetry In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard t ...

were written in

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...

and

Church Slavonic Church Slavonic is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The ...

. Oral folktale also appeared at the time. Old Church Slavonic was divided into Ukrainian,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, and Belarusian. Ukrainian culture was thriving under the rule of . But after the collapse of Kievan Rus', it was divided into an eastern and western part in terms of politics. From the 19th century, Ukrainian literary works started to be written in a colloquial form. Poems, novels, plays, and other works were published. Following the trend, Ukrainian nationalist and independence movements started to grow. The

and the following

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, however, often suppressed and restricted the use of the Ukrainian language, methods of expression, and literary subjects.

Definition

In the language sense, Ukrainian literature can be broadly divided into Ukrainian-speaking writers and Russian-speaking writers who live in Ukraine and write on Ukrainian themes. However, works written in

Surzhyk Surzhyk ( Ukrainian and Russian: , ) is a Ukrainian– Russian pidgin used in certain regions of Ukraine and the neighboring regions of Russia and Moldova. The vocabulary mix of each of its constituent languages (Ukrainian and Russian) varies ...

, or Ukrainian by foreign authors, can also be seen as Ukrainian literature. Works written in

Crimean Tatar language Crimean Tatar (), also called Crimean (), is a Turkic languages, Turkic language spoken in Crimea and the Crimean Tatar diasporas of Uzbekistan, Turkey and Bulgaria, as well as small communities in the United States and Canada. It should not ...

or foreign languages by Ukrainian people also count. Ukrainian literature of the past has been rediscovered and repositioned through historical traces. Russian literature has also a similar process. In history, the relationship between Ukraine and Russia has been fluid. This is because they were not separated in the past, and there are multiple criteria for classification, making it difficult to determine. Since Ukrainian independence, there's a trend toward Ukrainianization and

Derussification Derussification (or derussianization) is a process or public policy in different states of the former Russian Empire and the Soviet Union or certain parts of them, aimed at restoring national identity of indigenous peoples: their language, culture ...

of publishing, and the proportion of Ukrainian works continues to increase.

History

Ukrainian literature’s precursor: writings in Old-Church Slavonic and Latin in Ukraine

Prior to the establishment of Ukrainian literature in the 18th century, many authors from Ukraine wrote in "scholarly" languages of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

–

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and Old-Church Slavonic. Among prominent authors from Ukraine who wrote in Latin and Old-Church Slavonic are Hryhorii Skovoroda, Yuriy Drohobych, Stanislav Orikhovsky-Roxolan, Feofan Prokopovych, , and others.

Beginnings of oral Ukrainian literature

During this period of history there was a higher number of elementary schools per population in the Hetmanate than in either neighboring

Muscovy Muscovy or Moscovia () is an alternative name for the Principality of Moscow (1263–1547) and the Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721). It may also refer to: *Muscovy Company, an English trading company chartered in 1555 *Muscovy duck (''Cairina mosch ...

. In the 1740s, of 1,099 settlements within seven regimental districts, as many as 866 had primary schools. The German visitor to the Hetmanate, writing in 1720, commented on how the son of Hetman

Danylo Apostol Danylo Pavlovych Apostol ( – ) was Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host from 1727 to 1734. Biography Born into a Cossack family of Moldavian origin, Danylo Apostol was a prominent military leader, ''polkovnyk'' (colonel) of the Myrhorod Regiment, an ...

, who had never left

, was fluent in the Latin, Italian, French, German, Polish and Russian languages Late 16th and early 17th century included the rise of folk epics called '' dumy''. These songs celebrated the activities of the

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

and were oral retellings of major Ukrainian historical events in modern Ukrainian language (i.e., not in Old-Church Slavonic). This tradition produced Ostap Veresai, a renowned

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. The term originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist enter ...

and

kobzar A ''kobzar'' ( ; ) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment, played on a multistringed kobza or bandura. Tradition The professional kobzar tradition was established during the Hetmanate Era around the sixteenth cen ...

from Poltava province, Ukraine.

Beginnings of written Ukrainian literature

The establishment of Ukrainian literature is believed to have been triggered by the publishing of a widely successful poem '' Eneida'' by Ivan Kotliarevsky in 1798, which is one of the first instances of a printed literary work written in modern Ukrainian language. Due to Kotliarevsky's role as the inaugurator of Ukrainian literature, among literary critics he is often referred to as "the father of Ukrainian literature".Parody and Burlesque
// Hardie, Philip. ''The Last Trojan Hero: A Cultural History of Virgil's Aeneid.'' London: Bloomsbury Publishing. 2014. 264 p: 187 Modern Ukrainian prose was inaugurated by Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko’s novel Marusya (1834).Ukrainian literature
// Encyclopædia Britannica 15th ed. (second version, Micropædia) Vol. 12: (1985–2010). 948 p.: p. 111 Ukrainian literature
// Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2019

Contemporary literature

Contemporary Ukrainian literature refers to the period after the ''

Perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...

'' and the foundation of Bu-Ba-Bu. Since the late 1980s, and particularly after the independence of Ukraine (1991) and disappearance of Soviet censorship the whole generation of writers emerged: Sofia Maidanska, Ihor Kalynets, Moysey Fishbein, Yuri Andrukhovych, Serhiy Zhadan, Oksana Zabuzhko, Oleksandr Irvanets, Yuriy Izdryk, Maria Matios,

Ihor Pavlyuk Ihor Pavlyuk (sometimes spelled as Ihor Pawlyuk, Igor Pavlyk, Igor Pavluk; Ukrainian: І́гор Зино́війович Павлю́к, Russian: Игорь Зиновьевич Павлюк, born 1 January 1967 in Rozhysche Raion, Ukrainian S ...

and many others. Many of them are considered to be "

postmodernists Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the worl ...

Events, Prizes, Organisations

Following the 2000s, literature events like book fairs and book forums are increasing. Noticeable events are Arsenal Book Festival held in Kyiv in May, Book Forum Lviv held in Lviv in September. In addition to book introductions, these events will feature film screenings, concerts, and plays. Ukrainian publishers also attend various international book fairs, such as

Frankfurt Book Fair The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: , FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. The five-day annual event in mid-October is held at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am ...

. Literary prize includes

Shevchenko National Prize Shevchenko National Prize (; also ''Shevchenko Award'') is the highest state prize of Ukraine for works of culture and arts awarded since 1961. It is named after the inspirer of Ukrainian national revival Taras Shevchenko. It is one of the five ...

, Koronatsiya Slova, and Book of the Year BBC Ukraine. Shevchenko National Prize is the highest state prize of Ukraine for works of culture and the arts, awarded for achievements in various fields of Ukraine. There are up to six prizes in the Shevchenko National Prize, including Literature, Journalism, Music, Theatre, Film, and Performing Arts. Koronatsiya Slova established in 1999. There are up to five prizes in it, including Novels, Lyrics, Film scripts, Plays, and Children's literature. "Book of the Year BBC Ukraine" is established by

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, awarding adult and children's Ukrainian literature. There was an artists' organisation called "Union of Ukrainian Writers" since the Soviet era. However, the younger generation held a negative reputation for it. In 1997, therefore, the Union of Ukrainian Writers was founded, and in 1998, PEN Ukraine was founded.

Notable Ukrainian authors

* Andriy Lyubka * Andriy Malyshko *Bohdan Boychuk * Bohdan-Ihor Antonych * Borys Antonenko-Davydovych *Eaghor (Ihor) Kostetzky * Eliáš Galajda * Emma Andijewska * Hryhir Tiutiunnyk * Hryhori Skovoroda * Hryts’ko Kernerenko *

Igor Kaczurowskyj Ihor Kaczurowskyj (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: ''Ігор Васильович Качуровський''; 1 September 1918, in Nizhyn, Ukraine – 18 July 2013, in Munich, Germany) was a Ukrainian poet, translator, novelist and short story w ...

* Ihor Kalynets *

*Ilarion Cholhan * Iryna Kalynets * Iryna Vilde * Ivan Bahrianyi * Ivan Drach *

Ivan Franko Ivan Yakovych Franko (, ; 27 August 1856 – 28 May 1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, translator, economist, political activist, doctor of philosophy, ethnographer, and the author of the first d ...

*Ivan Kocherha * Ivan Kotlyarevsky * Ivan Kulyk *

Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky Ivan Semenovych Nechuy-Levytsky (born Levytsky; – 2 April 1918) was a well-known Ukrainian writer. Biography Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky was born on to the family of a peasant priest in Stebliv (Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine). In 1847 he en ...

* Joseph Oleskiw *Leonid Mosendz * Les Podervianskyi *Lesia Khraplyva *

Lesya 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 ...

* Lina Kostenko *Ludmyla Kovalenko *

Maksym Rylsky Maksym Tadeyovych Rylsky (); in Kyiv – 24 July 1964 in Kyiv) was a Ukrainian poet, translator, academician, and doctor of philological sciences. Biography Rylsky was born in Kyiv in 1895 to Tadei Rozeslavovych Rylsky and Melania Fedoriv ...

* Maria Matios * Marko Vovchok * Maryna Sokolyan * Moysey Fishbein *

Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky Mykhailo Mykhailovych Kotsiubynsky (; 17 September 1864 – 25 April 1913) was a Ukrainian author whose writings described typical Ukrainian life at the start of the 20th century. Kotsiubynsky's early stories were described as examples of an e ...

* Mykola Bazhan * Mykola Khvylovy * Mykola Kulish * Mykola Zerov * Myroslav Laiuk * Natalia Kobrynska *

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

* Oksana Liaturynska * Oksana Lutsyshyna * Oksana Zabuzhko * Oleh Koverko * Oleh Lysheha *Oleksa Kolomiyets *

Oleksandr Oles Oleksandr Oles (born Oleksandr Ivanovych Kandyba, ; 1878–1944) was a prominent Ukrainians, Ukrainian writer and poet. He is the father of another Ukrainian poet and political activist, Oleh Olzhych, who perished in the Nazi labor camps in 1944. ...

Olena Pchilka Olha Petrivna Kosach (birth name, née Drahomanova 29 June 1849 – 4 October 1930), better known by her pen name Olena Pchilka (), was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian publisher, writer, ethnographer, interpreter, and civil activist. She was the ...

* Olena Teliha * Oles Berdnyk *

Oles Honchar Oleksandr "Oles" Terentiiovych Honchar (; []; 3 April 1918 – 14 July 1995) was a Soviet and Ukraine, Ukrainian writer and public figure. He also was a veteran of World War II and member of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukrainian parliament. Biograp ...

* Oles Ulianenko * Olha Kobylyanska * Ostap Vyshnia * Panas Myrny * Panteleimon Kulish *

Pavlo Tychyna Pavlo Hryhorovych Tychyna (; – September 16, 1967) was a major Ukrainians, Ukrainian poet, translator, publicist, public activist, academician, and statesman. He composed the lyrics to the Anthem of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Lif ...

Pavlo Zahrebelnyi Pavlo Arkhypovych Zahrebelnyi () or Zagrebelnyi (, Romanization of Russian, romanized: ''Pavel Arkhipovich Zagrebelny)''; 25 August 1924 – 3 February 2009) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Ukraine, Ukrainian novelist. Biography He graduated from ...

* Serhiy Zhadan *Sofia Maidanska * Stepan Charnetskyi * Stepan Rudansky * Svitlana Pyrkalo *Tadey Karabovych/Karabowicz *

Tanya Malyarchuk Tetiana "Tania" Volodymyrivna Maliarchuk (, , born 1983 in Ivano-Frankivsk Ivano-Frankivsk (, ), formerly Stanyslaviv, Stanislav and Stanisławów, is a city in western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative centre of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblas ...

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...

* Theodore Odrach * Valerian Pidmohylny * Valeriy Shevchuk * Vasyl Barka *

Vasyl Makhno Vasyl Makhno (, born October 8, 1964, in Chortkiv) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian poet, essayist, and translator. He is the author of nine collections of poetry, including ''Winter Letters and Other Poems'', translated by Orest Popovych (Spuyten Duyvil ...

* Vasyl Shkliar *

Vasyl Stefanyk Vasyl Semenovych Stefanyk (; May 14, 1871 – December 7, 1936) was an influential Ukrainian modernist writer and political activist. He was a member of the Austrian parliament from 1908 to 1918. Biography Early years Vasyl Stefanyk was ...

* Vasyl Stus * Vasyl Symonenko * Viktor Domontovych *

Victoria Amelina Viktoriia Amelina (; ; 1 January 1986 – 1 July 2023), was a Ukrainian novelist and war crimes researcher. She was the author of two novels and a children's book, a winner of the Joseph Conrad Literary Award and a European Union Prize for Lit ...

* Vira Vovk * Volodymyr Sosyura *

Volodymyr Vynnychenko Volodymyr Kyrylovych Vynnychenko (; – March 6, 1951) was a Ukrainian statesman, political activist, writer, playwright and artist who served as the first List of prime ministers of Ukraine, prime minister of the Ukrainian People's Republic.< ...

Yaroslav Halan Yaroslav Oleksandrovych Halan (, party nickname ''Comrade Yaga''; 27 July 1902 – 24 October 1949) was a Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Ukrainian writer, playwright, and publicist. A member of the Communist Party of Western Ukra ...

* Yevhen Hutsalo * Yevhen Malaniuk *Yelysei Karpenko * Yuri Andrukhovych *Yuriy Kosach * Yuriy Lypa * Yuriy Tarnawsky *Yuriy Tys * Yuriy Vynnychuk *Yuriy Yanovsky

Notes

References

Books

* * * * * * * ** ** * * * * * ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** * * * *

Bibliography

* A History of Ukrainian Literature (From the 11th to the End of the 19th Century): With an Overview of the Twentieth Century (Annals of the Ukrainian Academy … and Sciences in the U.S., Inc, Vol 17–19) by Dmitrij Tschizewskij, George S. N. Luckyj, Dolly Ferguson, and Doreen Gorsline * Ukrainian Literature Through the Ages by Yevhen Shabliovsky, Abraham Mistetsky, and Andrew Marko (Paperback – 1 January 2001) * Toward a history of Ukrainian literature. Grabowicz, George G. / distrib. by Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute / 1981 (104: SLA U 50 : 50s Bungehuis-Spuistraat 210, 2e etage) * A history of Ukrainian literature, from the 11th to the end of the 19th century. Cyzevs'kyj, Dmytro / Ukrainian Academic Press / 1975 (UBM: H 77–63, Singel 425, UB magazijn) * Ukrainian literature. Kasinec, Edward / Harvard University / 1977 (UBM: Br. f\0 L m 9) * Ukrainian literature in the twentieth century: a reader's guide. Luckyj, George S.N. / Univ. of Toronto press / 1992 (UBM: H 96-1818)
Ukrainian Literature in English, 1980–1989 by Marta Tarnawsky

External links

A history of Ukrainian literature
by Dmytro Čyževs'kyj
Electronic Library of Ukrainian Literature
– established under the auspices of the Institute of Encyclopedic Research, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine * Danylo Husar Struk.

at th
Encyclopedia of Ukraine

Slavic Literature Resources from the Slavic Reference Service, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

in The Columbia Encyclopedia
Ukrainian literature
in Encyclopædia Britannica
Ukrainian Writing in Canada
in The Canadian Encyclopedia
Ukrainian literature
in The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe {{Authority control * Ukrainian studies Literature by language

Definition

History

Ukrainian literature’s precursor: writings in Old-Church Slavonic and Latin in Ukraine

Beginnings of oral Ukrainian literature

Beginnings of written Ukrainian literature

Contemporary literature

Events, Prizes, Organisations

Notable Ukrainian authors

See also

Notes

References

Books

Bibliography

External links