1833–1907
Marko Vovchok
Writer, a classic of Ukrainian prose
The writer Mariia Vilinska, who wrote under the pen name Marko Vovchok. Her Folk Stories (1857) about the lives of serfs were a landmark in Ukrainian literature, and Taras Shevchenko called her his “daughter.” She translated 15 Jules Verne novels into Russian.
Key accomplishments
- The collection Folk Stories (1857; a second volume followed in 1862) about the lives of serf peasants
- The novellas The Boarding-School Girl, Marusia and other works that opened new genres in Ukrainian literature, including prose for children
- Translated 15 Jules Verne novels into Russian, as well as works by Charles Darwin and other authors
- Edited the journal Translations of the Best Foreign Writers
Who she was
Mariia Vilinska was born in 1833 on the Katerynyne estate in the Oryol province (now Lipetsk Oblast in Russia) and grew up among Russian speakers. In 1846–1848 she studied at a private boarding school in Kharkiv. In 1851 she married the ethnographer Opanas Markovych and lived with him in Chernihiv, Kyiv and, from 1856, in Nemyriv in Podillia. It was there that she came to know the Ukrainian language, way of life and folklore in depth.
Her story
In 1857 Panteleimon Kulish published her Folk Stories under the pen name Marko Vovchok, which he invented himself. The collection of stories about the fate of serfs, especially women, at once became extraordinarily popular among the Ukrainian intelligentsia. Back in 1858 Shevchenko and friends had sent her a gold bracelet in Nemyriv, and in early 1859 in Saint Petersburg they met in person: he dedicated the poem “To Marko Vovchok” to her, in which he called her “my daughter.” A Russian translation of her stories, edited by Ivan Turgenev, came out in 1859.
From 1859 to 1867 Marko Vovchok lived abroad, in Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, Italy and, for the longest time, Paris. After returning to Russia she worked as a translator and editor: she translated 15 Jules Verne novels into Russian, as well as works by Charles Darwin and other authors, and edited the journal Translations of the Best Foreign Writers. Her second husband was Mykhailo Lobach-Zhuchenko. She spent her last years in the Caucasus and died in 1907 at the Dolinsk farmstead (now part of Nalchik).
Why it matters today
Marko Vovchok was one of the first in Ukrainian literature to show serfdom through a woman’s eyes, and she opened several new genres, including prose for children. Her story shows how a person who grew up outside the Ukrainian-speaking world could consciously choose Ukrainian as the language of her work.
