Vasyl Semenovych Stefanyk (; May 14, 1871 – December 7, 1936) was an influential Ukrainian

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

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, 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 ...

. Today it is part of Kolomyia Raion,

Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (), also referred to as Ivano-Frankivshchyna () or simply Frankivshchyna, is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (region) in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Ivano-Frankivsk. It has a pop ...

. 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 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 ...

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

Kolomyia Kolomyia (, ), formerly known as Kolomea, is a city located on the Prut, Prut River in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in the west of Ukraine. It serves as the administrative centre of Kolomyia Raion, hosting the administration of Kolomyia urban hromada ...

and

Drohobych Drohobych ( ; ; ) is a city in the south of Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Drohobych Raion and hosts the administration of Drohobych urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. In 1939–1941 and 1944–1959 it w ...

. 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.

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 Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

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

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 ...

to the

Association of United Ukrainian Canadians The Association of United Ukrainian Canadians (AUUC; ) is a national cultural-educational non-profit organization established for Ukrainian Canadian, Ukrainians in Canada. With branches throughout Canada it sponsors such cultural activities as ...

. 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'' (), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies. Development The work was created under the auspices of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Europe (Sarcelles, near Paris). As the ...

, 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 Writers 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 Writers from Austria-Hungary