Marko Vovchok

Background

Marko Vovchok (real name Mariya Vilinskаya) was born on December 10, 1833, in Yelets district, Russian Federation. After the death of her father, she was brought up in the estate of her cousin aunt V.D. Pisareva.

Education

Marko Vovchok studied at the Kharkov Private Women's Boarding School; then she was transferred to Orel, to her aunt E.P. Mardovina, where she lived as a "poor relative" in 1847-1850. In the aunt’s house, Maria met P. I. Yakushkin and his brothers, N.S. Leskov, I.V. Pavlov, P.V. Kireevsky, T.N. Granovsky, N.K. Rutzen, as well as with the Ukrainian historian and ethnographer A.V. Markovich (1822-1867), who was serving a link because of the "Kostomarov history".

Career

From 1851 till 1858 Marko Vovchok lived in Chernihiv, Kiev and Nemyriv, assisting her husband with his ethnographic work and learning the Ukrainian culture and language. In 1857 she wrote Narodni opovidannya (Folk Stories). It met with immediate acclaim in Ukrainian literary circles, in particular from Taras Shevchenko and Panteleimon Kulish, and in Russia after it had been translated into Russian and edited by Ivan Turgenev as Ukrainskie narodnye rasskazy (Ukrainian Folk Tales, 1859).

After a short stay in Saint Petersburg in 1859, Marko Vovchok moved to Central Europe, where she resided in Germany, France, Italy, and Switzerland. From 1867 to 1878, she again lived in Saint Petersburg, where due to the prohibition against the Ukrainian language she wrote and translated for Russian magazines. She wrote in Russian Zhivaya dusha (The living soul, 1868), Zapiski prichyotnika (Notes of a junior deacon, 1870), V glushi (In the backwoods, 1875) and several other novels. From 1878, she lived in the Northern Caucasus, and in 1885–1893 in Kiev Governorate, where she proceeded with her work on Ukrainian folklore and a dictionary. At the beginning of the 1900s ethnographer restored her contact with Ukrainian publishers.

Besides writing novels and stories, Marko Vovchok made translations from French into Russian and Ukrainian, including Jules Verne's works.

ethnographer died on 10 August 1907 in Nalchik, Russian Empire.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Way Things Were

    (The Way Things Were is a collection of stories and novell...)

  • Stories from Ukraine

    (A collection of selected short stories, written by a famo...)

Personality

Physical Characteristics: Tall, stately, with a luxurious chestnut scythe, which laid a crown around her head, with unusually deep, beautiful gray eyes.

Quotes from others about the person

• According to the recollections of Dmitry’s younger brother: "from a young age, my sister strove for science, didn’t have the desire to fashion, she always dressed simply, combed her hair without any quirks, and even laid her braids with a crown, and this remained with her for life."

Connections

In 1851 Marko Vovchok moved to Ukraine, having married Aphanasyy Markovych, a folklorist, and ethnographer who was a member of the Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

Father:

Alexander Alekseevich Vilinsky

Alexander Alekseevich Vilinsky was an army officer.

Mother:

Praskovya Petrovna

Praskovya Petrovna was an educated woman, she knew several languages, loved music, sang songs with inspiration.

Spouse:

Aphanasyy Markovych

Son:

Bogdan

References

• Russian writers. 1800-1917. Biographical Dictionary. Volume 1
  1989