Makovei, Osyp

Makovei, Osyp [Маковей, Осип; Makovej] (pseuds: Yevmen, M., M*, Mak, Om., Omikron, Sokolyk, O. Stepanovych, Stefan, Spektator, Yaroshenko), b 23 August 1867 in Yavoriv, Galicia, d 21 August 1925 in Zalishchyky. Writer, journalist, and teacher. He attended Lviv University, from which he graduated in 1893. Varied work as an editorial assistant and a contributor to Dilo (1891), Narodna chasopys’ (1892), and other newspapers prepared him for the position of editor of Bukovyna (1895–7). He was also one of the editors of Literaturno-naukovyi vistnyk (1897–9). He was awarded a scholarship to Vienna University in 1899, from which he graduated with a doctorate in 1901. He taught Ukrainian language and literature at the teachers' seminaries in Chernivtsi (1899–1910) and Lviv (1910–13). From 1913 until his death he was director of the teachers' seminary in Zalishchyky. Makovei began his literary career with translations from H. Heine, which were published in Zoria (Lviv) (1885). Although he wrote several longer poems and even published a collection of poetry in 1894, Makovei was primarily a writer of short prose, feuilletons, and literary sketches marked by good-natured and at times poignant observation of human life. Besides two longer novelettes—one of village life, Zalissia (1897), and one historical novelette, Iaroshenko (1905)—and numerous works scattered through contemporary newspapers, his literary output primarily consists of collections of stories, Nashi znakomi (Our Acquaintances, 1901), Opovidannia (Stories, 1904), Krovave pole (A Bloody Field, 1921), and the satiric and humorous Pryzhmurenym okom (Through a Squinting Eye, 1923). His output in literary criticism consists of numerous critical articles, introductions to the works of various authors, and three major studies: on Panteleimon Kulish, Pan’ko Kulish: Ohliad ioho diial’nosti (Pan’ko Kulish: A Survey of His Activities, 1900); on philology, Try halyts’ki hramatyky (Three Galician Grammars, 1903); and on Yurii Fedkovych, Zhyttia Osypa Yuria Fed’kovycha (The Life of Osyp Yurii Fedkovych, 1911). A selection of his works appeared in 1930, 1954, 1961, and 1979, and a full, two-volume edition appeared in 1990. His poetry collection of 1894 was republished in 1967.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kushch, O. Osyp Makovei: Bibliohrafichnyi pokazhchyk (Lviv 1958)
Pohrebennyk, F. Osyp Makovei: Krytyko-biohrafichnyi narys (Kyiv 1960)
Zasenko, O. Osyp Makovei (Kyiv 1968)

Danylo Husar Struk

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]