Korzeniowski, Józef

Korzeniowski, Józef, b 19 March 1797 in Brody, Galicia, d 17 September 1863 in Dresden, Germany. Polish playwright and pedagogue. He taught Polish literature at the Kremianets Lyceum (1823–32) and philology at Kyiv University (1833–8) before becoming the director of a gymnasium in Kharkiv (1838–46). Ukrainian subject-matter and themes are prevalent in many of his works, most particularly in his drama Karpaccy górale (Carpathian Highlanders, 1843). This work underwent several translations and adaptations into Ukrainian. The first was Mykola Ustyianovych’s ‘Verkhovyntsi Beskydiv’ (The Highlanders of the Beskyds, 1848); the song from the play, ‘Hei, brattia opryshky’ (Hey, Fellow Opryshoks), became extremely popular in Western Ukraine. Other translations followed: Ksenofont Klymkovych’s ‘Verkhovyntsi’ (staged in 1864); V. Derzhyruka’s, under the same title (1909); and an anonymous translation (1924, republished in 1927). In Russian-ruled Ukraine the play was translated by Sofiia Tobilevych as ‘Hutsuly’ (Hutsuls, 1890) and by Hnat Khotkevych as ‘Antin Revizorchuk’ (1910).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]