Yanovska, Liubov

Yanovska, Liubov [Яновська, Любов; Janovs'ka, Ljubov], b 30 July 1861 in Mykolaivka, Borzna county, Chernihiv gubernia, d 1933 in Kyiv. Writer and community activist. She worked as a teacher in Lubny county, Poltava gubernia, and founded Sunday schools. From 1905 she lived in Kyiv. She initially wrote in Russian and then changed to Ukrainian. Her first short story in Ukrainian was ‘Zlodiika Oksana’ (Oksana the Thief, 1897). Yanovska wrote over 100 short stories, novelettes, and novels, most of which were not published during her lifetime, and some of which were never finished. Her works deal with the life of the peasants and the intelligentsia, are written in a realist style, and reflect a populist philosophy. The publication of her first short story was followed by the drama Povernuvsia z Sybiru (He Returned from Siberia, 1897), the novelette Horodianka (The Townswoman, 1900), and the comedy Na Zelenyi Klyn (To the Far East, 1900). Many of her works were reprinted or first published in 1918 during the period of Ukraine’s struggle for independence (1917–20) and in the early years of the Soviet regime, in particular the plays Lisova kvitka (Forest Flower, 1918), Zhertvy (Sacrifices, 1918), Liuds'ke shchastia (Human Happiness, 1918), Na sinozhati (At the Haying Meadow, 1918), and Dzvin, shcho do tserkvy sklykaie, ta sam u nii nikoly ne buvaie (The Bell That Calls People to Church but Never Goes There Itself, 1918). Yanovska ceased writing after 1916, but her works, greatly influenced by Ivan Nechui-Levytsky, Panas Myrny, and to a lesser degree, Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, remained popular for many years. The collected works of Yanovska were published 1930, 1959 and 1991.

Ivan Koshelivets

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]