Novel
Liuboratski
Люборацькі
Anatoliy Svydnytsky · 1887
Opening lines
Коло Умані, чи лучше — в Уманщині, і було і є сельце — хоч би й Солодьками його назвати.
Near Uman, or rather in the Uman region, there was and there is a little village; let us call it, say, Solodky.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from uk.wikisource.org
Synopsis
In the village of Solodky, in Podolia, Father Hervassi Liuboratsky, a poor priest, lives in peace with his wife, his son Antos and his daughters Massia, Orysia and Teklia. An order from the ecclesiastical authority requires Antos, aged eleven, to be sent to the clerical school, and his departure is mourned like a bereavement. Then comes the turn of Massia, whom her father, yielding to the spirit of the age, places as a boarder with a Polish lady so that she may be educated. Each returns from school somewhat a stranger to the home, and the chronicle follows what the schools do to the family.
Context
Written in 1861 and 1862, the manuscript was sent to the journal Osnova, which ceased publication in October 1862; the circular of 1863 then closed off every outlet. The text reached Ivan Franko much later, and he had it published in 1886 in the journal Zoria, in Lviv, with cuts and revisions which the Galician editorial board judged necessary in the pages on the clergy; a volume followed in Lviv in 1887. The full text appeared in Kyiv in 1901, from a copy made by the author's former pupils. The book is largely autobiographical.
Who it is for
A chronicle novel of medium length, in several parts, spanning three generations. One should know that priests' sons were trained in ecclesiastical institutions.
Prizes and reception
According to Ivan Franko, the first realist novel of Ukrainian literature, and the major work of its author.
Sources for this page 11
The pages consulted to check this page.