Literature

Ukrainian literature published from 1914 to 1923 was primarily written in modernist and realist styles and reflected many of the circumstances that Ukrainians found themselves in. Published in Ukraine, in prisoner-of-war camps, and by émigrés in western Europe and North America, the works in this exhibit—plays, stories, poetry, and songs—often have themes of war and revolution. There are several collections of patriotic and military songs written for the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, as well as one for workers.

Influential Ukrainian writers in this exhibit include biographies of and/or works by folklorist Volodymyr Hnatiuk, poet Ivan Franko, and author and chair of the Ukrainian National Republic Volodymyr Vynnychenko. Publishers reissued poems by Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861), Ukraine’s national poet, one hundred years after his birth, as interest in and scholarship about Shevchenko continued to grow well into the 20th century.