The History of Ukrainian literature includes laws of the historical and literary process, literary genres, trends, works of individual writers, features of their style, and the importance of artistic heritage in the development of Ukrainian literature.
Ukrainian literature has a thousand-year history. Its beginnings date back to the formation of Kievan Rus. However, even in prehistoric times (before the ninth century), the ancestors of Ukrainians had a developed oral art.
Literature of Rus
First works of literature in medieval Rus had a religious character and were influenced by the Byzantine Greek literary tradition. Early examples of written culture in Rus lands include the Ostromir Gospels (1057) and the Tmutarakan stone of prince Gleb Sviatoslavich (1068), as well as the Sermon on Law and Grace by Hilarion of Kiev. The latter has many common features with the most outstanding written monument of Kievan Rus, the chronicle Tale of the Past Years, which is not only a source of historical information but also a textbook of epic songs and legends of the era.
Didactic literature of the Rus period includes writings by prominent religious and political figures such as Theodosius of Pechersk, Vladimir Monomakh, Kliment Smoliatich, Kirill of Turov and others, as well as hagiographic works, such as the Kyiv Caves Patericon.
Some Rus chronicles also include elements of epic poetry. Epic tradition of the Rus culminated in The Tale of Igor's Campaign, a poetic masterpiece of medieval literature most likely created in the late 12th - early 13th century. According to Ukrainian literary critic Filaret Kolessa, The Tale is distinct from the rest of old Rus literature due to its entirely secular character, and its creation was likely inspired by traditions of folk poetry. This heroic epic absorbed the best examples of folk art of that time and became the property and pride of the whole Slavic world.
The main literary work created in the territory of modern-day Western Ukraine in the 13th century is the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle. Many of its passages are characterized with a colourful language reminiscent of secular epic literature. The chronicle is a valuable historical source and an important document of medieval European literature.
Late Medieval and Early Modern Ukrainian literature The Mongol invasion of Rus started a period of cultural decline, which continued for three centuries. Original works of literature created between mid-13th and mid-16th century in the territory of modern-day Ukraine are very rare. The number of compilations and rewritten works also declined during that time. This period is characterized by significant influence of Bulgarian culture on the literature of former Rus. The language used in written works created in Ukrainian ethnic territories during that era also contains some features influenced by Czech (especially in Galicia) and Belarusian languages. Translations and compilations of Western Catholic literature were also present.
A milestone in the history of Ukrainian and other Slavic literatures was the introduction of bookprinting. Among the first Slavic book publishers was Schweipolt Fiol, a native of Germany, who in 1491 opened the first Cyrillic printing press in Kraków and produced Orthodox religious literature. Judging from linguistic elements present in the books printed by Fiol, it is theoretized that his workers or customers may have stemmed from today's Ukraine.
In the mid-16th century literary tradition in lands of modern Ukraine saw a rise in activity due to the influences of Protestant Reformation. One of the authors inspired by Protestant ideas during that time was Stanisław Orzechowski, a Latin-language writer from a mixed Catholic-Orthodox family born in the Ruthenian Voivodeship of Poland, near the modern-day Polish-Ukrainian border. Orzhechowski's works argued for the protection of Orthodox Ruthenian traditions inherited from old Rus and condemned Catholic practices such as rebaptism and celibacy.
Another event which contributed to the development of a new literature in Ukrainian lands was the calendar reform introduced by the Catholic Church in 1582. Protesting against decrees prohibiting the Orthodox faithful from celebrating their feasts according to the old calendar, in 1587 Herasym Smotrytsky, rector of the Ostroh Academy, issued a pamphlet in defence of the Orthodox faith and Ruthenian people. Smotrytskyi's literary activities were supported by Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski, an Orthodox Ruthenian prince and voivode of Kyiv.
An important representative of early modern literature in Ukrainian lands was Ivan Vyshenskyi, an Orthodox monk from Galicia, who issued numerous polemic writings opposing the Union of Brest and defending the Lviv Orthodox brotherhood from Catholic persecution. Vyshenskyi's pamphlets were issued specifically for the population of "Little Rus", as Ukraine was known during that time, and corresponded with notable figures such as bishop Meletius Smotrytsky, and prince Ostrogski. Among Vyshenskyi's followers were Zacharias Kopystensky, Stefan Zyzanii and Yurii Rohatynets, who also created polemic literature in defence of the Orthodoxy. During the 1590s a group of writers emerged in Ostroh, the cultural and educational centre of Ukrainian lands in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Most prominent among them was Demian Nalyvaiko, a fierce critic of the Uniate Church. Their opponent in polemics was Ipatii Potii, Uniate metropolitan of Kyiv.
Literature of Ruthenian (Ukrainian and Belarusian) lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth also included works of political satire, some of which have been preserved to our day. Valuable memoirs from that time belong to Bozhko Balyka, a patrician from Kyiv, who travelled to Moscow during the Polish-Muscovite War in the early 17th century. Early modern period also saw the spread of poetry in Ukrainian lands, greatly contributed by the works of the Ostroh literary circle. An original genre of literature which emerged in Ukraine during that time were epic folk songs known as dumas, which were usually dedicated to the deeds of Cossacks.
Ukrainian literature during the 17-18th centuries
Economic decline of cities under the pressure of landed gentry, as well the abolition of Orthodox hierarchy by Polish Catholic authorities, led to the decrease in cultural activities among the urban classes of today's Western Ukraine during the 17th century. As a result, the development of Ukrainian literature continued further to the east, in the lands of Dnieper Ukraine centered around Kyiv. Cultural development of that area was seriously influenced by Zaporozhian Cossacks, who used their political influence over the Commonwealth to support Ukrainian Orthodox clergy. This process was especially active during the hetmanate of Petro Sahaidachny. The main centre of literary activities and publishing emerged in Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, represented by authors and publishers such as Pamvo Berynda, Zacharias Kopystensky, Taras Zemka, Yelysei Pletenetskyi, Tymofii Verbytskyi, Spiridon Sobol, and Oleksandr Mytura.
Orthodox brotherhoods presented another important centre of literary activity in early 17th-century Ukraine. In Kyiv and Lutsk their members organized own schools, which provided education in Greek, Latin and Church Slavonic. A prominent author from Kyiv during that period was Kasian Sakovych, rector of the Kyiv Brotherhood School (future Kyiv-Mohyla Academy), known for his panegyric poem written for the burial of hetman Sahaidachny. The renewal of Orthodox hierarchy by Polish authorities in 1621-1622 contributed to a new literary discussion. This period in Ukrainian literature saw the emergence of the idea of Ukrainian Cossacks being a continuation of the old Rus state centered around Kyiv. Cultural orientation of Ukrainian authors during that time can be seen as an intermediary position between the Polish-Latin West and Oriental Muscovy.
A prominent figure of Ukrainian literature in the mid-17th century was Petro Mohyla, Orthodox Metropolitan of Kyiv, who was a creator of several works in the sphere of religious literature. Several works written by poets from Kyiv's orthodox schools were dedicated to the metropolitan during his lifetime. Activities of the Kyiv Brotherhood school, transformed by Mohyla into a collegium, contributed to the establishment of Baroque as the dominant style in the literature of Ukrainian lands during that era. Baroque period saw the emergence of new historical works such as the Hustyn Chronicle, Cossack chronicles of Samiilo Velychko and Hrabianka, as well as the Chronicle of Samovydets, which describe the events of Ukrainian history during the 16th and 17th centuries. Those chronicles inspired two important ideological works, which attained popularity in Ukraine during the Hetmanate and Russian Imperial eras: the Kievan Synopsis (1674) by Innokenti Gisel's circle and the History of the Ruthenians (first published in 1846). The latter text provided basis for the development of modern Ukrainian national identity.
Unlike Baroque, the style of Classicism, which came to prominence in the 18th century, didn't develop in Ukraine to a similar extent. Due to the abolition of Ukrainian autonomy in the second half of the century, both the Orthodox clergy and the political elite adopted Russian as their primary language. Classicist poets of Ukrainian origin, such as Ippolit Bogdanovich and Vasily Kapnist, became one of the most prominent representatives of this style in Russian literature. At the same time, the era of Classicism accelerated the process of transition from the old Ukrainian literary language, significantly influenced by Church Slavonic, to the new one, which was closer to speech used by the common people.
New Ukrainian literature Under Russian rule At the end of the 18th century Ivan Kotliarevsky's burlesque travesty narrative poem Eneida marked the emergence of Ukrainian literary language and the beginning of modern Ukrainian literature. This work depicted ancient epic heroes and gods as the author's Ukrainian contemporaries, reflecting the richness of common Ukrainian speech and giving a valuable insight into the material culture of that era. Kotliarevsky also wrote the first plays in modern Ukrainian language: Natalka Poltavka and Moskal-Charivnyk. The humorous and satirical tone of Kotlyarevsky's works was picked up by other writers, primarily members of the so-called Kharkiv circle (most prominently , Hryhoriy Kvitka-Osnovyanenko), as well as Vasyl Hohol-Yanovsky. The first prose works in Ukrainian - Marusya, Konotopska vidma, and Saldatsky partret - were written by Kvitka-Osnovyanenko, who became the founder of modern Ukrainian fiction, breaking the tradition of using Ukrainian language only in comedic genres.
Starting from the late 1820s, Romanticism was adopted as a new style in Ukrainian literature. Poets of the so-called Kharkiv School of Romantics (Amvrosy Metlinsky, Mykola Kostomarov, Levko Borovykovsky, M. Petrenko, and others) made a great contribution to the development of Ukrainian literature. In Kyiv Romantic movement was boosted by activities of the Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Many romantic authors, such as Izmail Sreznevsky, also engaged in ethnographic work, publishing Ukrainian folk poetry, songs, proverbs etc. During that time so-called "Ukrainian schools" appeared in Russian and Polish literatures, most prominently represented by Yevhen Hrebinka and Tomasz Padura respectively.