The thesis presents the first attempt of systematic research into the scholarly legacy of Vasyl Domanytskyi, devoted to life and work of Marko Vovchok.
Chapter one deals with Vasyl Domanytskyi’s publishing activities, which included preparation of separate editions of the authoress’s works, translation of her short stories written in Russian, and publication of works from her archive.
History of Kyiv-based publishing house “Vik”, its first decade in particular, has been poorly studied hitherto. This state of affairs, caused by both limitations of published source materials and their incorrect treatment by researchers, has led to proliferation of unsubstantiated conclusions unsupported by documentary evidence. Researchers disagree about the date of the publishing house’s foundation, not always properly arguing their case. By scrutinizing major sources of information, the thesis uncovers contradictions in the previous research and refutes a number of faulty statements. On the basis of scarce contemporary documents, the earliest exact date of Vasyl Domanytskyi’s participation in the activities of the publishing house was established and his links to particular book projects were traced.
No detailed information on Vasyl Domanytskyi’s direct participation in publication of Marko Vovchok’s work within the Ukrayinska Biblioteka series by “Vik” publishing house was discovered. It is likely, his involvement into the publication of her short stories collection was limited to exchange of letters with her.
Vasyl Domanytskyi’s second involvement with literary work of Marko Vovchok took place in the context of preparation of the third volume of “Narodni Opovidannya” (Folk Tales) for publication in Lviv. The volume included her short stories on Ukrainian subjects, written in Russian. Preserved portion of correspondence sets the timeframe of his work on their translation into Ukrainian between December 1903 and late April 1904.
Vasyl Domanytskyi’s scholarly work on Marko Vovchok is discussed in the second chapter of the thesis. The discussion treats key arguments against Marko Vovchok’s authorship, which included her national background. Most revisionists argue that she did not know Ukrainian. Vasyl Domanytskyi has discovered documents in her archive, which arguably proved her partial Ukrainian ethnic background. This view was dominant for some time, yet it was rebutted in the late 20th century, when her father’s service record emerged.
To undermine Panteleymon Kulish’s claim of co-authorship by the Markovychs, Vasyl Domanytskyi referred to Kulish’s own comments at the beginning of Marko Vovchok’s literary career, his anonymous editorial note in the Osnova magazine in particular, which praised the authoress’s work. As of now, literary critics have reasonably demonstrated that the most likely author of the note was Vasyl Bilozerskyi.
Another important issue in the debates about the true author of the Folk Tales was publication of the first volume in 1857. Upon examination of the discovered autograph, Vasyl Domanytskyi assumed that eight short tales were typeset from handwritten copies, while the last four – from autograph. The thesis provides evidence that handwritten copies were produced for all twelve short stories, and only one of them – “Sestra” (Sister) – was typeset from autograph. Therefore, the Folk Tales (1857) were printed from two sources to enable the printer to start preparations before the publication was approved by and handwritten copies were returned from the office of censorship.
Findings of the thesis lead to the conclusion that despite substantial contribution to the study of Marko Vovchok’s life and work, Vasyl Domanytskyi has committed numerous errors as a result of both low contemporary level of research on the subject and his rather amateur methodological principles.
