Ivan Semenovych Nechuy-Levytskyi is a Ukrainian writer, linguist, ethnographer, folklorist, teacher.
Place of birth, childhood
He was born on November 25, 1838 in the town of Stebliv, Kyiv province, in the family of a priest.
When the future writer was seven years old, he was sent to study at the theological school at the Bohuslav Monastery. There he mastered Latin, Greek and Church Slavonic and in 1853 completed his studies.
He continued his education at the Kyiv Theological Seminary, where he studied until 1859. During this period, he became interested in the works of writers Taras Shevchenko, Alexander Pushkin and Mykola Gogol, and also began to be interested in folk customs, the life of the Ukrainian peasantry and folklore.
In 1861 he entered the Kyiv Theological Academy. He mastered French and German on his own in order to read classical works in the original.
In 1865 he completed his studies, receiving the title of Master of Theology. Despite this, his spiritual career did not attract him.
Career
In 1865 – 1867, Nechuy-Levytskyi wrote his first works and taught Russian language, literature, history and geography at the Poltava Theological Seminary.
Later, until 1872, he worked as a teacher in gymnasiums in the cities of Kalisz and Sedlec.
In 1873, he achieved a transfer to Chisinau, where he continued to teach Russian literature in a men’s gymnasium. There he organized a secret circle of teachers, at the meetings of which social and national issues were discussed and Ukrainian literature was popularized. Because of this, the writer came under the supervision of the gendarmerie.
In 1885, he settled in Kyiv and devoted himself entirely to literary activities.
The beginning of the revolution of 1917 passed by the writer. At that time, the writer was in an extremely difficult financial situation.
Thanks to the initiative of writer Maria Zahirna and literary critic Serhiy Yefremov, the Ukrainian community of Kyiv collected some financial assistance for Nechuy-Levytskyi.
In the second half of 1917, the Cherkasy publishing house “Siyach” republished sixteen of his works, which briefly improved the financial situation of the writer, but he did not have a stable income.
Death/Death
At the end of 1917, he fell and broke his leg. At first, his relatives took him to the hospital, but after the entry of the Kaiser’s troops into Kyiv, the medical institution was liquidated, and the writer was transferred to the Degtyarovskaya almshouse – an institution for lonely people. There he was without proper care and treatment.
On March 30, 1918, the Central Rada supported the appointment of a personal pension to Nechuev-Levytskyi, but the writer could not use it, since he passed away on April 2.
Marital Status
Ivan Nechuy-Levytskyi was never married.
Ivan Nechuy-Levytskyi: interesting facts
Among the interesting facts about the writer:
- The future writer received his first knowledge at the school, which was opened by his father for rural children. The educational institution did not last long, as it was closed;
- He made his first literary attempts at a time when it was forbidden to publish works in Ukrainian. Even close friends did not know about his works, written under the pseudonym “I. Nechuy”;
- had a reputation as an eccentric – he always carried an umbrella with him, regardless of the weather;
- he was extremely punctual: every day at the same time he went for a walk along his usual route;
- did not drink alcohol and tried to avoid conflicts;
- The writer was extremely principled in matters of spelling. He insisted that it is necessary to write the way people speak. He refused to use the letter “й”, in connection with which he wrote, for example, not “them”, but “yikh”.
- Nechuy-Levytskyi’s favorite painting was “Ukrainian Night” by the artist Arkhip Kuindzhi;
- in his free time, the writer liked to visit the Nechuya rock on the banks of the Ros River in his native Steblevo, as well as on Volodymyrska Hill in Kyiv, from where the panorama of the city opened.
