Jakiv Holovatsky

Jakiv F. Golovatsky (Oct 17, 1814 – May 13, 1888) – Ukrainian writer and folklorist.

Jakiv was born in the family of a priest in the village (now Brody district, Lviv region). He studied at the Lviv High School (1825 – 1831 or 1832), in 1832 (1831?) – 1839 years (with a break) – University of Lviv. When he finished the theological faculty, he, like his fellow in "Rus' three" M. Shashkevych, was ordained a priest (1842) and until 1848 served in the villages of Galicia.

In 1848 he took a part in the revolutionary events, defending national rights of Ukrainians in Galicia. In 1848 – 1867 years he taught Ukrainian language and literature as a professor of Lviv University. Even at that time, at least from 1851, he gradually moves away from his older (romantic) Ukrainian patriotism and leans towards Russophilism.

In 1868 his life changed dramatically. He moved to Russia, refused the title of the Greek Catholic priest, took Orthodoxy and was promoted to head of the Vilna Archaeographical Commission (Vilnius, Lithuania), where he remained until his death.

In a large creative heritage of J. Golovatsky fiction took a very modest place. Poetry and poetic translations written in the 1830s. As a result of his collectively in 1830-40 years was composed book "People's Songs fron Galicia and Hungarian Rus", which was published in Moscow in 1863 – 1877 years (in 3 volumes, more than 3,000 pages). He also wrote many works on philology, history, geography, and touched the contemporary state of Galicia.

Portrait of J. F. Golovatsky, which we display, published in the book "The works of Markian Shashkevych and Jakiv Golovatsky, with the addition of works by Ivan Vahylevych and Tymko Padura" (Lviv: Education, 1913, p. 144). It made probably in the 1870s.

Selected bibliography of Golovacky's scientific articles one can see at the «».

M. Zh., February 15, 2015