Ukrainian Modernism in the Making. Olha Kobylianska and Lesia Ukrainka | Kultura 2026

Olha Kobylianska and Lesia Ukrainka, two modernist writers and close friends, had much in common. Both were intellectually adventurous. Kobylianska reacted in her novels to Darwinism and the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche, while Ukrainka’s historically erudite poetry, plays, and dramatic poems explored the meaning of freedom, the nature of knowledge and truth, and the ethics of responsibility to self and society. Both advocated for the rights of women to participate in all aspects of public life and freely express their emotional and intellectual identity. In their own time, the life and work of both Kobylianska and Lesia Ukrainka stimulated debate and even controversy. They continue to do so today.

Lecturer: Dr Marko Pavlyshyn, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Marko Pavlyshyn is an Emeritus Professor of Ukrainian Studies at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. His scholarly specialisation is modern and contemporary Ukrainian literature. His publications include Ukrainian Literature: A Wartime Guide for Anglophone Readers (Cambridge UP, 2025), the Ukrainian-language books Olha Kobylianska: Interpretations (Akta, 2008) and Canon and Iconostasis (Chas, 1997), and many scholarly articles, chapters, and edited and co-edited books. Marko is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and an International Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

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