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Korolenko (Короленко) Vladimir Galaktionovich
(1853—1921)

Vladimir Korolenko was a Ukrainian-Russian short story writer, journalist, human rights activist and humanitarian. His short stories were known for their harsh portrayal of nature based on his experience of exile in Siberia. Korolenko was a strong critic of the Tsarist regime and in his final years of the Bolsheviks.

Korolenko was born in Zhytomyr, Ukraine in 1853, the son of a Cossack and a district judge. His cousin Vladimir Vernadsky was the first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. He was educated at secondary schools in Zhitomyr and Rovno before undertaking tertiary studies at the Saint Petersburg Technological Institute in 1871 and the Moscow College of Agriculture and Forestry in 1874. Korolenko was expelled from both institutions for participating in the revolutionary activities of the Narodniks movement. In 1876 he was briefly exiled to Kronstadt.

Korolenko's first short stories were published in 1879. However, his literary career was interrupted that year when he was arrested for revolutionary activity and exiled to Vyatka region of Siberia for five years. In 1881 he refused to pledge to new Tsar Alexander III and was exiled farther, to Yakutia.

Upon his return from the exile, he had more stories published. It was his story «Makar's Dream» that established his reputation as a writer when published in 1885. The story was based on a dying peasant's dream of heaven and was translated and published in English in 1892.

Korolenko settled in Nizhniy Novgorod shortly afterwards and kept on publishing popular short stories. He published a novel «The Blind Musician» in 1886 which was published in English as in 1896-1898.

After visiting the Chicago exhibition in 1893, Korolenko wrote the story «Without a Language» based on what happens to an Ukrainian peasant who migrates to the US. His final story «An Eyewink» was published in 1900.

By then, Korolenko was established amongst the first rank of Russian writers. He was a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences but resigned in 1902 when Maxim Gorky was expelled as a member because of his revolutionary activities. Anton Chekhov resigned from the Academy for the same reasons.

In 1895, Korolenko became the editor of «Russian Wealth» and used this position to expose injustices occurring under the tsar. He also used his position to publish reviews on important pieces of literature such as Chekhov's final play «The Cherry Orchard» in 1904.
Vladimir Korolenko was a lifetime opponent of Czarism and reservedly welcomed the Russian Revolution of 1917. However, he soon opposed the Bolsheviks as their despotic nature became evident. During the Russian Civil War that ensued, he called against both Red Terror and White Terror. He worked on an autobiography « The History of My Contemporary».

Korolenko consistently advocated for the human rights, against injustices and persecutions on the basis of social class in his essay «During the Starving Year» (1891—1892), nationalism in his article «The Multanskoye Affair» (1895—1896), and took strong public stand against anti-Semitic Beilis trial (in his «Call to the Russian People in regard to the blood libel of the Jews», 1911—1913).

Korolenko is generally considered to be a leading Russian writer of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Russian singer and literature student Pavel Lion (now Ph.D.) took his stage name Psoy Korolenko due to his admiration of Korolenko's work.

USSR, 1953, Vladimir Korolenko

Ukraine, 1996.12.25, Poltava. Vladimir Korolenko