Women write: Happiness

“Happiness” is a collection of works by Ukrainian classics from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, continuing the “Women Write” series. Famous and lesser-known authors raise the issue of happiness — with someone and alone, through their activities and private experiences, in moments of elation and critical moments. The texts, found in archives and libraries and arranged by literary critic Anastasiia Yevdokymova, tell the story of women who are searching for their happiness and exploring whether it is possible. The publication contains works of various genres by ten authors: Liubov Yanovska, Liudmyla Starytska-Chernyakhivska, Hanna Barvinok, Nadiia Kybalchych, Hrytsko Hryhorenko, Mariia Koltsuniak, Khrystia Alchevska, Yevheniia Bokhenska, Odarka Romanova, and Lesia Ukrainka. In the preface to the collection, literary critic Olha Petrenko-Tseunova analyzes how the understanding of happiness has changed in Ukrainian literature and what challenges the authors posed with their emancipated and apt writing.