Maria Hrinchenko

Maria Mykolayivna Hrinchenko (Марі́я Микола́ївна Грінче́нко, Мари́я Никола́евна Гринче́нко; 13 July 1863, Bohodukhiv – 15 July 1928) was a Ukrainian folklorist active at the turn of the 20th century. She played a significant role in the preservation and development of Ukrainian folklore. The four volume dictionary of the Ukrainian language she compiled with her husband, Borys Hrinchenko, is considered "one of the most important works in the history of the modern Ukrainian language."

During her life, she collected and published more than 100 Ukrainian folk tales and over 1200 folk proverbs. She also authored research and memoirs on Opanas Markovych, Leonid Hlibov, Ivan Franko, and Borys Hrinchenko, among others.

Biography
She was born in 1863 as Maria Gladilina near Bohodukhiv in the Kharkov Governorate, a daughter of a minor official in the local government. Her family's status afforded her a good education; she studied history, literature and several foreign languages. She married Borys Hrinchenko in 1884, who, together with her father, was instrumental in the foundation of Kharkiv University.

Between 1908 and 1910, Maria Hrinchinko lost her daughter, grandchild, and husband. Her husband died of tuberculosis.

She was a member of Kharkiv academy. Her last years at academy were considered as her most active ones. She met her lifelong friends and later correspondents during this part of her education life. She also became close to the new young principal during her last days in the academy. After leaving academy, she attended female seminary for a brief period of ten months, cut short most likely due to poor health.

In her last years, much of her work was focused on a commission compiling a dictionary of the living Ukrainian language.

Maria Hrinchenko died suddenly in July 1928 following receipt of a letter, in an environment just before the beginning of the 1929–1930 show trials persecuting Ukrainian intellectuals including her associates.

Career
Hrinchenko wrote her first works in German, beginning in 1880. Besides a proficiency in German she spoke Ukrainian as well as Polish. Taras Shevchenko and Ivan Franko were the main inspiration of her early poetry. It was associated with the poet's loneliness, social isolation and by an adoration of Ukrainian nation's freedom. Her first collection of poetry was published in 1898.

In 1887–1893 she worked as a teacher in a people school of Khrystyna Alchevska that today is located in Luhansk Oblast.

Between 1895 and 1899, Hrinchenko wrote a three volume collection of ethnographic materials from Chernihiv and surrounding areas. In 1900, she wrote a collection of Ukrainian fables and folk tales entitled, "Из уст народа" (From the Mouths of the People). In 1901, she wrote a book entitled, "Література украинского фолкльора" (Literature of Ukrainian Folklore).

In 1906, Hrinchenko was a contributor to the Ukrainian daily newspaper, "Громадська думка" (Hromadska Dumka).

Between 1907 and 1909, she and her husband, Borys, published a Ukrainian dictionary entitled, "Словарь української мови".

Following the death of her family, she continued to be associated with the greater Ukrainian intelligentsia, publishing works against repression of the Ukrainian language.

During the period of the Ukrainian People's Republic, Maria Hrinchenko was a member of the All-Ukrainian National Congress.

Influences
In addition to Shevchenko and Franko, Hrinchenko's work was influenced by Henrik Ibsen, Edmondo De Amicis and Leo Tolstoy.