Why Ukrainian writer Marko Vovchok was called a "black widow"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the history of mankind, there have always been such women whose life path was littered with the victims of their charm. Because of such men in love, they went crazy and took their own lives, did incredible things … Strange and sometimes terrible things happened around them … So, Ukrainian the writer Maria Vilinskaya-Markovichthat the world knows under a pseudonym Marko Vovchok, contemporaries called it the "black widow" - because "too many lives ruined the spell of her huge magnetic eyes …"

The life of women like Maria Markovich is always full of unexpected turns and fateful encounters. Those who knew the writer well were united in their opinion about her: her unique charm lay in a rare combination of intelligence, talent, natural beauty, aristocracy and poetic nature. The Ukrainian writer could easily fall in love with any man. However, she found happiness with her son's age, who took her to a remote province, away from temptations …

A little from the biography of the writer

Maria Vilinskaya (1833-1907) was born into a family of impoverished nobles in the village of Katerinenskoye, Oryol province. The mother was from the princely family of the Radziwills, the father had Belarusian roots. From early childhood, the girl grew up under the influence of her mother, a highly educated and musically gifted woman. It was from her that Masha took over both the love of music and the gift of the artistic word. Only one thing, she did not take from her mother: the ability to dress beautifully and fashionably. Throughout her life, she preferred a strict style both in outfits and in her hair, and instead of frivolous reading she chose informative books on history, natural sciences, studied foreign languages that were surprisingly easy for her. During her life, Masha has mastered about a dozen of them.

When the girl turned seven, her father was gone, and her mother, left with two small children in her arms, soon remarried. The stepfather turned out to be a cruel tyrant who mocked not only his serfs, but also his wife and adopted children. And my mother, wanting to protect her children from bullying, sent them to their relatives. So the future writer grew up in other people's homes, still making music, reading a lot. Uncles and aunts did not spare money for her education, hiring governesses and teachers.

Later, 12-year-old Maria was assigned to the Kharkov boarding school for noble maidens, after graduating from which Masha is again in the care of her relatives, since her stepfather, among other things, being a gambling player and a drunkard, had already drunk and lost not only his own estate, but also his fortune wives.

The girl found shelter in the house of her aunt, Ekaterina Mardovina, who, with all her might, created all the conditions so that Masha would not feel like a poor survivor and a dowry. And in order to somehow repay her virtue, Masha teaches her children everything that she herself knows and continues to engage in her self-education. It was in her aunt's house that the future writer met the most interesting creative people.

Auntie, guided by good intentions, decided to find a profitable groom for Maria. And such was, in her opinion, the local landowner Ergolsky, the owner of two thousand serf souls. However, the niece by that time had firmly decided to marry Afanasy Markovich, whom 16-year-old Masha met at the ball. 28-year-old Afanasy was a nobleman, a graduate of Kiev University, a wonderful storyteller and singer. And already nothing could force her to change her decision - neither persuasion, nor an aunt's ultimatum. Soon the young people got married, and Maria left the house of the Mardovins. Later, she admitted that she did not marry out of great love, but only wishing for independence.

Husbands and lovers of the famous writer

Now she, her husband's wife, accompanied her chosen one on folklore expeditions, where she improved her knowledge of the language in which many of her works would be written. And also, living with Markovich, for the first time she knew the real need - often he and Afanasy had to interrupt from bread to kvass. In addition, Maria managed to get pregnant and give birth to a little daughter, who died in infancy, and later - the son of Bogdan. A young mother raised her baby with great care and at the same time tried herself in literature.

The stories of the young writer written in those years were so good that her husband decided to send them to his friend Panteleimon Kulish, the owner of a printing house in St. Petersburg. This is how ten works made up the first book of "People's Stories", signed by the pseudonym Marko Vovchok. According to the Vilinsky family legend, the pseudonym originated from the name of the founder of the family - the Cossack Mark, nicknamed Vovk. By the way, at that time the publisher did not even know that these stories were written by a woman.

Soon the Markovich couple moved to St. Petersburg. And it so happened that the publisher Panteleimon Kulish, having learned the truth about the author, became inflamed with passionate love for Maria and began to openly court her. The young woman, although she rejected the courtship of the annoying gentleman, but still broke his marriage. His wife left him, unable to withstand the constant comparison with her rival.

Living in the capital, the young writer begins to move in the circle of famous writers at that time. She meets Turgenev, Shevchenko, Nekrasov, Pisemsky. Many people liked a beautiful and intelligent woman, and with Taras Shevchenko she had a real strong friendship. Marko Vovchok kept the gold bracelet presented by Kobzar all her life.

The brightest heads of the Russian Empire literally swarmed around 26-year-old Maria Vilinskaya. In those years, Borodin, Botkin, Dobrolyubov, Kostomarov, Mendeleev, Nekrasov, Lev Tolstoy, Chernishevsky were seriously fond of her. For the terminally ill with tuberculosis, professor of history Stepan Eshevsky Marko Vovchok has become the very last love. And Ivan Turgenev not only translated her stories into Russian, but also remained a “loving friend” for her throughout her life.

Living in a constant world of temptations, Maria at one point breaks off relations with her husband and leaves with Ivan Turgenev abroad. Afanasy Markovich will never see his wife and son again: in eight years he will die of suffering and unbearable melancholy, and all these years he will write letters to Maria with entreaties for return, to which he will never receive a single line of reply …

In Paris, Ivan Turgenev introduced Maria to the salon of Pauline Viardot, introduced her to Gustave Flaubert, Prosper Mérimée, and also to the publisher and writer Pierre-Jules Etzel. The relationship with which began as a romantic, later turned into a business relationship for 40 years. That is how long Maria was an employee of the magazine "Magasin d'Education et de Recreation". And also Jules Verne himself gave Marco Vovchok an exclusive for his translations into Russian, and she translated 15 novels of the famous Frenchman, signing them with the pseudonym "Lobach", the last name of her husband's last.

Living in Paris, Marko Vovchok writes a lot: by that time she had already mastered more than ten languages. And her famous story "Maroussia" will receive an award from the French Academy. In Paris, Maria will found the first French children's magazine, and will write the first stories for the children of France.

The private life of Vilinskaya in those years was the most discussed topic:

The femme fatale at that time leaves Ivan Turgenev, choosing a new "victim" for herself. She fell in love with Alexander Passek, a historian, ethnographer and writer, who was three years younger than the writer. But fate-villain, and then made its own adjustments: six years later, Passek dies in the arms of his beloved … It would be appropriate to ask the question - was it not retribution from above for the broken heart of Athanasius?

Having lost her love, Maria returns to Russia and, in order to escape from gloomy thoughts and longing, she finds herself a new hobby in the person of the famous critic and publicist Dmitry Pisarev, who was seven years younger than her. However, for him, love for Mary also ended fatally: he drowned in the Baltic Sea, saving her son Bogdan.

Now the writer has a solid reputation as a "black widow". And wherever she appeared, behind her back they immediately began to gossip that "everyone who allows himself to love this woman is marked with the fatal seal of death." Men began to shy away from her company. And since the death of Dmitry Pisarev, she herself, having fallen into a deep depression, seemed to have deleted men from her life. It was rumored that even the cat was replaced by a cat in Markovich's house. And the writer worked especially with women, publishing a magazine.

But time passed, and again there was a daredevil who challenged fate with a willingness to sacrifice his life for the sake of the beautiful eyes of Mary! She is loved and loved again. Her chosen one was the young midshipman Mikhail Lobach-Zhuchenko, a friend of her son Bogdan, who was 17 years younger than her. However, seven long years passed before Mary agreed to become his wife. It was with him that Maria Markovich finally found peace and family happiness. They got married, and for many years she followed her husband from one place of service to another.

As a rule, these were small provincial small towns where no one knew about Mary's past and the hard-hitting scandals that accompanied her in life. He and Mikhail lived an ordinary family life, raising their son Boris, or rather the grandson, whom the writer adopted. There was a time in her life when she wrote almost nothing and very rarely did translations. She was overcome by constant depression, she became very fat.

Only after settling in the Caucasus, in Nalchik, in a small house with a beautiful garden, Vovchok again takes up his pen and publishes a complete collection of his works - and there have been a lot of them over the years!

However, Maria begins to suffer from constant headaches, and soon doctors will diagnose a brain tumor. The great Ukrainian writer died in the arms of her husband, with whom she lived for almost 30 years of her life.

The writer’s husband, Mikhail, set up the estate in Nalchik as a memorial house-museum in honor of his wife. And today there are kept the personal belongings of the famous writer, books, photographs and documents telling not only about her, but also about those who loved her and wrote to her all their lives: Ivan Turgenev, Dmitry Pisarev, Taras Shevchenko …

Son Bogdan became a translator and journalist, and Boris became a marine mechanical engineer, professor. Both wrote memoirs about the life of the great Marko Vovchok.

Continuing the theme of the personal life of Ukrainian writers, read: Taras Shevchenko's muses: women who inspired the great Kobzar.