Ukrainian Realist novelist of the postserfdom reform period. He drew upon his background as a seminary student and, later, a provincial teacher, to depict the educated and lower classes in some of the earliest social novels in Ukrainian literature. His works include Prichepa (1869; “The Intruder”), Khmari (1874; “Clouds”), Kaydasheva semya (1879; “The Kaydashev Family”), and Burlachka (1881; “A Factory Girl”). Use of objective narrative and details of folklore strengthen the realistic effect of his works.