Mykola Dzheria

In the picturesque village of Verbivka, farmer Petro Dzherya lives with his wife, Marusia. Their son, Mykola, a handsome and dreamy young man, is the pride of the family. He falls in love with Nymydora, a poor girl working as a servant on a farmstead. Despite Marusia's opposition, who wants Mykola to marry the wealthy Varka, Mykola is determined to wed Nymydora. Petro supports his decision, but the local landlord imposes a condition: Nymydora can move to Verbivka only if a girl from Verbivka relocates to his village, Skrypchytsi. Fortunately, a young man from Skrypchytsi marries a Verbivka girl, enabling Mykola and Nymydora to marry in a grand wedding.

While working on the landlord Bzhozovsky's estate, Mykola grows resentful of serfdom's injustices, which impoverish the poor. He and his father work their own field, angering the landlord’s overseer, who orders those working for themselves that day to be whipped. Later, when the overseer strikes Nymydora, Mykola plots revenge, secretly setting fire to the landlord’s haystacks.

Increasingly aware of societal inequities, Mykola rejects his mother’s advice to pray in Kyiv, declaring that if God exists, He favors the landlords. Bzhozovsky notices Mykola’s rebellious streak and threatens to conscript him into the Imperial Russian Army. Marusia urges Mykola to submit, but he incites the serfs to defy the landlord. Some men escape and find work at a sugar factory in Stebliv (the author’s hometown). When Bzhozovsky tracks them down, they ambush the overseer at an inn, forcing the landlord to flee.

Realizing Stebliv is unsafe, the rebels move to Chernihiv Oblast, working at a sugar factory owned by the miserly Brodovsky. Mykola’s friend, Petro Kavun, falls ill and dies after escaping, rejecting confession as he views priests as landlords’ allies. The group meets itinerant worker Andriy Korchak, who leads them to a kinder landlord, where they earn money. Led by Andriy, they reach Bessarabia, where local landlords hire them and assign them the surname Posmityukh, that of deceased serfs. They thrive as fishermen, but Mykola grows homesick.

After receiving payment from foreman Kovbanenko, Andriy and the group celebrate at a tavern. Andriy is caught stealing, and police search for the other workers. Fearing exposure, Mykola hides with the help of Kovbanenko’s daughter, Mokryna, who confesses her love for him.

Meanwhile, Nymydora, unaware of Mykola’s fate, endures years of hardship. Marusia dies, and Mykola’s daughter, Liubka, grows up and marries soon after turning 16. Nymydora clings to hope for Mykola’s return, but when serfdom is abolished, she dies without learning his fate.

Mykola quarrels with Kovbanenko and elopes with Mokryna, marrying her a year later. Bzhozovsky, still pursuing his fugitive serfs, eventually captures them. Mykola and his companions are imprisoned but released as serfdom has been abolished. Twenty years after his escape, Mykola returns home to find only Liubka alive, who is unwelcoming. He spends his final years working at a beehive, recounting his wanderings.

Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky portrays Mykola Dzherya as a resolute figure, loyal to his community and the peasantry. Mykola gains no fame or wealth from his struggles; his reward is personal integrity, remaining true to his principles and retaining a rebellious spirit even in old age. Written 17 years after serfdom’s abolition, the novella critiques not only serfdom but broader social inequalities. The exploited and exploiters are depicted as irreconcilable social systems. Mykola endorses just retribution against oppressors while preventing his companions from looting.^[1]

However, the author condemns Mykola’s flight from the village, which leaves it defenseless against the landlord’s tyranny and abandons his wife and daughter, despite Nymydora’s constant presence in his thoughts.^[1]

In a letter to Oleksandr Konysky, Nechuy-Levytsky mentioned writing a novella, “Servant Yarish Dzherya,” which he lost abroad. It is unclear whether this was an early version of Mykola Dzherya or a separate work. The confirmed text of Mykola Dzherya was sent for publication to Lviv, to the editorial office of Pravda, where it was first published. Nechuy-Levytsky chose this outlet, knowing that intensified censorship in Russia would prevent its printing. The manuscript and proofs of the first edition have not survived; only printed copies remain.

In 1880, Nechuy-Levytsky submitted a copy of the Pravda edition to the Main Directorate for Press Affairs in St. Petersburg. Censors rejected it, citing non-compliance with orthographic norms. After revising the text to meet these standards, he resubmitted it in 1881. On March 19, 1882, the St. Petersburg Censorship Committee permitted printing with some excisions. However, the novella appeared not as a standalone book but in Mykhailo Starytsky’s almanac Rada in 1883, with censors removing problematic sections. In 1886, Nechuy-Levytsky submitted the Pravda edition to the Kyiv Censorship Committee, but the Chief of the Main Directorate banned its publication in the Russian Empire.

In 1892, with support from the Lviv newspaper Dilo in its “Library of the Most Famous Novellas” series, Mykola Dzherya was published as a standalone book. The author made concessions, shortening and revising passages criticizing the clergy and church. To publish in Russia in Ukrainian, Nechuy-Levytsky further cut descriptions, softened his stance on the church, and removed details. Publication was not approved until 1898, when his fame as an author secured permission. The 1899 St. Petersburg edition appeared in the first volume of his works, Novellas and Stories. He continued refining the text, aiming for an uncensored standalone edition.

In March 1900, the Pravda edition was again submitted to Kyiv’s censors but rejected by St. Petersburg. Nechuy-Levytsky made no further attempts at standalone publication. The final edition during his lifetime, in 1909, was part of the first volume of Novellas and Stories. This version was divided into eight chapters instead of six, with typographical errors and awkward phrases corrected. The 1909 edition noted the writing date as “January 1, 1876” and was the first to use the author’s full name, “Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky,” on the title page.

After Nechuy-Levytsky’s death, Mykola Dzherya was published over 30 times. It appeared in Russian in Kharkiv (1929) and Moscow (1956). Until 1965, editions were censored; that year, the uncensored text was published in the third volume of his Collected Works in Ten Volumes as the author intended.^[2]

A draft manuscript of the novella is preserved in the manuscripts department of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine (Fund 1, No. 7435).

In 1985, the novella was translated into English.^[3]

• 1926 — Mykola Dzherya, directed by Yosyp Rona and Marko Tereshchenko.
• 2019 — Filming began for Dzherya, directed by Iryna Pavlylo, with support from the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.