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Kochish, Mikola M./Kocis, Mikola M.Kochish, Mikola M./Kocis, Mikola M. (b. December 1, 1928, Djurdjevo, Yugoslavia; d. April 16, 1973, Novi Sad, Yugoslavia) — linguist, educator, belletrist, and civic and cultural activist of Ukrainian national orientation among the Vojvodinian Rusyns. Kochish completed only two years of gymnasium but then went on to complete the Teachers’ College in Sombor (1947). After teaching in various Vojvodinian Rusyn schools, including Kucura and Ruski Kerestur, and working on the editorial staff of the children’s magazine, Pionirska zahradka, he pursued his own education, completing studies at the Higher Pedagogical School in Novi Sad (1956) and the philosophical faculty at the University of Novi Sad (1963). Always concerned with promoting Rusyn-language teaching in schools, he headed the Rusyn-language section of Vojvodinian Regional Textbook Publishing House (1965), helped establish and served as first president (1971) of the *Society of Rusyn Language and Literature, and was instrumental in the creation of a lectureship (1972) in Rusyn language at the University of Novi Sad. Some critics consider that Kochish represents “the pinnacle of Rusyn literature.” He began by publishing poetry (1948) and later prose (1951) in Vojvodinian Rusyn periodicals. His first collection of short stories, Krochai (1963), presented a scenario in which the world of children runs parallel to that of adults. Two subsequent volumes of poetry for children, Dzelime radosts i chezhkostsi (1972) and Mi tu nie hostsi (1973), showed Kochish to be a worthy heir to the father of Vojvodinian Rusyn literature, Havriil Kostel’nik, and among the best Rusyn writers of the second half of the twentieth century. A retrospective selection of his works was published along with a reader under the title Nai kvitnie Rusnakova dusha (1978). Kochish was also a linguist and he did much to help standardize the Vojvodinian Rusyn literary language. In the 1960s he published a series of textbooks, the first since World War II, under the title Matserinska besheda (1965-68). These textbooks were reprinted several times and they have appeared posthumously in a revised form with additions by other authors under the general title Ruski iazik i kultura visloviovania. He also published the first and influential orthography of Vojvodinian Rusyn, Pravopis ruskoho iazika (1971), which won the praise of both linguists and practicing writers in need of a literary standard. The first part of his Gramatika ruskoho iazika was published posthumously (1974). Kochish was also the first lexicographer of Vojvodinian Rusyn, compiling a Rusyn-Serbian dictionary of historical terminology (1970) for use in schools, and a practical terminological dictionary (1972) consisting of 14,000 words in Serbo-Croatian, Rusyn, and Ukrainian (1972). His articles and reviews concerning language were included in the collection, Lingvistichni roboti (1978). While promoting the use of Vojvodinian Rusyn as a literary language, Kochish favored wherever possible the adoption of linguistic and lexical forms based on or similar to Ukrainian. In honor of his wide-ranging achievements, the *Ruske Slovo Publishing House established in 1974 the Mikola M. Kochish prize to be awarded to the best work in literature or scholarship about the Vojvodinian Rusyns. Bibliography: Diura Varga, “Zhivotna draha Mikoli M. Kochisha: biografska priznachka,” Shvetlosts, XI, 2 (Novi Sad, 1973), pp. 219-224; Iuliian Tamash, “Literaturna tvorchosts Mikoli M. Kochisha,” Shvetlosts, XVI, 6 (Novi Sad, 1978), pp. 801-816; Iuliian Tamash, Istoriia ruskei literaturi (Belgrade, 1997), pp. 191-202, 567-569; Aleksander D. Dulichenko, “Normovatel’ i preuchovatel’ literaturnoho iazika iuhoslavianskikh Rusnatsokh,” Tvorchosts, IV (Novi Sad, 1978), pp. 7-26; Diura Varga et al., in Ruski iazik i literatura 1978 (Novi Sad, 1979), pp. 13-72; Gabor Beke et al., “Robota i tvorchosts Mikola M. Kochisha,” in Studia Ruthenica, Vol. III (Novi Sad, 1992-93), pp. 21-70. Aleksander D. Dulichenko Entry courtesy of Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture. |
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