Jeanne the battalion woman

The “Non-Canonical Canon” series is a way to talk about those we did not know, whose texts we read without understanding the context of their time. It brings together a wide range of Ukrainian authors and their works. Each text is accompanied by reading guides by Ukrainian literary scholars.

The novel Jeanne the Battalion Woman explores the underrepresented topic of World War I and the participation of Ukrainians in it. It reflects the historical moment when, in 1917, the Russian government decided to deploy women to the front by forming so-called women’s “battalions of death.” The protagonist, Kyiv student Stefan Boiko, resists imperial propaganda hysteria, while his beloved Jeanne becomes an ideal target for it. The novel is rich in anti-colonial themes, dreams of Ukraine’s historical rise and premonitions of the emergence of the Ukrainian People’s Republic.