Chronicle

The chronicle (litopys) is a historical-narrative genre of early writing — a year-by-year exposition of historical events in which the documentary recording of events was combined with legends, tales, admonitions, and artistic narration. The chronicle was the leading genre of the literature of Kyivan Rus. Its most outstanding monument is The Tale of Bygone Years, compiled at the beginning of the twelfth century (traditionally associated with the name of the monk Nestor), which recounts the origin and early history of Rus. Later arose the Kyiv and the Galician-Volhynian chronicles, and in the Cossack era the Cossack chronicles of Samovydets, Hryhorii Hrabianka, and Samiilo Velychko, which reflected the liberation struggle. The chronicle tradition influenced the historical consciousness of the nation and imaginative literature; chronicle plots and stylistics were taken up by Taras Shevchenko, Panteleimon Kulish, and Lina Kostenko.