Head of the Department – Voytenko Lesya Ivanivna,,

Doctor of Philology, Full Professor

Department Staff

• Head of the Department, Doctor of Philolology, professor Voytenko Lesya Ivanivna
• PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Nataliya Vasylivna Ababina
• PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Olena Anatoliivna Bezhan
• PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Yulia Oleksandrivna Zaporozhchenko
• PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Yulia Volodymyrivna Sadovska
• PhD in Pedagogy, Associate Professor Valentyna Mykhailivna Romanets
• PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Oleksiy Borisovych Kholodov
• Senior Lecturer Lanova Victoria Volodymyrivna
• Assistant Demenko Pavlo Volodymyrovych
• Assistant Lungu Yelyzaveta Yevhenievna

General information

The Department of Foreign Literature is one of the 9 departments of the Faculty of Romano-Germanic Philology, which provides educational, scientific, social and humanitarian activities not only within the faculty, but also within the university.

Teaching of foreign literature has been carried out at Novorossiysk (Odesa) University since its foundation in 1865, in different years professor L.F. Voivodskyi, professor O.I.Kirpichnikov, private associate professor V.F. Lazurskyi, Academician F.E. Korsh, private associate professor M.I. Mandes.

A significant contribution to the popularization of foreign literature was made by professors B.V. Warneke, R. M. Volkov, associate professor P. E. Yershov. Since the middle of the 20th century, the department was headed by Associate Professor B.O. Shaykevych (1944-1973), associate professor M. P. Mudisiti (1973-1985), associate professor V. G. Zinchenko (1985-2000), full professor V. I. Silantieva (2000-2023). Currently, the duties of the head of the department are performed by full professor L.I. Voytenko.

Today, the department carries out important scientific work, since 2000, 8 candidate theses, which were carried out in the direction of comparative research, were prepared and defended at the department. These are the works of N.V. Ababinf, O. A. Bezhan, Yu. O. Zaporozhchenko, V. M. Romanets, Yu. V. Sadovska, N.M. Dolga, V. V. Dmitrieva, Yu. Shtelmukhova.

In 2019, the doctoral dissertation of L.I. Voytenko was defended, which was carried out in the field of communicative and comparative research.

Among the teachers of the department is 1 doctor of philological sciences, professor, 6 candidates of sciences, associate professors, 1 senior teacher. All of them are graduates of Odessa National University.

The staff of the department conducts scientific work in the direction of comparative studies, researches the national literatures of English-speaking, French-speaking, German-speaking and Spanish-speaking countries, the specifics of historical development and theoretical understanding of these national literatures. The main scientific and pedagogical activity of the department members is the history of foreign literature, modern national literature, theory of literature, methods of teaching literature at school.

Professor L.I. Voitenko's scientific interests include comparative studies and communication theory, history of world and Ukrainian literature, problems of literary connections, antiquity, history of foreign literature (realism), modern English- and French-language literature, theater. The problems of the theory and history of Romanticism, the history of foreign literature (realism, naturalism), genreology of the 19th century novel in the direction of synergy, methods of teaching foreign literature are developed by associate professor N. V. Ababina

Scientific interests of associate professor O.A. Bezhan include the history of world literature of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the modern American novel and English-language literature, the problems of the Holocaust, memory, national identity and their reflection in contemporary American literature.

Associate professor V.M. Romanets conducts research in the area of Classicism, Romanticism, the interaction of music and literature, painting, classical and modern French-language literature, and methods of teaching foreign literature.

Associate professor Yu.O. Zaporozhchenko directs his scientific interest in the field of interpretation of ancient images, themes, plots in world literature, translation studies, intermediality, history and theory of German literature, peculiarities of modern German prose.

Associate professor OB Kholodov's research interests include cross-species comparativism, film semiotics, the modern English novel from the perspective of psychoanalytic theory and the history of ideas.

Associate Professor Y. V. Sadovska's scientific interests relate to classical and modern Spanish-language literature, multicultural studies, and the field of feminist and gender criticism.

Senior lecturer V.V. Lanova is preparing to defend her PhD thesis, researching the literature of Great Britain of the 20th-21st centuries from the standpoint of multiculturalism, problems of national identity, intercultural diffusion, and the work of bilingual artists.

Assistants of the department are P.V. Demenko, Ye.Ye Lungu.

The teachers of the department are completing the development of the departmental theme "Foreign literature in the system of literary schools, areas, genres" launched in 2019.

Specialists of the department create methodological recommendations and guidelines for students, publish articles that highlight the project's problems, and implement scientific achievements in practical activities, participate in various scientific and educational events.

The scientific atmosphere of the department contributes to the training of specialists in foreign literature within the educational and scientific program of training doctors of philosophy in the specialty 035- "Philology". 2 graduate students are working on scientific projects in English literature, communication theory, comparative studies.

Specialists of the department undergo internships both in domestic centers and universities, and in Western European ones, which ensures the strategy of international academic mobility, in particular O.A. Bezhan completed an internship at the "Wiener Wiesenthal Institut für Holocaust-Studien" (2023).

N.V. Ababina at the "Southern Ukrainian National Pedagogical University named after K.D. Ushinsky" (2021).

Yu.V. Sadovska in "Faculty of Education, University of Bialystok" (2023).

V.M. Romanets and L.I. Voytenko in "Intercultural communication and perspectives of the European education Area" Zagreb, Croatia (2021).

On the basis of the department, the Cabinet of Arts was created, where presentations of Odessa writers and artists, theatrical performances, student meetings, and group meetings are held. N.V. Ababina leads the student discussion club "Communicative strategies for teaching foreign literature in educational institutions", and V.M. Romanets - student group "Behind the Looking Glass".

Both teachers and students of various courses demonstrate their creative achievements. Meetings and presentations of this plan contribute to the improvement of communication between teachers and students, help to reveal the creative and creative potential of students, reveal their abilities, and reveal talents.

The result of such work was the collection "We also write".

The main priority of the department of foreign literature is students, therefore the teachers of the department provide a friendly atmosphere, build relationships with students on parity terms, observing the rules of academic integrity. Communication is conducted not only in classrooms, but also in specially created groups in popular messengers. An important component of the work of the department is the encouragement of students to scientific work. Students participate in annual scientific conferences, round tables, and research competitions. The cooperation of teachers and students is realized in joint articles published in professional publications, which is undoubtedly evidence of students' interest in scientific activity.

The creative and active cooperation of teachers with students of various educational programs of "bachelor's" and "master's" degrees ensures the students' conscious choice of specialization and special courses taught by the department's professors:

"Communicative strategies of English drama of the 20th century" (prof. L.I. Voytenko), "Modern American novel" (assistant professor O.A. Bezhan), "Interspecies comparative studies", "Literature and synergetics". (Assoc. N.V. Ababina), "Images of Prominent Figures" (Assoc. V.M. Romanets), "Clone-Robot Man" (Assoc. Lecturer V.V. Lanova), "Modern German Novel" (Assoc. Yu.O. Zaporozhchenko), "New Latin American Novel" (Assoc. Yu.V. Sadovska), "Poetics of Myth in Modern Literature" (Assoc. Ob. Kholodov).

The teachers of the department adhere to the traditions of the teaching school, which were formed in recent years, and at the same time are open to new challenges in the field of the educational process, borrowing new approaches and methodical practices, which contributes to ensuring high quality of education.

Teaching activity

The staff members of the department teach the following fundamental theoretical and practical courses:

At the educational-qualification level "Bachelor" the staff teaches the following compulsory courses:

• Ancient literature;
• Foreign literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance;
• Foreign literature of the XVII-XVIII centuries: Classicism, Baroque, Enlightenment;
• Foreign literature of the 19th century: Romanticism;
• Foreign literature of the 19th century: Realism;
• Realism – new artistic trends of the 20th century;
• Discourse of modern Western European and Ukrainian literature;
• Methods of teaching foreign literature in secondary schools.

At the educational-qualification level "Bachelor" the staff teaches the following optional courses:

• Poetics of myth in modern literature;
• Man-clone-robot in the literature of Western countries;
• Communicative strategies of English drama of the 20th century;
• Modern German-language novel;
• Modern American literature;
• Mass French-language literature;
• New Latin American novel;
• Basics of rhetoric;
• Literary production in the 21st century;
• Literature and painting: basics of art history;
• Psychological portrait of a figure of history and culture in literature.

At the educational-qualification level "Master" the staff teaches the following compulsory courses:

• Newest foreign literature (end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century);
• Methods of teaching foreign literature in higher education.

At the educational-qualification level "Master" the staff teaches the following optional courses:

• Interspecies comparativistics;
• Literature and synergy.

The following courses are taught for postgraduate students:

• Typology and poetics of genres in the literary discourse of the second half of the 20th and the first third of the 19th century;
• Comparative imagery;
• Fiction as a form of communication.

Staff of the department also supervises pedagogical and assistant practices, as well as provides scientific guidance to students in thesis writing.

Scientific Activity

Research topic of the Foreign Literature Department is "The system of literary schools, directions, genres" (without targeted funding), st. num. 0119U002442, the deadline for the topic 12/31/2023. The results of the research are published in articles, absracts, monographs, textbooks, approved at Ukrainian and international conferences, defended as doctoral and candidate theses.

The department annually holds student scientific conferences of the teaching staff, devoted to modern problems of literary criticism, art history, linguistic psychology, teaching methods. 

From 2008 to 2023 the following candidate's dissertations were defended:

• 2009 – Y. O. Pomohaibo (Zaporozhchenko). The Concept of Europe in essays of D. Goyowy, Yu. Andrukhovych, A. Stasiuk. National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. (specialty 10.01.05 – Comparative Literature);
• 2010 – N. M. Dolha. Transition Modus in English and Russian “short prose” at the turn of 19th – 20th centuries (neoromanticism and neorealism). (specialty 10.01.05 – Comparative Literature);
• 2010 – N.V. Ababina. The prose of A.P. Chekhov, I.A. Bunin, A.I. Kuprin in the literary and artistic searches of the transitional period (late ХӀХth – early ХХth centuries). (specialty 10.01.02 - Russian literature);
• 2013 – O. A. Bezhan. The Holocaust Motif in Recent American and Russian Literature (W. Styron, J. Foer, A. Kuznetsov, V. Grossman). (specialty 10.01.05 – Comparative Literature);
• 2014 – V. M. Romanets’. Formation of a professional worldview of a future teacher of foreign literature. (specialty 13.00.04 - Theory and methods of professional education);
• 2016 – Y. V. Shtelmukhova. The concept «Chekhovian» in English literature of the beginning of the XX cent. (B. Shaw, V. Woolf). (specialty 10.01.05 – Comparative Literature);
• 2018 – V. V. Dmytriyeva. Charles Perrault’s Bluebeard fairytale tradition in English, French and Ukrainian literature. (specialty 10.01.05 – Comparative Literature);
• 2019 – Y.V. Sadovska. M. Azuela’s "revolutionary novel" in the context of Russian and Mexican literary-painting traditions of the 20s of the XXth century. (specialty 10.01.05 – Comparative Literature).

The following doctor’s dissertations were defended:

2019 – L. I. Synyavska. Ukrainian dramaturgy from the late 19th to early 20th centuries: communication strategies. (specialty 10.01.01 - Ukrainian literature).

Contact information

24/26 Frantsuzky Boulevard, Foreign Literature Department (Room 108), The Art Center (Rooms 94,95). Odessa, 65058, Ukraine.

Telephone: +38 (0482) 68-12-88

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.