Lesya Ukrainka ( uk, Леся Українка ; born Larysa Petrivna Kosach, uk, Лариса Петрівна Косач; – ) was one of
Ukrainian literature
Ukrainian literature is literature written in the Ukrainian language.
Ukrainian literature mostly developed under foreign domination over Ukrainian territories, foreign rule by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poland, the Russian Empire, t ...
's foremost writers, best known for her poems and plays. She was also an active
political, civil, and
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
activist
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
.
Among her best-known works are the collections of poems ''On the wings of songs'' (1893), ''Thoughts and Dreams'' (1899), ''Echos'' (1902), the epic poem ''Ancient fairy tale'' (1893), ''One word'' (1903), plays ''Princess'' (1913), ''Cassandra'' (1903—1907), ''In the Catacombs'' (1905), and ''
Forest Song'' (1911).
Biography
Lesya Ukrainka was born in 1871 in the town of
Novohrad-Volynskyi
Zviahel (, ; translit. ''Zvil'') is a city in the Zhytomyr Oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. Originally known as ''Zviahel'', the city was renamed to ''Novohrad-Volynskyi'' () in 1795 after annexation of territories of Polish–Lithuanian ...
(now Zviahel) of
Ukraine. She was the second child of Ukrainian writer and publisher Olha Drahomanova-Kosach, better known under her literary pseudonym
Olena Pchilka
Olha Petrivna Kosach (29 June 1849 – 4 October 1930), better known by her pen name Olena Pchilka ( uk, Олена Пчілка), was a Ukrainian publisher, writer, ethnographer, interpreter, and civil activist. She was the sister of Mykhailo ...
. Ukrainka's father was Petro Kosach (from the
Kosača noble family
The House of Kosača ( sr-Cyrl, Косача, Kosače / Косаче), somewhere Kosačić ( sr-Cyrl, Косачић, Kosačići / Косачићи), was a Bosnian medieval noble family which ruled over parts of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovi ...
), head of the district assembly of
conciliators, who came from the northern part of
Chernihiv
Chernihiv ( uk, Черні́гів, , russian: Черни́гов, ; pl, Czernihów, ; la, Czernihovia), is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within t ...
province. After completing high school in Chernihiv Gymnasium, Kosach studied mathematics at the University of Petersburg. Two years later, her father moved to
Kyiv University
Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...
and graduated with a law degree. In 1868 he married Olha Drahomaniv, who was the sister of his friend
Mykhailo Drahomanov
Mykhailo Petrovych Drahomanov ( ukr, Михайло Петрович Драгоманов; 18 September 1841 – 2 July 1895) was a Ukrainian intellectual and public figure. As an academic, Drahomanov was an economist, historian, philosopher, an ...
, a well-known Ukrainian scientist, historian, philosopher, folklorist, and public figure.
Her father was devoted to the advancement of
Ukrainian culture
The culture of Ukraine is the composite of the material and spiritual values of the Ukrainian people that has formed throughout the history of Ukraine. It is closely intertwined with ethnic studies about ethnic Ukrainians and Ukrainian historiog ...
and financially supported Ukrainian publishing ventures. Lesya Ukrainka had three younger sisters,
Olha
Olha is a Ukrainian feminine given name related to Olga (name), Olga. Bearers include:
* Olha Basanska (born 1992), Ukrainian footballer
* Olha Basarab (1889–1924), Ukrainian political activist and alleged spy
* Olha Bibik (born 1990), Ukrainian ...
, Oksana, and Isydora, and a younger brother, Mykola. Ukrainka was very close to her uncle Drahomanov, her spiritual mentor and teacher, as well as her brother Mykhailo, known under the pseudonym Mykhailo Obachny, whom she called "Mysholosie" after their parents' joint nickname for both of them.
Lesya inherited her father's physical features, eyes, height, and build. Like her father, she was highly principled, and they both held the
dignity
Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically. It is of significance in morality, ethics, law and politics as an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inalienable ...
of the individual in high regard. Despite their many similarities, Lesya and her father were different in that her father had a gift for mathematics, but no
gift for languages; on the contrary, Lesya had no gift for mathematics, but she knew
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
,
French,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional It ...
,
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
,
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin scree ...
,
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
* Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and p ...
,
Bulgarian, and her
native
Native may refer to:
People
* Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth
* Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory
** Native Americans (disambiguation)
In arts and entertai ...
Ukrainian.
Lesya's mother, a poet, wrote poetry and short stories for children in Ukrainian. She was also active in the
women's movement
The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such iss ...
and published a feminist almanac. Ukrainka's mother played a significant role in her upbringing. The
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state lang ...
was the only language used in the household, and to enforce this practice, the children were educated by Ukrainian tutors at home, to avoid schools that taught Russian as the
primary language
A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
. Ukrainka learned how to read at the age of four, and she and her brother Mykhailo could read foreign languages well enough to read literature in the original.
[Wedel, Erwin. Toward a modern Ukrainian drama: innovative concepts and devices in Lesia Ukrainka’s dramatic art, in ''Slavic Drama'', University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 1991, p 116.]
By the time she was eight, Ukrainka wrote her first poem, "Hope," which was composed in reaction to the arrest and exile of her aunt,
Olena Kosach, for taking part in a political movement against the
tsarist autocracy
Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states t ...
. In 1879, her entire family moved to
Lutsk
Lutsk ( uk, Луцьк, translit=Lutsk}, ; pl, Łuck ; yi, לוצק, Lutzk) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Volyn Oblast (province) and the administrative center of the surrounding Lu ...
. That same year her father started building houses for the family in the nearby village of
Kolodiazhne.
It was at this time that her uncle, Mykhailo Drahomanov, encouraged her to study Ukrainian
folk song
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
s,
folk stories
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging fro ...
, and history, as well to peruse the Bible for its inspired poetry and eternal themes. She also was influenced by the well-known composer
Mykola Lysenko
, native_name_lang = uk
, birth_name = Mykola Vitaliyovych Lysenko
, birth_date = 22 March 1842
, birth_place = Hrynky, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire
, death_date = 6 November 1912 (aged 70)
, death_place ...
, as well as the famous Ukrainian dramatist and poet
Mykhailo Starytsky.
[Bohachevsky-Chomiak, Martha. Feminists Despite Themselves: Women in Ukrainian Community Life, 1884-1939. Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, Edmonton, 1988.]
At age thirteen, her first published poem, "Lily of the Valley," appeared in the magazine ''Zorya'' in
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukra ...
. It was here that she first used her pseudonym, which was suggested by her mother because, in the Russian Empire, publications in the Ukrainian language were forbidden. Ukrainka's first collection of poetry had to be published secretly in western Ukraine and snuck into Kyiv under her pseudonym. At this time, Ukrainka was well on her way of becoming a pianist, but due to
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...
of the bone, she did not attend any outside educational establishment. The writing was to be the main focus of her life.
Since the beginning of the 90s, the poetess has been communicating with the
Poltava
Poltava (, ; uk, Полтава ) is a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the capital city of the Poltava Oblast (province) and of the surrounding Poltava Raion (district) of the oblast. Poltava is administratively ...
region. From the summer of 1893 to the middle of 1906, Lesya lived almost every summer in
Hadiach
Hadiach ( uk, Га́дяч, Hadyach, ; russian: Гáдяч, Gadyach, pl, Hadziacz), sometimes spelled Hadyach, Gadyach, Gadiach, Haditch, or Hadziacz, is a city of regional significance in Poltava Oblast (province) in the central-east part of ...
and near the city, in the Green Grove. The writing of many works is marked by this place; in particular, the legend "Robert Bruce, King of Scotland" was written here. It was here that Lesya befriended the teacher A. S. Makarova, with whom she later corresponded, the latter left memories of the poetess.
The poems and plays of Ukrainka are associated with her belief in her country's freedom and independence. Between 1895 and 1897, she became a member of the Literary and Artistic Society in Kyiv, which was banned in 1905 because of its relations with revolutionary activists. In 1888, when Ukrainka was seventeen, she and her brother organized a literary circle called Pleyada (The Pleiades), which they founded to promote the development of Ukrainian literature and
translation
Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
of foreign classics into Ukrainian. The organization was based on the French school of poesy, the Pleiade. Their gatherings took place in different homes and were joined by Mykola Lysenko, Petro Kosach, Kostiantyn Mykhalchuk, Mykhailo Starytsky, and others. One of the works they translated was
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...
's ''
Evenings on a Farm Near Dykanka''.
Taras Shevchenko
Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko ( uk, Тарас Григорович Шевченко , pronounced without the middle name; – ), also known as Kobzar Taras, or simply Kobzar (a kobzar is a bard in Ukrainian culture), was a Ukrainian poet, wr ...
and
Ivan Franko
Ivan Yakovych Franko ( Ukrainian: Іван Якович Франко, pronounced ˈwɑn ˈjɑkowɪtʃ frɐnˈkɔ 27 August 1856 – 28 May 1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, ...
were the main inspiration of her early poetry, which was associated with the poet's loneliness,
social isolation
Social isolation is a state of complete or near-complete lack of contact between an individual and society. It differs from loneliness, which reflects temporary and involuntary lack of contact with other humans in the world. Social isolation c ...
and adoration of the Ukrainian nation's freedom. Her first collection of poetry, ''Na krylakh pisen (''On the Wings of Songs''), was published in 1893. Since Ukrainian publications were banned by the Russian Empire, this book was published in
Western Ukraine
Western Ukraine or West Ukraine ( uk, Західна Україна, Zakhidna Ukraina or , ) is the territory of Ukraine linked to the former Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austrian ...
, which was part of
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1 ...
at the time, and smuggled into
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
.
Ukrainka's illness made it necessary for her to travel to places where the climate was dry, and, as a result, she spent extended periods of time in Germany,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
, Italy,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Maced ...
,
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a po ...
, the
Caucasus, and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
. She loved experiencing other cultures, which was evident in many of her literary works, such as ''The Ancient History of Oriental Peoples,'' originally written for her younger siblings. The book was published in Lviv, and
Ivan Franko
Ivan Yakovych Franko ( Ukrainian: Іван Якович Франко, pronounced ˈwɑn ˈjɑkowɪtʃ frɐnˈkɔ 27 August 1856 – 28 May 1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, ...
was involved in its publication. It included her early poems, such as "Seven Strings," "The Starry Sky," "Tears-Pearls," "The Journey to the Sea," "Crimean Memories," and "In the Children's Circle."
Ukrainka also wrote epic poems, prose dramas, prose, several articles of
literary criticism
Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...
, and several
sociopolitical
Political sociology is an interdisciplinary field of study concerned with exploring how governance and society interact and influence one another at the micro to macro levels of analysis. Interested in the social causes and consequences of how ...
essays. She was best known for her plays ''Boyarynya'' (1914; ''The Noblewoman''), a psychological tragedy centered on the Ukrainian family in the 17th century, which refers directly to Ukrainian history, and ''Lisova pisnya'' (1912; ''The Forest Song''), the characters of which include mythological beings from Ukrainian folklore.
In 1897, while being treated in
Yalta
Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...
, Ukrainka met
Serhiy Merzhynsky, an official from
Minsk
Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the adm ...
who was also receiving treatment for tuberculosis. The two fell in love, and her feelings for Merzhynsky were responsible for her showing a different side of herself. Examples include "Your Letters Always Smell of Withered Roses," "To Leave Everything and Fly to You," and "I'd Like to Wind around You Like Ivy," which were unpublished in her lifetime. Merzhynsky died with Ukrainka at his bedside on 3 March 1901. She wrote the entire dramatic poem "Oderzhyma" ("The Possessed") in one night at his deathbed.
Lesya Ukrainka actively opposed Russian tsarism and was a member of Ukrainian
Marxist organizations. In 1902 she translated
The Communist Manifesto
''The Communist Manifesto'', originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (german: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is a political pamphlet written by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Commu ...
into Ukrainian. She was briefly arrested in 1907 by tsarist police and remained under surveillance thereafter.
In 1907, Lesya Ukrainka married
Klyment Kvitka, a court official, who was an amateur ethnographer and musicologist. They settled first in
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a po ...
, then moved to
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
.
Ukrainka died on 1 August 1913 at a health resort in
Surami
Surami ( ka, სურამი) is a small town ('' daba'') in Georgia’s Shida Kartli region with the population of 7,492. It is a popular mountain climatic resort and a home to a medieval fortress.
Location
Surami is located on the southern ...
, Georgia.
Creative activity
Poetry
Larysa Kosach began to write poetry at the age of nine: Nadiya wrote her poetry under the influence of the news about the fate of her aunt Elena Antonovna Kosach (married to Teslenko-Prykhodko), who had been exiled for participating in the revolutionary movement. In 1884 the poems "Lily of the Valley" and "Sappho" were first published in the Lviv magazine "Zorya" and the name Lesya Ukrainka was recorded; In the following reprints, Lesya added a dedication to her brother's poem "Sappho": "Dear Shura Sudovshchikova in memory." In 1885 a collection of her translations from Mykola Gogol (made together with Mykhailo) was published in Lviv.
Lesya Ukrainka's literary activity revived in the mid-1890s, when the Kosachs moved to Kyiv, and she became a co-founder of the Pleiades literary circle, surrounded by the Lysenko and Starytsky families. At the request of the Pleiades, in 1889 she compiled her famous List of World Literature for translation. In 1892, Heinrich Heine's Book of Songs was published in Lviv, translated by Lesya Ukrainka (together with M. Slavinsky). The first collection of her original poems "On the Wings of Songs" appeared in Lviv (1893), the second edition in Kyiv (1904), the second collection "Thoughts and Dreams" (1899), the third "Reviews" (1902) - in Chernivtsi.
After that, Lesya Ukrainka worked for a decade and created more than a hundred poems, half of which were never published during her lifetime.
Lesya Ukrainka entered the canon of
Ukrainian literature
Ukrainian literature is literature written in the Ukrainian language.
Ukrainian literature mostly developed under foreign domination over Ukrainian territories, foreign rule by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poland, the Russian Empire, t ...
primarily as a poet of courage and struggle. Her thematically rich lyrics are somewhat conditionally (due to the relationship of motives) divided into personal, landscape, and civic. The main themes of her early lyrical poetry: the beauty of nature, love for her native land, personal experiences, the purpose of the poet and the role of the poetic word, social and social motives. In the first works the influences of
Taras Shevchenko
Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko ( uk, Тарас Григорович Шевченко , pronounced without the middle name; – ), also known as Kobzar Taras, or simply Kobzar (a kobzar is a bard in Ukrainian culture), was a Ukrainian poet, wr ...
,
Panteleimon Kulish,
Mykhailo Starytsky, and Heine are noticeable, the clear influences of Olena Pchilka and Mykhailo Drahomanov (pseudonym - Ukrainian) on the choice of motives are visible.
And the poetry "Contra spem spero!" (1890) characterizes the ancient understanding of valor (arete), brilliant mastery of mythological illusions, self-creation of a woman warrior. It is this aspect of creativity for many years determinate in the tone of scientific "forestry". These are the main motives of the poems "To Comrades", "Comrades in Memory", "Sinner", "Slavus - Sclavus", "Fiat nox", "Epilogue" and many others. The motif of freedom takes on a variety of colors: from disobedience to the traditional understanding of the empire to the individual choice of modus vivendi, which means discovering the truth and serving it. Betrayal on any level is identified with tragedy, with the act of Medea. The lyrics of thirst and hidden triumph associated with the inability to realize their love, exposes the scheme of chivalrous love. The lyrical heroine is a knight who sings to her lady of the heart. The eroticism of such poems as "I would like to embrace you like an ivy", "Your letters always smell of withered roses" are mystical praises in honor of the divine mistress.
[Taniuk, Les’. Toward the problem of Ukrainian “prophetic” drama: Lesia Ukrainka, Volodymyr Vynnycenko, and Mykola Kulis, in ''Slavic Drama'', University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 1991, p 125.]
Drama
In the second half of the 1890s, Kosach turned to
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
. Her first drama, ''The Blue Rose'' (1896), from the life of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, expands on the theme of Ukrainian drama, which until then had portrayed mostly the peasantry. The drama testified to Lesya Ukrainka's entry into the modern world — first of all, the world of the symbol — and her rather free "feeling." To cover the topic of human norm and abnormality, the writer thoroughly prepared and studied the issues, consulted with a psychiatrist Oleksandr Drahomanov. The philosophical discourse of drama, imposing on Hauptmann's work, presents not only madness as a form of freedom, but also a certain longing for the body.
Prose
Fiction has a special place in Lesya Ukrainka's literary heritage. The first stories from rural life (
"Such is her fate",
"Holy evening!", "Spring songs") are connected in content and language with folk songs. In the genre of fairy tales written "Three Pearls", "Four tales of green noise", "Lily", "Trouble will teach", "Butterfly". The stories "Pity" and "Friendship" are marked by sharp drama. The Ukrainian woman's death story "Ekbal Hanem", intended to depict the psychology of an Arab woman, remained unfinished.
Research of life and creativity
Museums
Lesya Ukrainka's life and work are studied by the
Lesya Ukrainka Research Institute.
*
Lesya Ukrainka Museum in Kyiv
*
Lesya Ukrainka Museum in Kolodyazhny
*
Lesya Ukrainka Museum in Zviahel
*
Lesya Ukrainka Museum in Suram
*
Lesya Ukrainka Museum in Yalta
*
Museum of the Kosach family in Zviahel
Legacy
File:Lesia R.jpg, Ukrainian karbovanets depicting Lesya Ukrainka
File:Lesya Ukrainka USSR Stamp 1929b.jpg, 1956 USSR stamp
File:The Soviet Union 1971 CPA 3984 stamp (Lesya Ukrayinka (Larysa Petrivna Kosach-Kvitka, 1871-1913), Ukrainian Writer).jpg, Soviet four-kopeck
The kopek or kopeck ( rus, копейка, p=kɐˈpʲejkə, ukr, копійка, translit=kopiika, p=koˈpʲijkə, be, капейка) is or was a coin or a currency unit of a number of countries in Eastern Europe closely associated with t ...
stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of Lesya Ukrainka's birth
File:200-uah-2020-1.png, Portrait on obverse ₴200 bill circa 2020
File:Леся-Українка.JPG, Lesya Ukrainka's burial location and monument at Baikove Cemetery
Baikove Cemetery ( uk, Байкове кладовище) is a historic cemetery memorial in Holosiiv Raion of Kyiv, Ukraine. It is a National Historic Landmark of Ukraine and is known as a necropolis of distinguished people. It was established i ...
in Kyiv
File:Lesya Ukrainka.jpg, Lesya Ukrainka Statue, University of Saskatchewan
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
File:Monument à Lessia Oukraïnka.jpg, Statue of Lesya Ukrainka by Mykhailo Chereshniovsky erected in 1975 in High Park, in Toronto, Canada. Engraved is the quote "Whoever liberates themselves shall be free. Whoever is liberated by others captive shall remain".
There are many monuments to Lesya Ukrainka in
Ukraine and many other former
Soviet Republics
The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were national-based administrative units of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( ...
. Particularly in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
, there is a main monument at the boulevard that bears her name and a smaller monument in the
Mariinskyi Park
Mariinskyi Park ( uk, Маріїнський парк, ''Mariyins'kyi park'') is a park located in Pechersk neighborhood in front of the Supreme Council of Ukraine ( Constitution Square), Hrushevsky Street, and Park Road. The park is also a So ...
(next to
Mariinskyi Palace
The Mariinskyi Palace ( uk, Маріїнський палац, ''Mariinskyi palats'') is the official ceremonial residence of the President of Ukraine. The Elizabethan baroque palace is sited on the right bank of the Dnipro River in Kyiv, Ukra ...
). There is also a bust in
Qaradağ raion of
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
. One of the main Kyiv theaters, the
Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Theater is colloquially referred to simply as ''Lesya Ukrainka Theater''.
Under initiatives of local
Ukrainian diaspora
The Ukrainian diaspora comprises Ukrainians and their descendants who live outside Ukraine around the world, especially those who maintain some kind of connection, even if ephemeral, to the land of their ancestors and maintain their feeling of U ...
s, there are several memorial societies and monuments to her throughout Canada and the United States, most notably a monument on the campus of the
University of Saskatchewan
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
in
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
[Swyripa, Francis. Wedded to the Cause, Ukrainian-Canadian Women and Ethnic Identity 1891-1991. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1993, p. 234.] There is also a bust of Ukrainka in
Soyuzivka in New York State.
Each summer since 1975, Ukrainians in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...
gather at the Lesya Ukrainka monument in
High Park
High Park is a municipal park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. High Park is a mixed recreational and natural park, with sporting facilities, cultural facilities, educational facilities, gardens, playgrounds and a zoo. One-third of the park remains ...
to celebrate her life and work.
Ukrainian composer
Tamara Maliukova Sidorenko
Tamara Stepanovna Maliukova Sidorenko (15 February 1919 - 2005) was a Ukrainian composer, music educator and pianist.
Sidorenko was born in Odessa. She studied piano at the Nikolayev Music School and graduated from the Odessa Conservatory in 1946 ...
(1919-2005) set several of Ukrainka's poems to music.
The
National Bank of Ukraine
National Bank of Ukraine ( uk, Національний банк України) or NBU ( uk, НБУ) is the central bank of Ukraine – a government body responsible for unified state policy in the field of country's monetary circulation, inclu ...
released a ₴200 banknote depicting Lesya Ukrainka.
According to image consultant Oleh Pokalchuk, Ukrainka's hairstyle inspired the over-the-head braid of
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko ( uk, Юлія Володимирівна Тимошенко, ; Hrihyan ();[Google Trends
Google Trends is a website by Google that analyzes the popularity of top search queries in Google Search across various regions and languages. The website uses graphs to compare the search volume of different queries over time.
On August 5, 20 ...]
, Lesya Ukrainka was in 2020 the third in the ranking of
Ukrainian women search queries in
Google Search
Google Search (also known simply as Google) is a search engine provided by Google. Handling more than 3.5 billion searches per day, it has a 92% share of the global search engine market. It is also the most-visited website in the world.
The ...
in Ukraine (the top two was
Tina Karol
Tina Karol, russian: Тина Кароль (born Tetiana Hryhorivna Liberman, 25 January 1985) is a Ukrainian singer, actress, and television presenter. She represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song " Show Me Your Lov ...
and
Olha Polyakova).
[How Lesya Ukrainka became a Ukrainian celebrity №1]
Ukrayinska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukrain ...
(26 February 2021)
On 16 November 2022
Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
Avenue in
Dnipro
Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Riv ...
was renamed Lesya Ukrainka Avenue.
English translations
*''The Babylonian Captivity'', (play), from ''Five Russian Plays, With One From the Ukrainian'', Dutton, NY, 1916
from Archive.org
translated by David Turow;
* Short stories; “Christmas Eve”, “The Moth”, “Spring Songs”, “It is Late”, “The Only Son”, “The School”, “Happiness”, “A City of Sorrow”, “The Farewell”, “Sonorous Strings”, “A Letter to a Distant Shore”, “By the Sea”, “The Blind Man”, “The Apparition”, “The Mistake”, “A Moment”, “The Conversation” and “The Enemies” translated by Roma Franko;
[Ukrainka L., 1998]
pp.288-468, Language Lantern Publications, Toronto, (Engl. transl.)
*''The Forest Song'', (play), in "In a Different Light: A Bilingual Anthology of Ukrainian Literature Translated into English by
Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps as Performed by Yara Arts Group", compiled and edited by Olha Luchuk, Sribne Slovo Press, Lviv 2008.
Adaptations and creativity based on motives
Theatrical adaptations of works
* 1994 ''Yara's Forest Song'' directed by
Virlana Tkacz with Yara Arts Group a
La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York and Les Kurbas Theatre in Lviv* 2013 ''Fire Water Night'' directed by
Virlana Tkacz with Yara Arts Group a
La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York
Films adaptations of works
* "Forest Song" (1961), a film by Viktor Ivchenko
* "Fireplace Master" (1971), a film by Mstislav Dzhingzhiristy
* "Cassandra" (1974), film by Yuriy Nekrasov, Serhiy Smyan
* "Forest Song" (1976), cartoon by Alla Grachova
* "Forest Song. Mavka" (1981), a film by Yuriy Ilyenko
* "The Temptation of Don Juan" (1985), a film by Vasyl Levin and Grigory Koltunov
* "Blue Rose" (1988), a two-part film by Oleg Biima
* "Orgy" (1991), television play
* "On the field of blood. Aceldama" (2001), a film by Yaroslav Lupiy
* "Mavka. The Forest Song" (2022) a 3D cartoon by Oleksandra Ruban.
See also
*
Lesya Ukrainka Theater
*
The Forest Song
The Forest Song is a poetic play in three acts by Lesya Ukrainka. The play was written in 1911 in the city of Kutaisi, and was first staged on November 22, 1918 at the Kyiv Drama Theater. The work is one of the first prototypes of fantasy in Uk ...
References
External links
Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine: Lesya Ukrainka*Sasha Dovzhyk
'Subverting the Canon of Patriarchy: Lesya Ukrainka’s Revisionist Mythmaking' ''Los Angeles Review of Books'', 2021
Website of the Ukrainian Book Institute with links to the 14 volumes of the new critical edition of the complete works of the autor, texts available as pdf documents via Google Drive*
*
by Roma Franko
The site: "Let the World know about our Lesya" the result of the students schools #3 of Sevastopol in the project "Lesya-140".
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ukrainka, Lesya
1871 births
1913 deaths
People from Zviahel
People from Volhynian Governorate
Ukrainian women poets
Ukrainian women writers
Ukrainian dramatists and playwrights
Ukrainian communists
Translators to Ukrainian
Ukrainian democracy activists
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis deaths in Georgia (country)
Women dramatists and playwrights
Communist women writers
Ukrainian socialist feminists
Burials at Baikove Cemetery
19th-century translators
19th-century women writers
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20th-century Ukrainian poets
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