Epistolian discourse of Lesia Ukrainka as а source of studying the periodical «Narod» (1890–1895)

The epistolary enhancement of the famous Ukrainian poetess Lesia Ukrainka, which was devoted to the periodical «Narod» – the party body of the first Ukrainian modern party — the Ruthenian-Ukrainian Radical Party — has been reviewed.

In the 90’s of the ХІХ century the national movement in the West Ukrainian lands, which was recently disjointed, entered a new politically organized stage of its development. On the basis of the existing socio-political trends the first political parties were formed, the programs and the political slogans, which were made for the people of different social strata to participate in their implementation were formulated.

Lesya Ukrainka did not remain outside the social processes that took place on the Ukrainian lands which were divided between the two empires. In the early nineties of the nineteenth century, while she was visiting the Galicia and Bukovina, Lesya Ukrainka met with the «veterans» of the political movement of the region, the founders of the first political party of Ukraine (which was for the decades ahead of East-Ukrainian RUE) Ivan Franko and Michael Pavlyk.

The logical consequence of this personal acquaintance was the continuation of co­operation in the form of business and partly personal correspondence.

The correspondence between the writer and the prominent personalities of the late XIX — early XX c.c. has been used for the analysis. The main attention is paid to the «working» aspect of the correspondence, which was associated with the development of strategy and tactics to achieve the readers’ attention; the less of the discussed issues were concerned with the oeuvre of Lesya Ukrainka as a poet and social activist. In our opinion, such a division of emphases is due to two reasons: firstly, the ideological closeness of the correspondence participants, perceptive Ukrainianophiles and Democrats. Secondly, the authority of Lesia Ukrainka as an acknowledged coryphaeus of the young (end of the XIX-th century) modern Ukrainian literature has already been indisputable. On the other hand, we see the efforts of the editorial staff to use the creative potential of the poetess who already had a name on both sides of the Dnieper.

The correspondence of the daughter of Dnieper Ukraine with her western Ukrainian supporters is perceived as an illustration of the West and the East of Ukraine intellectuals’ union, which began to emerge in those historical times and strengthened in the XX–XXI c.c.

The another aspect of this correspondence which can be interesting for the con­tem­porary is purely philological. The literary Ukrainian language at the end of the ni­ne­te­enth century experienced an active stage in its formation, the establishment of its own vocabulary and grammar, which can be followed in the texts of the epistolary messages from all the participants in the correspondence.

Keywords: epistolary heritage of Lesia Ukrainka, the Ukrainian party press of XIX — beg. of ХХ c.c., Ruthenian-Ukrainian Radical Party.