Moklytsya Mariia

Lesya Ukrainka in political life Ukraine of the late nineteenth – early twentieth century

Section: Contexts of Lesya Ukrainka’s biographical world: A view from the 21st century

Abstract: Purpose: to re-evaluate the factual material reflected in the correspondence and journalism of Lesya Ukrainka, related to her political activities, to show that in politics the writer was a farsighted intellectual, whose horizon of understanding far exceeded the horizons of contemporaries. The research methodology is based on a cultural-historical approach to the study of classical heritage, taking into account the achievements of textology and biographical method. Scientific novelty. The article raises the problem of insufficient and biased study of the facts of Lesya Ukrainka ‘s biography. For the first time, the problem of the agonal nature of the writer’s literary-critical and journalistic work is raised. It is argued that the criticism, journalism and correspondence of Lesya Ukrainka are a development of the discourse of philosophical debates initiated in antiquity. Her passionate controversy concerns issues of morality and ethics, at a deeper level - the purpose of man, the problems of his subjectivation and separation from the public. Lesya Ukrainka argues with her contemporaries about the freedoms, rights and responsibilities of each individual. Conclusions. Lesya Ukrainka’s political activity is reflected in detail in her journalism and extensive correspondence. This factual material outlines the specific, practical, multifaceted participation of the writer in the political life of Ukraine. This is a rich material for historical, political science, sociological research, which did not fall into the field of view of professional researchers due to ideological prejudices. Lesya Ukrainka’s political struggle did not fit and still does not fit into the most common political science concepts. By believing that party ethics must be based on universal, that the use of terrorist methods cannot be justified by any revolutionary goal, Lesia Ukrainka became in opposition to her contemporary Social Democrats. Also, her political beliefs were a sharp dissonance with the socialist ideology that prevailed in Soviet times. And this is the main reason for the underestimation of Lesya Ukrainka’s political activity.

Keywords: Lesya Ukrainka, biography, political activity, criticism, journalism, agon.

  Full-text PDF    https://doi.org/10.15407/ub.21.062     Citation

• Moklytsya Mariia (Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University (Lutsk, Ukraine), [email protected]) ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7984-4377

Cite:
Moklytsya Mariia (2021). Lesya Ukrainka in political life Ukraine of the late nineteenth – early twentieth century. Biographistica Ukrainica, (21) 62-76. (In Ukrainan). https://doi.org/10.15407/ub.21.062

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