Lesia Ukrainka’s Philosophy of Life and Survival as Seen in the Writer’s Personal Memoirs
2020, 7, Volume 7
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Abstract
The first lady of the Ukrainian poetry, as she is often described, Lesia Ukrainka (1871–1913) left not only a very valuable poetical heritage (poetry, dramaturgy, prose, literary criticism) but also an extremely interesting epistolography, thanks to which researchers can better understand her literary works and extraordinary personality, which can be represented by many images: an image of a woman, a daughter, a friend, a beloved, and a Ukrainian patriot. A letter is a specific literary genre which is now widely studied by researchers. Lesia Ukrainka’s letters are characterised by a unique epistolographic narration in which she presented her life and work. Her letters are very vivid, spontaneous, often have the form of polemics or confessions, contain her observations regarding the psychology of creativity as well as some draft s of her upcoming literary works. To some extent, they may serve as the record of the times and the lives that the contemporary Ukrainian intelligence lived. But first and foremost, Lesia Ukrainka’s letters are the source of knowledge about the poetess herself, her numerous roles, and the way her personality was created as a result of many hardships, dilemmas, and struggle. The present paper aims at presenting the selected roles of Lesia Ukrainka in order to draw her psychological portrait, to show her individuality, and to bring closer her image not only of a great poetess, which is quite commonly known, but the image of the woman who lived her own life and destiny.
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