The Lesia Ukrainka’s Historical Discourse: Literature as a Form of Cognition (To the 150th Anniversary of Her Birth)

Abstract

The research is aiming – to analyze the features of the author’s concept of the work on historical themes. In the light of author’s conception of historical prose and in the context of Ukrainian literature process at the break of the 19th and 20th centuries the Lesia Ukrainka’s only dramatic work written on the material of Ukrainian history “Boiarynia” are studied.

The research methodology. In the thesis Lesia Ukrainka’s creation studied how intergraded artistic phenomenon. At the same time, the complex approach to the problem allowed to show the correlation of tradition and innovation in the writer’s creation and specific peculiarities his individual style. Important for the article is the biographical method, as well as gender and postcolonial studies.

The scientific novelty. In the article for the first time an attempt is made to frontal reconstruction of the author’s algorithm of work with historical material. The movement from the level of theoretical and methodological developments (models and ways to talk about the past) to the level of their practical and creative implementation in a work of art are studied.

As a conclusion. In the investigation the role and place of Lesia Ukrainka in the history of Ukrainian literature as an author who was able to combine intellectual and analytical perception of the world with its intuitive and creative comprehension can be defined. Art forms of cognition of reality have been found to be surprisingly effective in dealing with such a complex, dispersed field as history. The scientific approach tested in the article can be used to study the works of Lesia Ukrainka on topics in world history. In addition, this scientific strategy can be effective for working with the work of writers, who were contemporaries of Lesia Ukrainka, who also wrote in the genre of historical drama.