History “for the People”: M.Kostomarov’s Creative Heritage in the Context of Cultural and Enlightened Reading Proposals in the Second Half of the Nineteenth – the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

The aim of the article is to study the ways of M.Kostovarov’s creative heritage popularization in affirmative-didactic “popular literature” and related publications (social and cultural approach).

The research methodology combines the tools of research fields of the history of books and reading and historiographical studies with an emphasis on the ideas of the educators who proposed “the order of books” (R.Chartie) to the tutors and village readers. The role of popularizers is highlighted with regard to R.Chartie’s analysis of “the author’s figure”. The method of classification of the indicators of the printed editions popularity by A.Żbikowska-Migoń is applied.

Scientific novelty. A complex of the editions, the authors of which popularized the scientific heritage of M.Kostomarov is revealed; the directions of approbation of his texts and ideas are outlined; on the basis of analysis of the texts from “What to Read to the People” (“Chto chitat narodu”) and from the point of view of the value orientations of the compilers (Kh.Alchevska, O.Kalmykova and others) the model of organizing of popular historical knowledge constructed by them is characterized.

Conclusions. The educators interpreted M.Kostomarov’s views in didactic, popular science and art editions; reassigned his works for reading to “the people”; and analyzed them in an auxiliary bibliography. The compliers of “What to Read to the People” summarized this experience and instrumentalized the heritage of the scientist in determining the “order” of the affirmative-didactic works. They approved of the M.Kostomarov’s combination of science and literature in the presentation of the material, noted the importance of cultural history and folklore in the study of the past of “the people”. The promotion of the heritage of the professional historian contributed to the formation of modern forms of horizontal intercultural interaction, differentiation of the readers not by the social status but by the educational level; answered the challenges of nation creation and needs in correction of the identification vector of popular historical knowledge. Taking into account M.Kostomarov’s achievements, the supporters of the imperial identity, representatives of Ukrainophilian and Ukrainian projects formulated their visions of the future. In his works Kharkiv educators saw a reference point for placing the topics of Ukrainian history in the space of general imperial popular historiography, and at the same time joined the creation of the Ukrainian cultural field. Fading demand for the ideological multivalence of the scientist’s legacy correlated with the radicalization of socio-political sentiments and changes in requirements for popular publications.