Skip to content
Call Us Today! 212-533-4646 | MON-FRI 12PM - 4PM (EST)
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE
Search for:
About Us
UNWLA 100
Publications
FAQ
Annual Report 2024
Annual Report 2023
Annual Report 2022
Annual Report 2021
Initiatives
Advocate
Educate
Cultivate
Care
News
Newsletters
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Join UNWLA
Become a Member
Volunteer With Us
Donate to UNWLA
Members Portal
Shop to Support Ukraine
Search for:
Print
Print Page
Download
Download Page
Download Right Page
Open
1
2-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17
18-19
20-21
22-23
24-25
26-27
28-29
30-31
32-33
34-35
36
" Ukrainian Woman - I i n . «типам ..... ...... ..... ......... ■«■■■■ in їїи н в и їїн іїїи н іи ііііі »< и и м и ііііі її ■ кіяи и и гя— аа— Creator of M odem Ukrainian Literature by Marta Tarnavsky A genius seldom emerges out of a cultural vacuum. Shevchen ko’s unique and exceptional case notwithstanding, it usually takes a rather well developed literary tradition for the truly great writers to make their appear ance. Ivan Franko (1856-1916) — to use Watson Kirkconnell’s memorable expression —- lacked Shevchenko’s “Burns-like zest of inspiration,” but had a much broader culture and an unusual capacity for artistic persever ance,” and his output was so ex tensive that he “may almost be regarded as having created a modern Ukrainian literature sin gle-handed.” Like his great predecessor, Ivan Franko came out of the Uk rainian lower classes: his father was a blacksmith in a little vil lage in Western Ukraine, then under the rule of Austro-Hun- gary. Unlike Shevchenko, how ever, he had a very extensive formal education; he took his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Vienna, and his appointment to the pro fessorship at the Lviv Universi ty was cancelled only for admit tedly political reasons. Political ly Franko was a liberal; his ac tivity in the socialist and labor movements of his time was the cause of his three arrests and brief periods of imprisonment; it was also a cause of his partial alienation from the more conser vative segments of the Lviv so ciety. Franko, however, never was a Marxist. On the contrary, as early as 1897 he wrote of this “formal religion based on the dogmas of hatred and class struggle” to which he never him self belonged, but "had the courage amidst the ridicule and contempt of its followers to carry his own flag of the old humanitarian so cialism, based on the ethical and broad humanistic enlight enment of the masses, on progress, education science, free criticism, and human and national freedom.” He was prophetic in describing Marxism as a “party dogma tism,” a “despotism of the lead ers,” a “bureaucratic reglemen- tation of all of human future,” “a parliamentary fraud that is supposed to lead to that 'bright’ future.” (See Ivan Franko, “Tvo- ry,” New York: Knyhospilka, 1958, vol. XVI, pp. 9-10). All the wealth of conflicting evidence to the contrary, Soviet literary criticism — after hav ing purged Franko’s works of all the “questionable” elements — attempts to make of him a Marx ian revolutionary, as well as a friend of the Russo-Ukrainian unity. Franko was, as one writer expressed it, “too great to be ignored and too popular to be prohibited,” and so the Soviets chose to use and manipulate him for their own purposes, as they chose to do with Shevchenko, and indeed with many of the Western writers as well, includ ing such contemporary Ameri cans as Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck. Truth or histori cal evidence were never consider ed major obstacles in the land of unique Communist morality. Ivan Franko — poet, play wright, novelist, scholar — was also a great Ukrainian patriot. His patriotism, as he himself put it, was “not sentiment, not national pride, but a great yoke placed by fate upon my shoul ders.” A profound love of his people and a great concern for their welfare are themes which permeate all of his work. He pondered consciously his role as a national leader, a leader fre quently misunderstood and iso lated, and two of his greatest works, the epic poems “Moses” and “Ivan Vyshensky” deal with the responsibilities of leader ship. Franko is the author of excel lent lyric poetry, a few long epic poems, many novels and short stories, some plays, some satir ical writings, some books for children. His early works show traces of Romanticism. The bulk of his work, however, is written in a realistic, sometimes even naturalistic manner, in later years making use of the new psychological analysis and mod ernistic methods, such as sym bolism. Franko’s subject matter is rich and varied: he deals with the problems of growing urban ism and industrialization, of man’s inhumanity to m an; he is fascinated by the powers of com munity democracy of Ukrainian Middle Ages; he is concerned with the place of an individual in society; he writes of love and suffering, of life and death. Selections from Ivan Franko’s poetry are available to the Eng lish speaking reader in the translations of Percival Cundy Voice from Ukraine (1932) ; Ivan Franko, the Poet of West ern Ukraine Selected Poems (1948) and of Waldimir Seme- nyna Moses, (1938). The novel Zakhar Berkut was published in Theodosia Boresky’s translation in 1944. There are two more re cent collections: these sponsor ed by Soviet and progressive НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ — ЖОВТЕНЬ, 1964 19
Page load link
Go to Top
1 
2-3 
4-5 
6-7 
8-9 
10-11 
12-13 
14-15 
16-17 
18-19 
20-21 
22-23 
24-25 
26-27 
28-29 
30-31 
32-33 
34-35 
36 
