FROM THE HISTORY OF THE CREATION OF PANTELEIMON KULISH’S POEM “HRYTSKO SKOVORODA”

Abstract

The article explores the history of the creation of Panteleimon Kulish’s poem “Hrytsko Skovoroda”, on which the writer worked for three years. It is noted that preserved draft manuscripts, housed in the Institute of Manuscript of Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine and in the collections of the Shevchenko Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, along with printed editions stored in the Rare Book Department, provide ample material for characterizing the author’s work on the poem. Autographs in several notebooks have survived to our time, containing notes, excerpts from correspondence, and comments from the writer’s final period of life. The article provides an overview of the first publications of the poem after the writer’s death in Lviv edition by Yu. Romanchuk and in Kyiv edition by I. Kamanin. The creation of the initial title of the poem and its connection with the work’s title is analyzed. The dedication, which P. Kulish wrote to Omelian Ohonovskyi, and its significance in the poem’s introduction are commented upon. The author’s statements are used to justify the writing of the epigraph to the poem by the writer, as well as the reasons for its later deletion. The peculiarities of justifying notes and comments on the poem, preserved in a separate manuscript notebook, are clarified. Emphasis is placed on the literature that became the basis for writing the poem: 'The Tale of Ihor’s Campaign’ from 1876 in translation and with comments by Omelian Ohonovskyi, as well as “The Life of Hryhorii Skovoroda” written by Mykhailo Kovalynskyi. Special attention is given to P. Kulish’s impression from reading the biography of Hryhorii Skovoroda, which influenced the work’s plot. Specific features of the first version of the poem, preserved in draft manuscripts and with a specified date of the work’s commencement, are indicated. The content and artistic peculiarities of H. Skovoroda’s letters to O. Ohonovskyi, Marusia Vovkivna, and others are analyzed. Information from the letters about the creation of the poem, text preparation for printing, and issues with publication is presented.