From "hope" to antaeus'feat evolution of Lesia Ukrainka's wordview

Abstract

The article offers an insight into Lesia Ukrainka's worldview evolution through the prism of her writings and public activity. It has been remarked that obviously the writer's values gradually became more profound. The axiological hierarchy of The Forest Song's author is dominated by the ideal of freedom. Personal freedom and national freedom are the core around which she kept developing the ideological and thematic space of her multifaceted creative works. A brief overview of landmark life- changing moments in Lesia Ukrainka's writing efforts has been suggested. It has been particularly emphasized that the writer soon discarded initially preferred absolute domination of lyricism in favour of the lyro-epic and dramatic poem, which she effectively employed furtheron. She also produced purely epic pieces offering remarkable samples of the literary tale, short story, novella, short short story, sketch etc. Expanding formal range of Lesia Ukrainka's creative endeavours caused essential enlargement of the thematic field in her writings. While lyrical poetry was limited to mere statement of the problem, "more solid forms" featured its full-size representation in extreme closeup. Special attention has also been paid to Lesia Ukrainka's socio-political views. Their deeper comprehension is ensured not only by contemplating her literary works in which, despite being quite traceable, they are rather subdued by poetic mist, but also by considering the writer's extensive epistolary discourse, in which she explicitly outlines major tendencies of her pro-Ukrainian socio-political programme.