Detachable Subdivision
"Rivne Professional College of
National University of Life
and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine"
Long sincere words
I will speak to the people;
I will die, but for a long time among you
My song will resonate!
Lesya Ukrainka
On February 25, 1871, in Novohrad-Volynskyi, in the family of a real state councilor, patron of the arts, member of the "Old Community" Petro Kosach and Olga Dragomanova-Kosach (writer Olena Pchilka), the famous poet, playwright, translator and public figure Larysa Kosach was born, who entered the history of Ukrainian and European literature under the name Lesya Ukrainka. Due to illness (or rather, due to the need for constant treatment), Lesya Ukrainka traveled all over Europe, lived for a long time in Italy and Egypt, and lived in Crimea for three years. She loved going to the theater and opera (she visited almost all the best European theaters), was well versed in European art, everywhere she signed up for the best libraries, was interested in new literature and scientific works. She criticized "populism" and in every way promoted European trends in Ukrainian culture, becoming one of the harbingers of modernism in Ukrainian literature.
Lesya Ukrainka knew ten languages. She translated many works, including Byron, Hauptmann, Heine, Hugo, Maeterlinck, Swift, Shakespeare, Homer, etc. Having an artistic talent, Larysa Kosach took lessons for some time at the Kyiv Drawing School of Oleksandr Murashko, from which one oil painting remained.
Lesya Ukrainka was extremely hardworking. She wrote her "Forest Song" in 12 days. And the poem "Obsessed" in one night, while at the bedside of the dying Serhiy Merzhynsky. In total, the complete collection of Lesya Ukrainka's works consists of 14 volumes. The very first collection "On the Wings of Songs" was published in March 1893 in Lviv with the assistance of Ivan Franko - the circulation of the book at that time was only 500 copies.
She spent her last years in Egypt and various cities in Georgia, where her husband, Kliment Kvitka, was transferred on duty. She died on August 1, 1913, in the Georgian village of Surami - exhausted by illness, her kidneys failed. She was buried in Kyiv at the Baykovo Cemetery next to her father and brother Mykhailo. The coffin with Lesya Ukrainka's body was carried to the cemetery by six women.
The fate of this woman, her life position, namely: to fight to the last - a vivid example for future generations, for those who have lost faith in themselves and see no way out in various life situations. With her whole life, her creativity, she proved that the main thing is the struggle, that you should never give up.
We invite you to visit the exhibition at the library and information center "Lesya Ukrainka. The High Light of the Name and the Word"
Natalia SMIKALÓ,
librarian BIT
