Three loves and the tragedy of the personal life of the writer Ivan Franko

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

To many Ivan Franko known from the school curriculum as an outstanding Ukrainian writer and poet, translator and public and political figure. He was a genius with colossal, encyclopedic knowledge and phenomenal memory, fluent in 14 languages, with extraordinary thinking and worldview. However, in addition to all the talents and merit, he was, above all, a man in whose life there was a lot of love, passion and disappointment. Who are they - beloved genius? Our review contains the most interesting and little-known facts from the personal life of the famous writer.

If you think about it carefully, you can come to a stunning conclusion: nothing is given to a person in life for nothing. Some strange pattern can be traced in the fact that all geniuses pay for the talent they inherited from God. Let us recall the great writers, poets, and artists who passed away very early. Moreover, even that part of life allotted to some of them was so painful due to physical suffering that one marvels at their spiritual strength, firmness and invincibility …

So Ivan Franko, although he lived for almost 60 years, but the last 12 of them was very seriously ill. As a result of infectious rheumatoid arthritis, significant health problems arose - his arms were deformed and paralyzed. This turned the literary activity of the writer into a real torture. But, even in such a difficult condition, thanks to his incredible fortitude, he worked titanically, dictating his works to his sons every day. Franco did not leave his chosen path until the last days of his life, as befits a hardworking "stonemason" - a stonecutter - he polished all the "stones" presented to him by fate.

By the way, the number of the writer's literary works inspires respect for its size - it is almost 6,000 different works, some of which have not been published to this day. Curiously, in Soviet times, the works of Ivan Franko were published in 50 volumes, although in fact they could have been a 100-volume edition. Ask why not from afar? Yes, probably due to the fact that the works of the Ukrainian leader were not supposed to exceed the most "weighty" collection of Lenin's works in 55 volumes.

A little from the biography of the genius writer

Ivan Yakovlevich Franko (1856-1916) was born in Galicia in the family of a wealthy peasant blacksmith who was thirty-three years older than the mother of the future genius. She came from the impoverished Kulchitsky family. Of the six children born in the family, only three sons survived. Knowledge was given to a gifted boy from childhood very easily, and the parents, seeing in him great inclinations, made every effort to ensure that their son received a good education.

However, Ivan very early became an orphan: his father died when the boy was nine. Sixteen - he was left without a mother. So, very young Franko turned out to be in the care of his stepfather, who, being a pragmatist and a man of common sense, understood that Ivan was endowed with great talent and he, no matter what, needed to continue his studies. By the way, warm friendly relations have been preserved between Franco and his stepfather for life.

Still, while studying at the gymnasium, Ivan showed phenomenal abilities. He could almost word for word repeat the teacher's hour-long lecture to his comrades; knew the whole Kobzar by heart; he often did his homework in the Polish language in a poetic form; deeply and for the rest of his life he assimilated the content of the books he had read, and could also philosophically formulate his attitude to what he had read.

The circle of his reading already at that time was made up of the works of European classics in the original. And his personal library of a high school student consisted of almost 500 books in various European languages. After graduating from high school, he earned his living by tutoring. In 1875 he became a student of the Faculty of Philosophy at Lvov University, from which he was expelled due to his arrest.

Ivan Franko studied philosophy, economics, journalism, literary criticism, linguistics, ethnography, collected Ukrainian folklore. If he spoke about any sciences, he was always only competent. They say he sang well and could write words to music.

As for social and political activities, in his youth, the writer, under the influence of Mikhail Dragomanov, professed socialist ideas, for which he was arrested several times. But over time, Franco moved away from socialism, quite critically assessing the idea of communism of Marx and Engels: By the way, at one time Franco, having studied German, translated Marx's Capital into Ukrainian. So that he knew exactly what he was talking about.

But to the works of the leader of the world proletariat, Vladimir Ilyich, he was completely uninterested. And naturally, in Soviet times, these political views of the writer were not advertised.

Women in Franco's life

The writer has always assigned a special role to a woman in his life, so he openly declared:. Also, Ivan Yakovlevich said that in his life "love appeared three times", although he was clearly cunning - he had much more women. But still he experienced real feelings only for three.

The first love of young Franko was the daughter of a priest - Olga Roshkevich - a girl, well educated, fluent in several foreign languages, collecting folklore and having her own printed works. The young people met when 18-year-old Ivan came to the house of his friend at the gymnasium, who turned out to be Olga's brother.

Their relationship was well received by the girl's close ones. It almost came to an official engagement. Olga's parents hoped that Ivan had a bright future after graduation from Lviv University. However, soon the applicant for the hand of their daughter is unexpectedly arrested for participation in a secret organization and expelled from the university. Of course, after 7 months of imprisonment, Olga's father categorically forbids his daughter any communication with the young rebel. But, the ban did not stop her daughter, and she continued to correspond and meet with Ivan secretly.

After the second arrest, the father put an end to the relationship of young lovers. And Olga had to marry the priest Vladimir Ozarkevich, with a proviso - fictitious. The girl decided that in this way she would be able, obeying the will of her parent, to get freedom. Before the wedding, she wrote to her beloved:

Indeed, during the first time of her married life, Olga did not allow her husband to come close to her, slept in a separate room, had complete freedom of action when meeting with Ivan. But soon Franco himself abandoned this sacrificial relationship, and Olga's marriage turned into a real one.

And Olga Roshkevich until the end of her days could not forget the poet. Having lived to a ripe old age, shortly before her death, she begged her sister to put Franco's letters in her coffin, under her head, as the most valuable thing in her life. And all those works that the writer dedicated to his first love, and it was not at all counted.

The final break with Olga literally broke Franco, and he went all-out. Almost simultaneously, our hero struck up several novels with women he liked, among whom were the poetess Yulia Schneider (pseudonym - Ulyana Kravchenko); teacher, writer, public figure - Klimentina Popovich and a representative of the famous Belinsky family - Olga.

However, of all three, only Olga was seriously going to marry Ivan. If you believe the rumors, she even managed to sew a wedding dress. However, the wedding did not take place. And the reason for the breakup was most likely the fact that Franco got in touch with the famous socialist Anna Pavlik. But even with Anna, Franco did not stick together - the girl refused him, due to the fact that she was not going to get married at all.

The second true love Franko's biographers call Jozefa Dzvonkovskaya, whom he met in Stanislav (now Ivano-Frankivsk). Smart, beautiful and unapproachable polka from a noble family immediately fell in love with the 27-year-old writer. And he decides: here she is - a woman who should become his wife. However, Jozefa turned out to have a completely different opinion on this marriage, and she refuses Franco … Later he learned that Jozefa's tough refusal was not at all connected with her restive nature: the girl at that time already knew that she was seriously ill, and did not want to condemn anyone to suffering. Indeed, Dzvonkovskaya did not even live to be thirty, having died of tuberculosis. The poet dedicated several of his poems and stories to her.

Franko met his third love, the Polish woman Celina, at the post office, where she was an employee. The writer unrequitedly fell in love with a beautiful girl, and literally began to "follow her heels", falling asleep with anonymous love letters, which she read with great pleasure. But when she found out that their author was a fiery red-haired obsessive boyfriend, she was very upset.

By the way, the poet's appearance did not at all correspond to the ideas of the Polish young lady about the ideal of male beauty! A bright red-haired, freckled young man with sick, always watery eyes, was not at all her taste. The girl was attracted by purely brunettes. And besides, the prospect of linking her fate with a poor young revolutionary wandering from prison to prison did not appeal to her at all.

Nevertheless, this "strange Franco" has always compensated for the lack of an attractive appearance with a poetic gift, a deep knowledge of female psychology and an incredible power of charisma.

But, and this fact did not particularly affect Tselina, she soon married a police commissar, gave birth to two children from him, but quickly became a widow.

Oddly enough, Franco and Celina did not stop communicating all their lives. He helped the widow to solve matters, giving money and wise advice. Subsequently, he settled her with the children in his house as a housekeeper. And when he died, his son was already supporting an elderly woman who had once rejected his father.

Franko's biographer wrote about the amazing relationship between Ivan and Celina:

Olga Khoruzhynska - the only wife of a genius

Franco was already in his thirties when, when he was in Kiev for the first time, he met Olga, a girl from a good family, the daughter of a titular adviser. Khoruzhynska was from Kharkov, where she graduated from the Institute of Noble Maidens. The beauty with a teacher's diploma spoke several foreign languages and played the piano incredibly.

Pretty, funny, full of energy and cheerful humor, she seemed to a young intellectual from Austria-Hungary "worthy candidate" for creating a family. Therefore, leaving Kiev, Franko said that he would write to her. And between the young people a long correspondence ensued, they even agreed on the wedding in letters.

It is a well-known fact that the writer did not burn with passion for his chosen one. They both knew it. And it is not known for certain what made people from different worlds, not seized by passion, to link their lives. Although in part, Franco perceived his marriage "symbolic". After all, he - a representative of Western Ukraine - married a representative of Eastern Ukraine. What if not the embodiment of the idea of the unity of all Ukrainian lands, he thought.

In a letter to a friend, he wrote:

Khoruzhinskaya, however, fell in love with Franco, who by that time had a terrible reputation. Olga hoped that she could "love for two." And in that one, apparently, his soul burned out to the ground from unrequited feelings. He was sincerely subdued by Olga's intelligence, her extraordinary mind and education, but nothing more. Of course, Olga felt it, but still agreed to become his wife.

The historical wedding took place in May 1886, in the Pavlovsk Church of Kiev, where the entry in the church book has been preserved: This marriage became an "all-Ukrainian conciliar marriage", which united the fates of two Ukrainians who lived on opposite sides of the Austrian-Russian border.

After the wedding, the newlyweds left for Lvov, which met Olga Fedorovna very hostilely. So forever in Galicia, she remained a foreigner, who did not know how to manage the household properly, take care of her husband and children. In addition, the family had a very difficult financial situation, since Franko was the first Ukrainian writer who made his living exclusively through literary work. Soon, one after the other, four children were born in the Franco family. And the lack of money became even more catastrophic, the family was literally pursued by "evil".

It should be noted that Olga Fedorovna, despite her husband's coldness towards her, actively helped him. She tried to support her husband in everything - even when her dowry, in the form of money to buy a "family nest" in Lvov, was spent by the faithful on publishing. The wife sacrificed everything she could - endured the need, was jealous of Ivan for other women, but she was sincerely glad that she was his half.

It was she who insisted that the writer graduate from the university, and two years later in 1893 he defended his dissertation in Vienna. They hoped that after his defense Franko would receive a teaching position at the university, but it did not happen - the time spent in prisons made itself felt, Ivan Yakovlevich began a severe form of polyarthritis, which led to paralysis of the hands.

Over the years, on the basis of constant experiences, Olga Fedorovna's neuroses began to occur more and more often. The last straw that overflowed the cup was the tragic death of their first-born Andrei in 1913. He was killed by an accidentally thrown stone. The absurd death finally crippled the woman's health.

After the tragedy, Olga Fedorovna ends up in a psychiatric clinic with a mental breakdown. She did not even attend her husband's funeral in 1916, because she left the hospital much later. The unfortunate woman died in the summer of 1941. They buried her at the Lychakiv cemetery in Lvov, behind the monument to Kamenyar, where a stonecutter cuts a rock. Everyone says: she spent her whole life in the shadow of Franco, so she was buried in his shadow …

However, in this story, the most striking thing is that the writer dedicated only one poem to this selfless woman, mother of her four children, faithful helper and companion, worthily bearing all the hardships of life. And this despite the fact that sometimes he dedicated to others in whole cycles … And yet a strange thing - life.

Continuing the theme of the life, love and suffering of brilliant Ukrainian writers, read: Unfulfilled Dreams and Unrequited Love: A Tragic Extravaganza in the Life of the Genius Poetess Lesia Ukrainka.