Unfulfilled Dreams and Unrequited Love: A Tragic Extravaganza in the Life of the Genius Poetess Lesia Ukrainka

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

It often happens when talented people face difficult trials, turning their lives into a drama. She dreamed of becoming a composer, but her illness became an obstacle to her dream, she sincerely loved, but was not loved, she so wanted to live, but death stood in her way. The review will focus on a talented, self-confident, stubborn, intelligent, incredibly progressive, and at the same time a tired, physically and spiritually exhausted, unhappy woman in love, whose name is known far beyond the borders of the country, her brought up, brilliant writer, translator, poetess - Lesya Ukrainka.

Endowed with many talents, Lesya learned to read at the age of four, at five she played the piano, at eight she wrote poetry, and at the age of twelve she was published in magazines, having independently learned 11 languages, in addition to her literary activity, she was an excellent translator.

Great daughter of a kind

In the case of Lesya, who was born into a family of intelligentsia, it would be quite appropriate to say "An apple from an apple tree …". Her mother Olga Kosach was a famous writer who signs her works with the pseudonym "Elena Pchelka". She was an active participant in the women's movement, under her leadership the almanac "The First Wreath" was published. Olga Kosach has established a tradition of communication in the Ukrainian language in her family. It was she who instilled in her children a love for Ukrainian folk songs, fairy tales and traditions.

Father, Pyotr Antonovich - a lawyer by training, a native of the nobility of the Chernigov province, who became the leader of the nobility of the Kovel district. He was very fond of literature and painting. On his initiative, writers, artists and musicians often gathered in the house of the Kosachs, evenings and home concerts were organized.

Larisa's maternal uncle is Professor Mikhail Dragomanov, a well-known Ukrainian scientist, well-known writer, publicist, literary critic, folklorist, public figure, publisher, historian at Kiev University, then professor at Sofia University in Bulgaria. He signed some works with the pseudonym "Ukrainian". It was he who significantly influenced the formation of Lesia Ukrainka as a writer.

Several pages from the biography

The genius writer was born in 1871 in Novgorod-Volynsk under the name Larisa Kosach. She was the second child of six children in the family. It so happened that the first birth undermined the health of her mother, and after the birth of Larisa, she had to undergo a long treatment abroad. The child himself, born weak and sickly, was left "for survival" with his father, who could not find a suitable nurse for the baby, and she had to be fed, resorting to artificial feeding, which was very rare at that time. The girl, in spite of all disappointing forecasts, survived.

From early childhood, Lesya was very fond of music, learned to play the piano, in the future she dreamed of becoming a composer. But the disease made its own adjustments, and she had to forget about her dream. In 1883, a 12-year-old girl was diagnosed with bone tuberculosis, and soon Professor A. Rinek operated on his left arm, removing the bones affected by tuberculosis. A crippled hand made me completely forget about my musical career. However, she also did not attend the gymnasium, which did not prevent her from learning more than a dozen languages on her own, and from writing the textbook "Ancient History of Eastern Peoples" for her younger sisters.

Youthful love

The young writer experienced her first hobby when she was fifteen, and the object of love, Maxim Slavinsky, was eighteen. He was a friend of her older brother. And later, when they met in 1892, their feelings flared up with renewed vigor and a real romance broke out between them, which, for some unknown reason, soon ended. Why their relationship turned into friendship remains a mystery to history. It is known that the mother of the writer Elena Petrovna disliked Maxim. However, it is unlikely that she could become the reason for the breakup, because Larisa, despite her poor health, was a very stubborn girl

In the future, Slavinsky will become one of the leaders of the Central Rada, the ambassador of the Ukrainian People's Republic in Prague. And years later, he will be arrested by the Chekists for unreliability, and will die in prison.

Nestor Gambarashvili

The biographers of the Ukrainian writer, not without reason, claim that 24-year-old Lesya Ukrainka was not indifferent to Nestor Gambarashvili (1871-1966), a student at Kiev University who rented a room in the Kosachi house. Young people agreed on a common interest. The girl taught the guy French, he taught her Georgian. (Ironically, years later, Les will end his life in Georgia). Nestor presented the young lady with a dagger made by old Dagestan masters, which was considered a sign of deep respect and trust. Later, when the relationship between Lesya and Nestor suddenly breaks off, his mother will hide him away from sin.

Having left for treatment in the Crimea, Lesya learned that Nestor had married a young lady from a wealthy family in Kiev. For the girl, it was a personal drama, for a long time and hard she experienced the betrayal of her beloved. Larisa wrote many letters to Nestor, to which she never received an answer. She also dedicated her bitter love lyrics to him. Eyewitnesses said that many years after the death of the writer, Nestor was seen crying bitterly at her grave in Kiev.

Sergey Merzhinsky

However, biographers nevertheless consider the first true love of Lesya Ukrainka to be reverent feelings for a comrade in misfortune, a consumptive revolutionary Sergei Merzhinsky (1870-1891), who until his death remained her closest friend. She sacrificially and unrequitedly loved, and he, loving the other, could offer her nothing but strong and faithful friendship.

… Their meeting took place in Yalta in 1897, where they both came for treatment. These were two lonely people suffering from a serious incurable disease - tuberculosis. "He is a modest young man of 27 years old, blue-eyed, handsome, an employee of the railways in Minsk, a democrat, a revolutionary, one of the organizers of the 1st Congress of the RSDLP, a great lover of poetry. And She is a year younger than him, fragile, thin, shy, like a very young girl."

In fairness, I must say that Sergei Lesya did not like at first, or maybe, taught by bitter experience, she was afraid to see him as a man. But gradually, in the soul of the girl, against her will, deep feelings arose that will remain with her until the end of her life. And Sergei, calling her "Lesya-Larochka", delicately showed her signs of attention, and on occasion, as a friend, talked about his love for another woman. And do I need to say how Lesya felt at the same time?

… He died in her arms in Minsk from pulmonary tuberculosis. At his deathbed Lesya Ukrainka wrote the poem "Possessed". The writer took the death of her beloved hard. From stress and overwork, her own illness began to progress. In addition, while caring for the sick Merzhinsky, she also fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis, and soon she herself needed serious treatment. Her parents took her to the sanatoriums of the Carpathians, Crimea and the Caucasus. The best doctors in Europe examined and treated Larisa Kosach.

Clement Kvitka

Six years after the death of Sergei Merzhinsky, 36-year-old Lesya will meet Kliment Kvitka, a freshman student, a musicologist and passionate collector of folk songs, who was nine years younger than her, at the readings of the literary and artistic circle of Kiev University. Their romantic relationship was based on common interests - love for music and folklore. Lesya Ukrainka once invited him to record songs that she knew, and Clement gladly responded.

And this time Lesya's mother, Olga Petrovna, was categorically against her daughter's relationship with a new friend. She told her that this was a misalliance, that a poor fan, for mercantile reasons, wants to cash in on an alliance with a wealthy writer. But her daughter, tired of loneliness and an incurable illness, was unshakable, and took a decisive step: completely abandoning her parental money, she went to Clement and began a family life with him.

Biographers believe that there was no passion between the couple, rather it was a deep friendship, trust, care. Lesya took care of Clement as a mother, calling him Klyonya or Kvitochka. In turn, the modest, gentle and patient Kvitka by deed proved his sincere feelings for a woman dear to his heart. During the aggravation of her illness, he sold everything he had, collecting money for the treatment of his wife in Europe, where she was treated by the best doctors. But the disease continued to progress … and soon it took her life away. She died in 1913 in the mountain resort of Surami (near Borjomi). And Lesya Ukrainka was only 42 …

Clement Kvitka remained alone for a long time after Lesya's death. At 33, he considered himself already old. But he lived for another 40 years. At the age of 65, he married again. His new chosen one was only 25 years old. Pianist Galina Kashcheeva, like Lesya, died at 42.

Did Lesya have unconventional love?

Some researchers of the life of the writer attribute to her an affair with Olga Kobylyanskaya, a Ukrainian writer, a representative of modernism in literature. These guesses are built on the correspondence of two friends, in which women address each other with affectionate words. Also, the motives of same-sex love were noticed by literary critics in the drama "Blue Rose" ("Night Butterflies"). However, most biographers discard these speculations and argue that these great women were connected only by close friendship and support.

Such was the personal life of the great writer, full of love and disappointment. And summing up the above, I would like to end with the words of the great writer: - this is how she wrote to her sister Olga.

Continuing the theme of the personal life of the great and famous women of the 19th century, read: Why Ukrainian writer Marko Vovchok was called a "black widow".