Modernism in Ukrainian literature of the late 19th and early 20th century: The Polish-Ukrainian context

Abstract

The article analyzes modernism in the Ukrainian literature of the late 19th and early 20th century in the context of Polish-Ukrainian literary and cultural contacts. The impact of Kraków modernism on the artistic strivings in Ukrainian literature is scrutinized in depth. The author analyzed the works by Ukrainian writers, particularly Vasyl Stefanyk, published and discussed in the Kraków-based magazine Życie. Ukrainian writers, like Lesia Ukrainka, Bohdan Lepky, and others attempted to analyze Polish modern literature in their literary-critical articles, thus promoting the development of new directions in Ukrainian literary life. The subject of the research are the literary articles by Ivan Franko, Zenon Przesmycki (Miriam), Lesia Ukrainka, Stanisław Przybyszewski, Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, Olha Kobylianska, Waclaw Moraczewski, and others. Mutual translations and critical speeches of Ukrainian and Polish authors boosted the enrichment of the cultures of both nations at that time. Artistic explorations of the above writers and literary scholars were significant contributions to European modernism.