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Olena Pchilka |
Above all punishments that are in slavery
The Lord has sent us, The fiercest one, — that cursed one. He gave us a slavish spirit. In our ranks, instead of a council, So many lies, flatteries, betrayals, So much vileness crawls, Such cold prevails! Was it not because Olena Pchilka (Olha Petrivna Drahomanova, married name Kosach) chose to translate into Ukrainian one of Svatopluk Čech’s “Songs of a Slave” that she herself had to live and create in an era of total slavery, and felt its cold with every one of her nerves? Olha Petrivna Drahomanova was born on June 29, 1849, in the town of Hadiach in the Poltava region. Her father, a small landowner, Petro Yakymovych Drahomanov, an advanced and educated man for his time, served as a lawyer in the Ministry of War. He also had a literary gift—he wrote stories and poems in Russian. He followed contemporary literature and raised his children in a humanistic spirit. Mykhailo Petrovych Drahomanov (1841–1895), Olha’s older brother, became a well-known scholar-historian, literary critic, and public figure. His influence on the formation of his younger sister as a writer is indisputable. In 1866, Olha completed the exemplary boarding school for noble girls in Kyiv, where she gained thorough knowledge of literature and mastered German and French. The ideas by which Kyiv society lived at that time captivated the Drahomanov brother and sister and their closest circle. Among Mykhailo Drahomanov’s acquaintances was Petro Antonovych Kosach, who later became Olha’s husband and the father of Lesia Ukrainka, her brothers, and her sisters. They married in 1868 and soon left for Novohrad-Volynskyi (Zviahel), where, after graduating from the university, P. A. Kosach received the position of chairman of the congress of peace mediators. On February 25, 1871, their second child, daughter Larysa (Lesia Ukrainka), was born in Z In Volyn, Olha Petrivna devoted herself to the study of folk art—recording songs, collecting ornaments, and beginning to create herself. Her activity began in the late 1870s. For almost fifty years she labored in the field of Ukrainian culture and literature, working as a prose writer, poet, playwright, translator, literary critic, folklorist, ethnographer, publisher, and editor. And in addition—two sons and four daughters, beautiful, intelligent, and talented, went out into the wide world from the Kosach home. A wise and benevolent guidepost, a loving and strict guide for her children was their mother—Olena Pchilka. “I wanted to pour my soul and thoughts into my children,” she recalled, “and I can say with confidence that I succeeded. I do not know whether Lesya and Mykhailo would have become Ukrainian writers if not for me. Perhaps they would have, but more likely not... In fact, I dared and always surrounded the children with such circumstances that the Ukrainian language would be closest to them, so that from childhood they would come to know it as much as possible,” recalled Olena Pchilka. Six children demanded a And the need to create, despite all the cares and worries, was irresistible. That is why the writer’s inscription beneath the manuscript of the poem "The Mermaid," written in Kolodiazhne, is understandable: "Begun on the evening of the 21st (September 1888 — N.P.), written again on the evening of the 22nd, and on the 23rd, over the day and evening, finished. Success!" Household chores did not hinder creativity. A life filled with high aspirations was a model for the children, and its beneficial influence on them is undeniable. Olena Pchilka has a children’s poem, “Little Cherry Earrings”: Oh, little cherries, sweet cherries!
Is it a lot of money? Did your mom pay for you? You're just as good! From afar you are already visible, And how do you take the stool, That’s when you can already be... Good to stay vigilant! And Lesya Ukrainka’s poem “Cherries” echoes it: Oh, little cherry trees, sweet cherry trees,
Red, ripe, Why are you so high? They grew on a branch! Oh, that is why we are so high Grew on the branches, - If they grew very low, Would they really have ripened? These poems by two poetesses are like singing in two voices. In 1876, Olena Pchilka’s research work “Ukrainian Folk Ornament. Embroideries, Fabrics, Pysanky” was first published in Kyiv. M. Lysenko, M. Starytsky, and her brother M. Drahomanov encouraged her to study and collect folk art. Olena Pchilka, in turn, instilled a love of folk art in her children, taught them to understand folklore and ethnography, and formed their aesthetic tastes from an early age. From the memoirs of her daughter, Olha Kosach As a literary critic, Olena Pchilka published articles on Yu. Slovatskyi, B. Hrinchenko, L. Tolstoy, and Ye. Hrebinka. She introduced the broad public to folk music, the Ukrainian vertep drama, the art of Ukrainian kobzars, folk tales, and Ukrainian Christmas carols. In the late 1890s, Petro Antonovych obtained a service position in Kyiv, and the family moved there for permanent residence. Olena Pchilka was already a rather well-known writer. She immersed herself in the literary life of the capital and took an active part in the activities of the "Kyiv Literary and Artistic Society". In 1901, this society marked the 25th anniversary of Olena Pchilka's literary activity. "...You laid love for universal progress as the foundation of your literary activity, inseparably linked with love for the least of our brothers, for our simple, centuries-enslaved people... With a fervent soul you cherished the thought of a better future for your native land and never lost faith in progress and freedom," greeted the anniversary celebrant "The Literary and Scientific Herald". In 1903, Olena Pchilka, among other writers, took an active part in preparing and holding the celebration of I. P. Kotliarevskyi in Poltava. At the unveiling of the monument to the author of the immortal "Eneida", she delivered a speech in the Ukrainian language. From 1905, Olena Pchilka was a member of the editorial board, and from 1907 she was editor and publisher of the journal "Ridnyi krai". The journal published Lesia Ukrainka, A. Krymskyi, L. Yanovska, Oleksandr Oles, N. Kybalchych, S. Vasylchenko, and Hrytsko Hryhorenko. Pavlo Tychyna and Maksym Rylskyi made their debuts here. Olena Pchilka also published her works in this journal: the stories "Zbentezhena vecheria" ("A Disturbed Supper"), "Pivtora oseledtsia" ("One and a Half Herrings"), poetry, poetic translations, the comedy "Svitova rich" ("A Worldly Matter"), and journalistic articles. From 1908, the supplement to "Ridnyi krai" began publication - the children's journal "Moloda Ukraina". The fables, fairy tales, poems, and stories that saw the light of day in "Moloda Ukraina" constitute a notable contribution to Ukrainian children's literature. After the death of Lesia Ukrainka, Olena Pchilka moved to Hadiach, and she also moved the editorial offices of "Ridnyi krai" and "Moloda Ukraina" there. In 1917-19 she edited the newspaper of the Hadiach zemstvo, organized an amateur children's theater, and wrote plays for it. In 1924, Olena Pchilka was invited to work at the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, and she returned to Kyiv. In 1925, she was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. In the last years of her life, when Stalinist repressions against the Ukrainian intelligentsia began, Olha Petrivna Kosach also suffered persecution. On October 4, 1930, Olena Pchilka died. She was buried in Kyiv at Baikove Cemetery. Today Olena Pchilka returns to us through her works, which are appearing in print ever more often, through articles about her, television programs, memorial evenings, exhibitions, and scholarly conferences dedicated to her. And so prophetic today sound the lines of her work written in 1892, more than a hundred years ago:
Poetry will not die, the creativity of the spirit will not perish,
As long as the earth lives, as long as people live on it, As long as man hears the voice of nature with his heart, Petty mercantile cares will not yet stifle it. Poetry will not die as long as the soul desires To glance at those lands where the eye cannot reach, And wishes to break from narrow bounds into the boundless, To understand everything, heavenly and earthly. And the eternal voices of creators from beyond the grave Will speak to people who have lost their hearts, And people will draw new strength from them, And will live by the heart, as they once lived. And if an evil fate has decreed for humanity To live to see the end of its life someday, Then there will be on earth the final grave— Of the last bard. Nataliia Pushkar |