WORKS OF JULIUSZ SLOWACKI: UKRAINIAN TRANSLATION

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the history of the Ukrainian translation of the works of the outstanding Polish poet Juliusz Slowacki. The paper establishes the specifics of translation, its influence on Ukrainian literature and culture. The author’s work has been available to the Ukrainian reader since the end of the 19th century thanks to the first translations by Ivan Verkhratskyi, and later by Vasyl Shchurat and Sydir Tverdokhlib. It has been found that the writer’s works are highly appreciated by many Ukrainian cultural figures, in particular Ivan Franko, Olena Pchilka, Lesia Ukrainka. In Ukraine, he is known not only as a talented lyricist, but also as the author of great epic and dramatic works, and his “Lillia Veneda”, “Balladina”, “Father of the Plagued”, as well as many others, are available for reading in Ukrainian. Vasyl Shchurat’s translations of the works “Father of the Plagued” and “My Testament” are considered among the best, as they are highly poetic and convey the stylistic and ideological details of the original. The conducted research reflects the significance and influence of Juliusz Słowacki’s work on the Ukrainian literary tradition, and also contributes to expanding the understanding of the interrelations between Polish and Ukrainian culture through literary dialogue. The writer’s letters to his mother, who lived in the city of Kremenets, constitute a separate chapter of his biography, allowing us to understand his life in emigration, creative plans, personal feelings and experiences. In 2009, a bilingual book of the poet’s letters was published, the Ukrainian translation of which was presented by Margarita Getsevich. The translator managed to maintain closeness to the original, the color of the language, reproduce the diversity of the author’s thoughts, and express his spiritual experiences. Thanks to such translators as Ivan Verkhratskyi, Volodymyr Kolba, Vasyl Shchurat, Sydir Tverdokhlib, Mykola Starytskyi, Petro Stebnytskyi, Olena Pchilka, and further – Mykola Zerov, Yevhen Drobiazko, Fedir Petronenko (at the beginning of the 20th century), a little later Mykola Voronyi, Borys Ten, Sviatoslav Hordynskyi, in the 1950s and the second half of the 20th century Maxym Rylskyi, Mykola Bazhan, Dmytro Pavlychko, Roman Lubkivskyi, Ivan Drach, Mykola Vingranovskyi, Mykola Zhulynskyi, Ivan Dzyuba, Yevhen Sverstiuk, Eva Narubina, Rostyslav Radyshevskyi, Stanislav Shevchenko, Vitaly Korotich, Halyna Hordasevych, Ivan Svitlychnyi, Valentyn Strutynskyi, Volodymyr Vykhrushch, Borys Demkiv, Margaryta Hetsevych and to many others, the poet’s work is open to the Ukrainian reader.