Discourse of disease in Lesia Ukrainka’s epistolary

Abstract

The article deals with peculiarities of a writer’s experience of long-term illness, the influence of the disease on rhythm, lifestyle and creativity, based on Lesia Ukrainka’s letters of 1883-1913 to relatives, friends, acquaintances, artists, and public figures. It is found out that the internal picture of the disease has been reflected in the letters with the help of the system of writer’s diverse experience, feelings, and emotions. According to the epistolary, Lesia Ukrainka perceived the disease as a yoke, captivity, which prevented her from being proactive, from taking an active part in cultural, artistic, publishing and translation activities. At the same time, the disease built up a discipline, purposefulness of the writer, who worked hard at her educational and intellectual level, in such way cognized her capabilities, outlining the prospects of creativity. The article reveals peculiarities of the disease, changes in the writer’s well-being, focuses on creativity as an active resistance to the disease, as a way of achieving self-esteem. The culture of work and rest, attention to the sick body, her scrupulosity in the performance of medical procedures contributed to the creation of acceptable conditions for creative work, which performed a therapeutic function in the life of the writer.