Literary activity of Hryhorii Kvitka and women’s education

Abstract

The article uses and develops the ideas of the famous literary historian M. Zerov, which relate to Ukrainian sentimentalism. His experience in the scientific interpretation of G. Kvitka's work made it possible to determine ways of optimally engaging the possibilities of literary life to reveal the influence of such social factors as charity, women's education and upbringing, on the writer's creative practice. The relevance of the outlined approach is due to the need to overcome simplification in the understanding of our classical cultural heritage, the need to clarify knowledge about Ukrainian sentimentalism by expanding the scope of researched facts and their objective study. On the basis of the analysis of biographical and cultural-aesthetic material, the motives that guided the Ukrainian sentimentalist were identified and described, as well as his worldview and aesthetic priorities were clarified. Biographical facts were analyzed separately, testifying to G. Kvitka's special interest in the organization of the women's institute in Kharkiv and his awareness of the need for literary texts that would meet the aesthetic demands of the institute's female students. Some attention is paid to clarifying the dependence of the writer on the notions of sentimentalism concerning the criteria of "truthfulness" of an artistic work. It is pointed out the groundlessness of involving Kvitka's prose in realism, as some Soviet researchers and their followers once tried to do. The hypothesis is proposed, according to which H. Kvitka's sentimental prose appeared precisely as an organic continuation and development of his charitable and educational work, the kinship of these types of activities is separately substantiated, and their common ideological basis is emphasized. The role of H. Kvitka in the formation of the Ukrainian female readership was noted, features of his works that contributed to this are highlighted. As a perspective for further studies, it is proposed to find out exactly how the literary and spiritual heritage of sentimentalism is presented in the modern cultural life of Ukrainians.