Panteleimon Kulish as “the First Truly National Ukrainian Writer”

Abstract

The essay develops I. Franko’s statement about P. Kulish as the first truly national Ukrainian writer who aimed at working totally for the sake of his people’s needs. The author underlines that such a desire was Kulish’s natural urge, as the mentioned goal arose for him back in the first half of the 1840s. In particular, he planned to publish everything that vividly refl ected the life of the Ukrainians throughout centuries.
 In the early period of his activity Kulish worked mainly as a folklorist. He recorded and studied Ukrainian folklore in its natural environment. This work resulted in a unique ethnological edition “The Notes on Southern Rus” as well as his widely known ‘farmstead philosophy’. Kulish’s writing activity evolved from his desire to provide a complex picture of his people’s centuries-long heroic history in the poetic epopee “Ukraine” to creating his fi rst Ukrainian historical novel “The Commoners’ Council.
 A Chronicle of 1863”. The pan-Ukrainian level of “The Notes on Southern Rus” and “The Commoners’ Council” was supported with Kulish’s own phonetic spelling system, i.e. ‘kulishivka’ which laid the foundation of the modern orthography. Kulish’s writing and ethnological activity was also based on his urge to raise the contemporary Ukrainian language to the literary level. With such a purpose he published the almanac “Khata” (“The House”) and did a lot for the full-scale functioning of the first Ukrainian literary magazine “Osnova” (“The Foundation”). Kulish’s translation activity became another important part of his work as the first national writer. His translations of the Bible, works by W. Shakespeare, G. G. Byron, J. W. Goethe, F. Schiller and other outstanding classics of the world culture were signifi cant for all Ukraine.