A SINGING WORLD VIEW. BOLESŁAW LEŚMIAN ON THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN POLISH AND UKRAINIAN POETRY

Abstract

The article discusses just one of Bolesław Leśmian’s literary essays, namely, “Attempts at literary creation in Ukraine,” published in Kurier Warszawski in March 1910. In it, the poet discusses the collection of poems published in Kiev entitled Noworocznik literacki autorów polskich i ukraińskich [The Literary Yearbook of Polish and Ukrainian Authors]. Leśmian welcomes this initiative with the hope of deepening the mutual relations between the poets of the two Slavic nations. It is evident that Leśmian was aware of many problems that hindered the mutual contacts of Polish and Ukrainian writers; he was also aware of the cultural delay of the Kiev artists at the beginning of the 20th century, in particular, of their remoteness from the world centres of the emerging great Modernism. He hoped, however, for changes in this field and for deeper mutual contacts.

The essay also gave Leśmian an opportunity to spell out his own literary program, in which the musical side of poetry and the relationship between the poetic verse and singing played a significant role. In this context, Leśmian referred to local traditions and to ideas concerning folk culture and the “old Ukrainian land;” however, by calling the Kyiv poets “Ukrainian félibres,” he introduced a reference to the South French poets of the second half of the 19th century and to the movement headed by Frédéric Mistral created to revive the language and culture of Provence. These analogies make it possible to introduce broad comparative contexts to the interpretation of Leśmian’s essay.