SLAVIC WORLD IN WŁADYSŁAW SYROKOMLA’S WORKS AND TRANSLATIONS AS A SOURCE OF CREATIVE INSPIRATION

Abstract

One of the key issues in Władysław Syrokomla’s works and translations is the Slavic world presented against the background of the development of the literary era. The connections between his works and the activities of Slavophile groups were studied, and similar motifs were traced in the works of Ukrainian and Polish poets of the Romantic period. Attention was paid to the “east – west” antinomy, which is the basis of Slavophilic tendencies, with preferences for eastern borders.

The Slavic world was fully presented not only in Władysław Syrokomla’s poems, but also in his travel reports, stories, idylls, ethnographic collections, songs, historical dramas and translations. Syrokomla became famous as the translator of “Kobzar” by the Ukrainian bard Taras Shevchenko, who also belonged to the Slavophile movement and shaped his literary style based on the patterns of folk poetry.

On the one hand Syrokomla’s works are based on the theory of Polish Sarmatism as a noble culture and reflect national traditions in the form of legends, songs and folk tales. On the other hand it is a clear manifestation of “black romanticism” with proto-Slavic motifs. The main characters are peasants and peripheral petty gentry. Historical motifs encompass the period of development of Poland from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. A special place in Syrokomla’s work is occupied by the rural landscape and the motif of love for the small homeland. The writer used a narrative style similar to the language of the common people, which is why some of his poetic texts were considered folk songs. The peculiarities of the writer’s individual style served as an inspiration for many Slavic artists, who with great enthusiasm published translations of his works, imitated them and paraphrased them in various ways. Mykhailo Starytskyi holds a special place in the assimilation of Syrokomla’s poems in the history of Ukrainian literature. A key challenge for contemporary researchers of Polish literature is the return to Slavic sources in Syrokomla’s works and attempts at their retranslation or original translation due to the systematization of Slavophile materials.