Petro Petrovich Gulak-Artemovsky

Petro Petrovich Gulak-Artemovsky (January 16 (27), 1790, Horodyshche, now Cherkasy Oblast; October 1 (13), 1865, Kharkiv) was a Ukrainian writer, scientist, translator, poet, and biker.

Peter Petrovich Gulak-Artemovsky was born on January 27, 1790. in Horodyshche in Cherkasy region in the family of a priest. He studied at the Kiev Academy (1801 - 1803), but did not graduate. For several years he taught in private landlords' boarding schools in Volyn. In 1817 enters the Faculty of Verbal Studies of Kharkiv University as a free student, and next year teaches Polish here. In 1821 Gulak-Artemovsky defended his master's dissertation on "On the benefits of history in general and mainly domestic and the method of teaching the latter", later became a professor of history and geography, in 1841. - Rector of the University.

PP Gulak-Artemovsky's literary interests awoke early, while still studying at the Kyiv Academy. Of his first poetic attempts, only two verses from the rendition of Bualo's poem "Naloi" (1813) have survived. Gulak-Artemovsky began his active literary career after moving to Kharkiv (1817), while studying and teaching at the university. He maintains friendly relations with G. Kvitka-Osnovyanenko, R. Honorsky, E. Filomafitsky, and others, and appears on the pages of the Ukrainian Herald with translated and original works written in various genres.

In 1818 - 1819pp. Gulak-Artemovsky publishes translations of prose works and critical articles by Polish writers in the Ukrainian Herald.

1819 - Russian translation from the Polish "Caledonian story" (Scottish) "Ben-Grianan" ("Ukrainian Herald"); essay "Synonyms, thoughtfulness and reflection (imitation of Polish prose)".

1817 - "True Kindness (Letter to Hrytska Leprosy)", an original poem in Ukrainian.

1818 - "Fairy Tale" "Pan and the Dog" ("Ukrainian Herald"), written on the basis of the plot of four-line fable I. Krasitsky "Pan and Pies" and some episodes of his other work - satire "Pan niewart slugi". This "tale" of Gulak-Artemovsky played a significant role in the development of the fable genre in Ukraine. This was, in fact, the first Ukrainian literary (poetic) fable, written with a conscious orientation of the poet to folklore, to the living spoken language.

1819 - The writer published in the "Ukrainian Herald" two more fables - "fairy tale" "Solopiy and Khivrya, or Peas by the road" and "lie" "Tyukhtiy and Chvanko".

1820 - a cycle of fables - "proverbs": "Fool and Clever", "Interesting and Silent", "Doctor and Health" ("primary source" - the stories of I. Krasitsky).

In 1827 Gulak-Artemovsky wrote three more fables - "Father and Son", "Fish", "Two birds in a cage". This last cycle of Gulak-Artemovsky's fables is also connected with Krasitsky's work.

Based on the literary examples of predecessors in Ukrainian and world biking and folklore traditions, Gulak-Artemovsky created completely original, original poems, going from a spacious fable- "fairy tale" through a fable- "proverb" (this tradition was continued by L. Borovikovsky) to the fable itself , with which E. Hrebinka and especially L. Glibov later successfully performed in Ukrainian literature.

The writer's speeches in the "Ukrainian Journal" testify to the search for a new aesthetic. In addition to two poems "Chayanie dushi christianskoy" and a translation of an excerpt from the poem "Sud Lubuski" - "The Royal Table (Ancient Czech Tradition)", Gulak-Artemovsky published translated articles "On Poetry and Eloquence", "On Poetry and Eloquence in the East" (continuation of the first) and "On poetry and eloquence in the ancients and especially in the Greeks and Romans."

Not the least role in the writer's search was played by his lectures on aesthetics at the university, which he prepared once on the book by O. Halych "Experience of the science of grace", which set out the basic tenets of romantic theory, including Zhukovsky's works, identified new genres - romantic ballad , poem, romance, etc.

1827 - performance on the pages of the "Herald of Europe" with "Little Russian ballads" "Twardowski" and "Fisherman", which presents a romantic ballad of different tones.

"Twardowski" is a free adaptation of A. Mickiewicz's humorous ballad "Mrs. Twardowski", the basis of which is a very popular legend in Slavic folklore about a gulvis-nobleman who sold his soul to the devil. The ballad "Twardowski" was a great success with readers. After its publication in the Herald of Europe, it was immediately reprinted in the magazines Slavyanin, Dziennik Warszawski, and Maksimovich's Malorossiyskie Pesnyami, and was published in a separate edition. Mickiewicz's ballad is also known in the Belarusian translation ("Mrs. Twardowska" - 40th pp. Of the XIX century), and in the elaboration of its plot the Belarusian author followed mainly the ballad of the Ukrainian poet.

"Fisherman" - a rendition of Goethe's ballad of the same name (previously translated into Russian by Zhukovsky) - is already clearly romantic.

1827 In the Herald of Europe, Gulak-Artemovsky published two adaptations of Horace's Odes to Parkhom (Gulak-Artemovsky first addressed Horace in 1819, publishing a respectable translation of his ode To the Censor. In the late 1920s and later). (1832, 1856) he owns several imitations of Horace's units, these are, first of all, two verse epistles "To Parkhom").

Since the late 20's pp. Gulak-Artemovsky retires from active literary activity, writes only occasionally, mostly in connection with memorable events in his official and family life.

In recent years, Gulak-Artemovsky has written a number of lyrical meditations in the folk song spirit (none of which was published during the author's lifetime) - "Don't look out the window, mother", "To Lyubka" (the last poem is translated into Russian by O. Fet), " The river flowed small. "

Gulak-Artemovsky pays considerable attention to the issues of inter-Slavic linguistic and literary relations, folklore and ethnographic study of Slavic peoples. Indicative in this respect is his "Instruction to the leadership of Adjutant Sreznevsky on the occasion of his assigned trip to the Slavic lands in order to study the Slavic dialects and their literature" (1839).

Gulak-Artemovsky continues to be interested in literary life, admires Shevchenko's works, maintains ties with Russian, Ukrainian, and Polish cultural figures (he met A. Mickiewicz in Kharkiv earlier, with whom he once maintained friendly relations). worries about published works in a separate book. He was elected a member of several scientific and literary societies, including the Moscow Society of Lovers of Russian Literature and the Royal Society of Friends of Science in Warsaw.