MINSK ADDRESSEES OF LESIA UKRAINKA

Abstract

The article highlights the archival materials of the late XIX – early XX century, the epistolary heritage of Lesia Ukrainka of the «Minsk» period, and memoirs about her Belarusian addressee, an artist Viera Alexandrova. The author has collected materials about Larysa Kosach-Kvitka’s correspondents from the circle of Serhii Merzhynskyi’s relatives and friends: Konstantin Merzhynskyi, Serhii Eliasberg, Viera Alexandrova, and Yevhenii Chirikov. The case study focuses on the digitized documents of that period, which are now stored in the National Historical Archive of Belarus (Minsk) and the Russian State Historical Archive (St. Petersburg), and previously published record-keeping books of the Russian Empire (lists of nobles and landowners of the Minsk province, ranks of state control of the country in the early XX century). The little-known biographical data of the writer's acquaintances, with whom she contacted in person in Minsk and corresponded after returning from Belarus, have been supplemented with details. The circumstances and nature of Lesia Ukrainka's communication with each of these addressees are clarified, adding some hues to their portraits. The article provides brief information about the future fate of the playwright's Minsk correspondents. The author sheds light on the causes of insufficient study of this issue in the Soviet period by stating that they are partly connected with the noble origin of the addressees or with their civil position after the October coup of 1917, in particular, regarding the Merzhynskyi and Chirikov families. The key findings of the research argue the need for further biography study of Lesia Ukrainka's correspondents, the results of which will be beneficial for the compilers of the encyclopedia of the writer, the compilation of which was discussed at the events devoted to the 150th anniversary of the playwright's birth.