«My respect for you is far greater than you can imagine»:Olena Pchilka in creative dialogues with Ivan Franko

Abstract

The article highlights the long-standing creative, publishing collaboration and epistolary dialogue between Olena Pchilka (Olha Kosach-Dragomanova) and Ivan Franko. It explores both personal and professional connections, which became a significant manifestation of the consolidation of the Ukrainian intelligentsia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, especially in the context of the nation’s political and cultural crystallization. Special attention is paid to the publishing cooperation of Olena Pchilka and Franko, primarily in the journal «Zoria», the almanac «The First wreath», «Zhytie i Slovo» and other literary projects.

The aim of the article is to comprehensively outline the creative and personal interaction between Olena Pchilka and Ivan Franko as a phenomenon of the consolidation of the Ukrainian intelligentsia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, demonstrating how their long-term correspondence, joint publishing projects, and interfamily contacts formed unique cultural bridges between Russian-ruled Ukraine and Halychyna.

The research is based on a combination of historical-literary, biographical, hermeneutic methods, textological analysis, principles of local history, source verification, and feminist criticism. The source base of the article includes the correspondence between Ivan Franko and Olena Pchilka, periodicals («Druh»,

«Zoria», «Zhytie i Slovo», «Rada», «LNV»), manuscript autographs, as well as memoirs of contemporaries. The study also employs the method of reconstructing publishing texts and their contextualization.

Results. Based on correspondence and other archival sources, the study reconstructs five stages of creative and publishing cooperation between Olena 

Pchilka and Ivan Franko: I – the initiation of contacts between Olena Pchilka and Franko (1876–1884), initiated by Mykhailo Drahomanov; II – the period of publishing cooperation in «Zoria» (1885–1888) and discussions around the publication of the novella «The Light of Goodness and Love» and the Christmas story «Chad»; III – joint editorial work on the almanac «The First wreath» (1886– 1887) and publishing challenges with Pchilka’s novella «Tovaryshky»; IV – projects of the newspaper «Rivnist» and the Kosach family’s representation in the journal

«Zhytie i Slovo» (1891–1894); V – partnership in publishing Lesia Ukrainka’s collection «On the Wings of Songs», popularization of Olena Pchilka on the 25th anniversary of her literary activity (1897–1901), as well as mutual creative reception. Conclusions. The article demonstrates that the creative tandem of Olena Pchilka and Ivan Franko was not only a literary, cultural, and publishing interaction, but also a family-educational phenomenon of the Kosach and Franko families, who jointly shaped the Ukrainian intellectual space on both sides of politically divided Ukraine. Despite certain tensions in their relationship and publishing cooperation – reflected in Franko’s editorial rigor, Pchilka’s authorial ambition, censorship restrictions, and political obstacles – their creative collaboration and personal friendship were long-lasting, sincere, and highly productive.