He was born in the family of a farrier on August 27, 1856, in the village. Naguevichi (Lviv region). Franko studied at a rural school, first in Naguevichi, and then in the neighboring village of Yasenitsa Strong. In 1864 he went to study at the Drogobitsky "normal" school.
In 1865 . grief happens in his family - his father dies. Soon, stepfather Grin Gavrilik comes to Ivan Frank's house. It is about the death of his father that Ivan Franko will write his first poem, "Great Day 1871" (1871). The stepfather turned out to be not an evil person and gave his stepson the opportunity to continue his studies. In 1867 the future writer graduated from school, and since 1873. to study at the gymnasium, which he graduated with "excellent" on July 26, 1875. and receives a matriculation certificate. While studying at the gymnasium, Frank's mother Maria died (in 1872), whom he loved very much and dedicated his memoirs to her in the poem "Song and work" (1883), in the poem "Ugly on the border" (1881).
After the death of his mother, his stepfather married again, but did not change his attitude towards his adopted son and helped him continue to study.
FROM early years"Kobzar" by T. Shevchenko became the favorite book of I. Frank. In the gymnasium, he continued to form his worldview, so he was also interested in Polish, German, and French literature. As a result, Franko came to the conclusion that the native language should be the basis of the Ukrainian literary language.
In the summer of 1874 Ivan Yakovlevich Franko for the first time travels independently in Subcarpathia and makes folklore records. After Drogobych in the autumn of 1875. he goes to Lvov, enters the Faculty of Philosophy of Lvov University. He writes a lot and becomes the most influential person in the editorial office of the Friend magazine.
While still a high school student, he publishes his first literary works in the student university magazine in Lvov "Drug". Having joined the student "Academic Circle", Franco became an active worker and author of the magazine "Friend". In the magazine, he places poetry, translations, prints the first big story"Petria and Dovbuschuks". Franco also published a translation of the novel What Is to Be Done? M. Chernyshevsky in the magazine "Friends" (1877).
His activities, thanks to the denunciations of envious people, were soon noticed, and he, along with members of the Friend magazine, was arrested. I. Franko spent 8 months in prison. before the trial, and he was sentenced to only 6 weeks. After leaving prison, the writer did not give up and continued his work. Together with M. Pavlik, I. Franko begins to publish the journal "Public Leisure", in which he publishes his poems "To Comrades from Prison", "Patriotic Porivi", the beginning of the story "Boa constrictor". Unfortunately, after the second issue, the police confiscated the magazine, so the name of the magazine had to be changed to Dzvin.
In the renamed magazine, Franco published his famous poem"Kamenyari" and the story "My line with Oleksa". last number magazine (fourth in a row) came out under the name "Hammer". In this issue, Ivan Yakovlevich finished printing the novels "Boa constrictor", a satirical poem "The Thought about Naum Bezumovich", his very popular article"Literature, її zavdannya i nayvazhnіshi tsikhi".
At the end of 1878. I. Franko became the editor of Praca, which he eventually turned into an organ for all Lvov workers. Ivan Yakovlevich began issuing the Dribna Library, writing a whole list of short stories for the Slovyansky Almanac, including Mulyara for the planned new newspaper Nova Osnova, Borislav Laughing, working on translations of G. Heine’s Nimechchina, Faust » Goethe, Byron's Cain, etc., creates the Catechism of Economic Socialism.
In March 1880 I. Franko goes to Kolomoisky district. On the way, he is arrested a second time in connection with the trial that the Austrian government led against the villagers of Kolomia. Franko spent three months in prison, after which he was sent, accompanied by the police, to Nahuevichi, but on the way he was once again sent to the Drogobitskaya prison, which I.Ya. Franco described later in the story "On the Days".
Returning to Lviv after such adventures, he takes an active part in the working newspaper "Praca", writes the social program "What do you want the Galician robot community." Also in the newspaper "Praca" Franco publishes his famous poem "Hymn" ("Eternal Revolutionary").
In 1881 . Franko issues a brochure in Polish entitled “About praciu. Book for robotics. In the same year, he began to publish the magazine "Svit". In it, in almost every issue, he publishes parts of the story “Borislav laughs”, unfortunately I.Ya. the magazine was closed. But before the closing of the magazine, he still managed to print the well-known article “Reasons for assessing the poetry of Taras Shevchenko”. In 1881, in April, Ivan Franko goes to the village. Naguevichi. There, in addition to writing new works, he performs daily village work.
In February 1885 I.Franko goes to Kyiv, where he meets with O.Konisky and V.Antonovich about the publication of a newspaper. But, unfortunately, the negotiations were not successful. The only thing warm memory about Kyiv, about meetings with the families of Lysenkov, Staritsky and Kosach. Taras Shevchenko
In the journal "Svit" Ivan Yakovlevich Franko publishes a number of revolutionary poems, which were later included in the collection "From Peaks and Lowlands". After the closure of this magazine, Frank had to earn a living in the magazines Dilo and Zorya. In "Zori" he publishes historical story"Zakhar Berkut", and a very large article "Ivan Sergiyovich Turgenev".
Dreaming of publishing his own magazine, Ivan Yakovlevich travels to Kyiv twice (1885, 1886) to receive from the Kyiv "Hromada" financial assistance. But the Kyiv liberals simply did not keep their word and gave the money to Zora, and not to the writer.
AT 1886 in Kyiv, Ivan Franko married Olga Khorunzhinskaya and took her to Lvov. But his happiness was overshadowed by his dismissal from Zori, from that moment he had to look for how to earn a living. He was lucky - he became an employee of the Lvovskiy Courier newspaper. In the same year, the collection "From Peaks and Lowlands" was released.
The difficult financial condition forces Ivan Frank to work in Pravda. But even the need for money could not keep him there for a long time - in May 1889. he cuts off his ties with Pravda and in a letter to "To whom for the Caesar" accuses the "Pravdyans" of nationalist isolation.
In August 1889 Ivan Franko is traveling with a group of students from Russia on a tourist trip. The Austrian government saw the writer's attempt to separate Galechina from Austria and annex it to Russia. For this, he was arrested along with the students. As a result, Franco spent 10 weeks in prison, after which he was released without trial.
In 1890. Together with M. Pavlik, Ivan Franko publishes the fortnightly "People", which became the organ of the "Ukrainian Radical Party" founded this year. In the "People" the writer publishes the stories "Pig", "It's like a year dіm was." In the same year, his collection of short stories "In the Hot" with Frank's autobiography was published.
In Lvov, Ivan Franko organizes the "Science Reading Room", in which he himself speaks on issues of political economy, scientific socialism, and the history of the revolutionary struggle. Franco decided to arrange a fight in the scientific field as well. He decided to write a doctoral dissertation, choosing the topic: “The political poetry of T.G. Shevchenko.
Lviv University did not accept a dissertation for defense. Therefore, the writer goes to Chernivtsi, but there he will fail. Disappointed, Franco writes a new doctoral dissertation "Varlam and Yoasaf" - an old Christian spiritual novel and his literary history. In June 1893 he is given a Ph.D.
In 1893, Franco published the second (updated) edition of the assembly "3 Peaks and Lowlands". After it, four more wonderful assemblies come out: “Ziv’yale leafing” (1896), “My Izmaragd” (1898), “From the days of zhurbi” (1900) and the story “Cross Stitches” (1900).
Since 1898 in Lvov, the journal "Literary and Scientific Bulletin" begins to appear. Naturally. That Franco immediately becomes the most active employee of the magazine, and then the editor. In this journal, he publishes his articles “From the secrets of poetic creativity”, “Lesya Ukrainian” and others.
In 1905 I. Franko writes in honor of the revolution in Russia his famous poem"Moses", the poem "Conquistadores". At the same time, the writer writes an article-review "New History of Russian Literature". He also speaks with his famous and popular article “Ideas” and “ideals” of the Galician Muscovite youth”, in which he shows the Galician Muscovites in all their “glory”.
In 1906 the collection of poetry "Semper tiro" was published, and a year later - the story "The Great Noise".
In 1907 Franko is trying to take a place at the department of Lviv University, but he does not receive an answer to his request, because. this place has already been taken by Grushevsky.
In 1908 . Ivan Franko falls ill. A large overload led to nervous breakdowns, contractures of both hands. Treatment in Croatia helped to recover from this. But over time, health began to deteriorate again. He traveled for treatment to Kyiv, the Carpathians, Odessa (1913). As soon as he felt a little better, he immediately got to work. Thanks to such dedication, he wrote an article about Pushkin's drama "Boris Godunov" (1914), an article "Taras Shevchenko" (1914), poems "Evshan-zilla", "Konchakov's Glory" and others.
AT 1915 The writer's health deteriorated further. In the spring of 1916 sick Franko moved to his house in Lvov. March 9, 1916 anticipating quick death, Ivan Yakovlevich Franko draws up a will, in which he asks to transfer all his handwritten works, together with his own library, to the Scientific Society. T.G. Shevchenko. May 28, 1916 Ivan Franko has died. Three days later, the string with his body was temporarily placed in the crypt. But "temporarily" stretched for 10 years, only after this period the remains of the great writer were transferred to the Lichakiv cemetery in Lviv. On the grave of Ivan Franko, a monument was built with a worker carved on it - a stonemason. This monument can still be seen today.
S. Naguevichi, Drohobych district, Galicia - May 28, Lviv) - writer, poet, fiction writer, scientist, publicist and leader of the revolutionary socialist movement in western Ukraine. One of the initiators of the founding of the Russian-Ukrainian Radical Party, which operated on the territory of Austria.
In honor of Franko, the city of Stanislavov was renamed Ivano-Frankivsk.
Biography
Born in the family of a peasant blacksmith; the first years of his childhood, in his stories, he depicts the most light colors. The father died before the son graduated from the Drohobych Basilian "normal" school. His stepfather, also a peasant, took care of the continuation of his education. Soon, Franco's mother also died, so that for the summer he came to a strange family - and yet the stay in it seemed to the boy a paradise in comparison with the school, where rude and uneducated teachers, indulging the children of the rich, inhumanly tortured the children of poor parents; according to Ivan Franko, he took out the hatred for the oppression of one person by another from a normal school. As here, so later in the gymnasium, he was the first student; in the summer the schoolboy grazed cattle and helped in field work; poetic translations from the Bible, ancient and Western European writers, whom he then studied, wrote in the Ukrainian folk language.
Enrolling in Lviv University in 1875, Franko joined the student circle of the so-called “Moskvophile” party, which was then still strong in Galicia; this party used "paganism" as a literary language, that is, a mixture of Church Slavonic with Polish and Ukrainian words. In this language, Franko began to place his poems and a long fantasy novel"Detrii and Doboschuks", in the style of Hoffmann. One of the first who turned his attention to the work of the young poet Ivan Franko was the Ukrainian poet Belilovsky Kesar Alexandrovich, who in 1882 published an article in the Kyiv newspaper Trud "A few words about the translation of Goethe's Faust" into Ukrainian language Ivan Franko.
Under the influence of the letters of the Kyiv professor Mikhail Dragomanov, the youth, grouped around the "Friend", got acquainted with Russian literature of the era of great reforms and with Russian writers in general, and was imbued with democratic ideals, after which they literary speech chose the language of Galician common people- Ukrainian; thus Ukrainian literature received in its ranks, along with many other talented workers, and Franko. Enraged by the mass loss of youth, the old Muscovites, especially the editor of Slovo V. Ploshchansky, turned to the Austrian police with denunciations against the editors of Druha. Its members were all arrested in 1877, and Ivan Franko spent 9 months in prison, in the same room with thieves and vagabonds, in terrible hygienic conditions. On his release from prison from him, as from dangerous person, the entire Galician conservative society turned away - not only Muscovites, but also the so-called Narodovtsy, that is, the Ukrainophile nationalists of the older generation, with bourgeois or Uniate-clerical convictions. Franco had to leave the university as well (he graduated from the university course 15 years later, when he was preparing for a professorship).
Both this stay in prison, and the second imprisonment in 1880, and another one in 1889, intimately acquainted Franco with various types of scum of society and poor workers, brought to prison by need and exploitation, and provided him with a number of topics for fiction, which were published mainly in the journals of the Dragomanov direction edited by him; they were the main glory of Franco and immediately began to be translated into other languages. Among them stand out: a cycle of stories from the life of proletarian workers and rich entrepreneurs in the oil fields in Borislav; imbued with a humane attitude to human dignity, stories from the life of thieves and "former" people; alien to religious and national antagonism stories and stories from the life of Jews (translated into Russian several times; verse poems from the life of Jews seeking the truth).
The cycles are also inspired by the prison lyrical works, of which some, according to a number of critics, are deeper and more talented, but less popular, full of idealistic sadness for broad universal motives, while others, made in the highest degree popular, energetically and effectively call on society to fight against social (class and economic) untruth. Franco also showed talent in the field of objective historical novel: his "Zakhar Berkut" (1883, from the time of the Tatar invasion of the XIII century) received an award even at the competition of the national-bourgeois magazine "Zorya", which did not see in it "Zola's naturalism" (pseudoclassics and scholastics - Galicians always put this reproach against Franco ). in Ukrainian provinces Russian Empire this novel attracted readers' serious attention to its author, who was so unlike most of the figures in the cultural movement of Galicia, and laid the foundation for closer communication between Ivan Yakovlevich and Ukrainians in Russia.
Behind the "naturalistic" and "radical" works of Franco, the Galicians also could not but recognize a brilliant talent, despite the fact that these works contained a challenge to the entire bourgeois-clerical Galician society; Franco's great erudition, literary education and awareness of political, social and political-economic issues served as an incentive for the "peoples" to seek Franco's cooperation in their bodies.
House of Ivan Franko in Lvov, now the museum of the writer
Little by little, between Ivan Franko and the Narodovtsy, peaceful relations, and in 1885 he was invited by them even to the chief editors of their literary and scientific organ Zorya. For two years, Franko led the Zorya very successfully, attracted all the most talented writers from Russian Ukraine to its staff, and expressed his conciliatory attitude towards the Uniate clergy with his beautiful poem “Panski Zharti” (“Lord's Jokes”), in which the image of an old village priest is idealized who lays down his life for his sheep. Nevertheless, in 1887 the most zealous clerics and bourgeois insisted on Franco's removal from the editorial board; other peoples of the people also did not like Franco's excessive love for Russian writers (Franco personally translated a lot from the Russian language, and published a lot), in which Ukrainian chauvinism sensed "Moskalephilism".
But Franco found the highest sympathy among the Ukrainians of the Russian Empire. At that time, by virtue of the Emsky decree in Russia, the publication of works in the Ukrainian language was severely limited, so his collection of poems “Z Peaks and Lowlands” (“From Heights and Dales”, 1887; 2nd ed., 1892) was copied and memorized by many for memory, but a collection of stories from the life of the working people: “In the pot” (1890); there is a Russian translation of "In the Sweat of His Face", St. Petersburg, 1901), brought to Kyiv in the amount of several hundred copies, was snapped up. He began to place something in the "Kievskaya Starina", under the pseudonym "Miron"; but even in Galicia, the Narodovites involuntarily continued to seek his cooperation and published, for example, his anti-Jesuit story "Missiya" ("Vatra", 1887). Its continuation, The Plague (Zorya, 1889; 3rd ed. - Vik, Kyiv, 1902), was supposed to reconcile the Narodovtsy with Franko, since the hero of the story is an extremely handsome Uniate priest; Franco's participation in the nationalist journal Pravda also foreshadowed peace; but the agreement of the Galician Narodovtsy with the Polish gentry, the Jesuits, and the Austrian government, which took place in 1890, forced Franko, Pavlik, and all the progressive Ukrainians of Galicia to secede into a completely separate party.
Under the agreement of 1890 (this is the so-called “new era”), the Ukrainian language acquired very important advantages in Austria. public life and school, up to and including the university, but on the other hand, the Ukrainian intelligentsia was obliged to sacrifice the interests of the peasants, support the union with Rome and suppress Russophilism. Party of Strict Democrats, organized by Franco and Pavlik to counterbalance " new era”, adopted the name “Russian-Ukrainian Radical Party”; her organ "People" (1890-95), in which Franco wrote a lot of journalistic articles, existed until the death of Drahomanov (he sent articles from Sofia, where he was then a professor); subsequently, instead of the "People", this very strengthened party had other newspapers and magazines at its disposal.
The "people" preached selfless devotion to the interests of the peasantry, and considered the introduction of communal land tenure and artels to be a useful means for raising the peasant's well-being; The ideals of German socialism were often presented to the “People” as something barracks, “like the Arakcheevsky military settlements” (Dragomanov’s words), the Marxist theory of promoting the proletarianization of the masses was inhuman; Franco ended up popularizing (in Life and Words) English Fabianism. In religious terms, the "People" was an ardent enemy of the union and demanded freedom of conscience. In national terms, the “People” held on to the Ukrainian language just as tightly as the “new-erists”, and considered its use obligatory for the Ukrainian intelligentsia, but deduced such a need from purely democratic motives and proclaimed the fight against chauvinism and Rus-eating. In the Naroda's polemic against the narrowly nationalist Pravda, the most caustic articles were those of Franco; the volume of political poems he published (“Nimechchina”, “Oslyachi Vybori”, etc.) irritated the nationalists even more. reinforced journalistic activity and the leadership of the radical party were conducted by Franco completely free of charge; livelihoods had to be obtained by diligent paid work in Polish newspapers. Therefore, in the first two years of the publication of The People, Franco's fiction work and his scientific studies almost ceased; the time free from journalism and politics was enough for Franco only for short lyric poems(in 1893 the collection “Zivyale Leaves” - “Withered Leaves” - a gentle melancholic love content, with the motto for the reader: Sei ein Mann und folge mir nicht ("Be a man and don't take my example")).
Around 1893, Franko suddenly devoted himself mainly to academic studies, again enrolled in Lviv University, where he was appointed by Professor Ogonovsky as a successor in the department of ancient Russian and Ukrainian literature, then completed his historical and philological education at the University of Vienna at the seminaries of Academician Yagich, published (1894) an extensive research on John Vyshensky and a doctoral dissertation: “Varlaam and Yossaf”, publishes (since 1894) the literary-historical-folklore magazine “Life and Word”, prints old Russian manuscripts, etc. In 1895, after a successful introductory lecture Franko at Lviv University, the professorial senate elected him to the chair of Ukrainian and old Russian literature, and Franko could rejoice that at last he had the opportunity to throw off the “yoke of corvée” (as he called compulsory work in Polish newspapers for the sake of a piece of bread for himself and his family) and devote himself entirely to his native science and literature. However, the Galician governor, Count Kazimir Badeni, did not allow a man "who was in prison three times" to be approved as a professor.
The heavy pessimistic mood of Franco was expressed in his collection of poems: “My Izmaragd” (1898, modeled on the ancient Russian “Izmaragds”); in one of his poems, the tormented poet declared that he was unable to love his inert, unenergetic nation, but would simply be faithful to it, like a yard dog who is faithful to his master, although he does not love him. The depravity of the Polish gentry society was described by Franko in the novels “Fundamentals of Suspility” = “Pillars of Society”, “For the Home Fire” = “For the Sake of the Family Hearth” (1898) and others. condemnation not only of the Polish nobility, but of the entire Polish people.
Franco paid the most for his research on Mickiewicz, on the occasion of his jubilee: "Der Dichter des Verraths" (in the Viennese magazine "Zeit"). The general indignation of Polish society closed for him access to Polish newspapers and magazines, even the most impartial shade. Work in German, Czech, Russian magazines (“Kyiv Starina”, “Northern Courier”) remained a source of livelihood, but this casual income was not enough, and at one time the poet was threatened with blindness from a dark apartment and starvation with his family.
Just by this time, the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Lvov received, under the chairmanship of Professor M. S. Grushevsky, a progressive character and undertook several series of scientific and literary publications; work in these publications began to be paid and Franko was involved in the number of main employees. Since 1898, he was the editor of the Literary and Scientific Bulletin, a Ukrainian magazine published by the Shevchenko Society; printed here most of his fictional, poetic, critical and historical-literary works. His novel "Cross Stitches" = "Cross Paths" (1900) depicts the thorny life of an honest Rusyn public figure in Galicia, whose energy must be spent to a large extent on fighting petty squabbles and the intrusion of political enemies into his personal life. A lyrical recollection of the sad past experienced is a collection of poems: “From the days of grief” = “From the days of sorrow” (1900). Franco's scholarly writings on history, literature, archeology, ethnography, etc. are published in the "Notes" of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and - as monographs - in numerous "Proceedings" of the section of the society, one of which Franco is the chairman. An incomplete list of only titles written by Franco, compiled by M. Pavlik, formed a voluminous book (Lvov, 1898).
Franco was acquainted with the leaders of Viennese modernism Artur Schnitzler, Hermon Bahr, the Czech philosopher and future president of Czechoslovakia Tomas Masaryk, the founder of Zionism Theodor Herzl, and the head of the Polish symbolists Stanislav Pshibyshevsky.
25 year old literary anniversary Franco was solemnly celebrated in 1899 by Ukrainians of all parties and countries. The best Ukrainian writers of Russia and Austria, without distinction of directions, devoted a collection to Franco: "Privit" (1898). During Franco's lifetime, some of Franco's writings were translated into German, Polish, Czech and - mostly at the end of his life - Russian.
Franko, who left politics in 1904, died in poverty during the First World War and was buried at the Lychakiv Cemetery in Lvov.
Literature
- Drahomanov's preface to "In the pot" (Lvov, 1890), which contains Franko's autobiography;
- a detailed biography and analysis of works - in the "History of Little Russian Literature" by Professor Ogonovsky;
- article by O. Makovey in “Lit.-N. Vistn.» (1898, Book XI); 4) “I century. Franko" - a review by his professor A. Krymsky (Lvov, 1898). See Degen's article in Nov. Word" (1897, book III) and Slavinsky's preface to the Russian translation of "In the Sweat of His Face" (St. Petersburg, 1901). About the ethnographic works of Franco - by Professor Mustsov, in Volume II of "Modern Little Russian Ethnography".
Links
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See what "Ivan Franko" is in other dictionaries:
- "IVAN FRANKO", USSR, Kyiv film studio, 1956, color, 100 min. Historical biopic. About the Ukrainian poet, writer, publicist and public figure Ivan Franko (1856 1916), who was subjected to three times for promoting the ideas of Russian democrats ... ... Cinema Encyclopedia
After graduating from school, he studied at the gymnasium, working along the way to secure his life after the death of his parents. Higher education in the biography of Ivan Franko was started in 1875 at the University of Lvov. There he joined the "Moskvophile Party".
In 1877 he was arrested, spent 9 months in prison, and could not finish his studies at the university. In his further biography, Franco was under arrest twice more - in 1880, 1889.
During his imprisonment, he collected significant material for his works. The fire of the fight against injustice flared up in the writer's soul, which was reflected in his novels. From 1885 to 1887 Franco worked as the editor-in-chief of the Zorya publication. His collection “Z Peaks and Lowlands”, the story “Mission”, “Plague” gained great popularity among the people.
Also, the biography of Ivan Franko is known as an active public, politician. Together with Pavlik, he organized a party of strict democrats - the Russian-Ukrainian Radical Party, for a long time published the publication "People". In 1893 Frank's lyrical collection Withered Leaves was published. Around the same year, he again devotes himself to teaching.
For research on Mickiewicz, Ivan Franko was banned from publishing in Poland. Having become a collaborator with the Shevchenko Society, Franco began working as the editor of the Literary and Scientific Vistnik.
Since then he has published numerous scholarly works. The great Ukrainian writer died in 1916 in poverty.
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Among the glorious artists of the word, whose work is inseparable from the life of the people, the name of the great writer of UkraineIvan Yakovlevich Franko
Among the glorious artists of the word, whose work is inseparable from the life of the people, the name of the great writer of Ukraine Ivan Yakovlevich Franko stands in the forefront of mighty champions of freedom and justice.
The very life of the writer, his daring and ups and downs, the strength of his unfading talent show what an artist can achieve by linking his fate undividedly with the fate of the people, giving all of himself to the Motherland, as her faithful son.
Unfortunately, the life of the writer, his work, his struggle is still little studied. But for many decades, Franco's books: novels and stories, poems and poems, dramas and journalism - all his diverse and exciting work has served humanity in a just struggle for a better future, in the fight against the dark forces of arbitrariness, in the fight for peace.
The work of Ivan Franko founded an era in Ukrainian literature and, with a new trend, continued the work begun by the brilliant Taras Shevchenko.
... A little over a century ago, on August 27, 1856, in the village of Naguevichi, Drogobych district, Lviv region, Western Ukraine, the future great writer was born into the family of a rural blacksmith.
Ivan Franko vividly and truthfully described his childhood in wonderful stories " Little Myron», « Pencil», « mustard seed". They contain not only the features of the writer's autobiography, but also a lively, convincing picture of the life and way of life of the Western Ukrainian village, which vegetated in the conditions of the patchwork Austro-Hungarian Empire under the double oppression of "their own" and foreign landowners.
Starting to publish in the Lviv student magazine " Friend”, Franco immediately showed the social aspiration of his muse.
No, it was not pointless sighs and lamentations that agitated the heart of the young poet! Not exquisite, lifeless images attracted him! Truth, and only truth, called his muse, or, true, truth was his muse. That is why the simple and unpretentious words of his poems and stories were not to the taste of the decadents - critics, caused a wary attitude of senior colleagues who sought refuge from life in the intricate "paradise" gardens of poetry.
How could Ivan Franko, who from childhood knew the life of ordinary people, their grief and need, how could he write a lie about them? Not! The writer did not have such a heart.
Two years after he entered Lviv University, the police became interested in Ivan Franko's activities. Soon the young writer is sent to prison, where he was held for more than nine months. This measure, in the opinion of the gendarmes, is preventive, it should reason with the “peasant poet”, as Franco is already snobbishly called by nationalist writers. But the police achieved nothing. Franco stands his ground. He will not be bent by prison, or by persecution or other measures taken against him. After leaving prison, with even greater zeal, he joins the Galician labor movement. The writer is part of working committee"and becomes the editor of the Polish workers' newspaper" Work". He eagerly studies the life of workers, their working conditions, leads active work in circles, promotes the ideas of Marx and compiles a popular textbook based on the works of Marx, Chernyshevsky, Mill.
In his brochure " What do the Galician workers want?”, published in 1881, Franco writes:
“In the near future we can hope that in our Galicia there will also be created a clearly “working community” consisting of Ukrainian, Polish, Jewish and all sorts of other nationalities living in cities and villages.”
It is interesting that one of the points of the “working mass” program read: “So that all land with forests and pastures, rivers and lakes belongs to the societies that work on it, and also that all factories and factories belong to the workers who work for them” .
courageous voice Ivan Franko gained strength. He sounded especially clear and inviting in the first large collection of poems of the writer - “ Tops and bottoms».
Fight it! Be brave! For all the earth
Clear the path of truth!
In these words there was already a hot call of the poet's heart. Without covering his thoughts with any vague outpourings, as many of his contemporaries did, Ivan Franko declared frankly and boldly:
We'll have to stand firm for the truth:
Everything is level, and shoulder to shoulder,
We have to fight the enemy
And the blood will flow.
Yes, the path to freedom and truth is difficult! The poet did not want to hide this from his readers. He clearly saw the victory of the people, believed in it, and therefore firmly proclaimed:
Mother dear Ukraine will rise
In boundless happiness...
Facets will perish, those that shared
Brothers among themselves
Mother will embrace all the beloved children
Warm hand...
The words of the writer turned out to be prophetic. They could be born in the mouth of a person devoted to the people, deeply understanding the life of the people and burning with one desire - to fight for the happiness of the people. And so, from book to book, the skill of the writer grew, the courage of the fighter-revolutionary, irreconcilable to all apostates and apostasy, grew stronger. This intransigence, loyalty to the cause of the working people, a genuine sense of internationalism, a feeling of friendship among peoples won him love and respect in the hearts of millions of working people. Mikhail Kotsyubinsky and Lesya Ukrainka came to him, as to an older brother in writing and a teacher ... Hundreds and thousands of young brave fighters for the truth turned to him, as to an inexhaustible spring. He was already known not only by Western, but by the whole of Ukraine. His voice filled the hearts of courageous patriots with faith and courage.
Was a tireless worker Ivan Franko. Twenty volumes of his works, published for the centenary, cover the most significant works of the writer.
His prose: stories " Borislav laughs», « Boa - constrictor» (« Boa”) - is of inestimable importance for our literature. The working man and his work, his bright conscience and pure heart- and next to it is the exploiter, the enemy - the capitalist, clinging to the body of the proletarian, drinking all the vital juices from him, using his labor ... All this is shown truthfully and vividly, convincingly and is remembered for a long time. Ivan Franko saw through the darkness the light of truth, the path to its triumph.
Mikhail Kotsiubinsky, describing the work of Ivan Franko, wrote: “A realist in best sense word, Franco likes to stay in his prose works on two themes: the first is the struggle of capital against labor and the situation of this struggle, and the second is the awakening of human feeling in people, which seems to be completely dead. Interest in this last topic tells us that Franco has great faith in people."
Faith Ivan Franko in a person was huge. She helped him overcome many grave hardships that fell to his lot, the lot of a fighter; she inspired the writer to work that crushes all obstacles, and even when his body was shackled by a serious illness, Franco's spirit remained strong, free and unshakable. He never complained about his personal troubles and never lowered his head. This is how his contemporaries knew, who had the good fortune to work with him, this is how he appears before us in his books, which enriched the culture of our people, which became the property of all the peoples of the Soviet Motherland in the Soviet era.
Franco hated those who tried to lull people into a sense of civic duty, he wrote passionately and ardently:
Do not be afraid, if sometimes groans
Through the songs the system will reach you.
The hearts of those who suffered millions
In that song they beat in friendly battle.
The range of Franco's creativity is huge. He was interested not only in modernity, but also in history. The model of the historical novel remains to this day his book “ Zakhar Berkut», dedicated to wrestling Carpathian Rus with Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century. I would like to quote the words of Ivan Franko here: “A historical story is not a story ... The writer uses historical facts only for their own artistic purposes, to embody a certain idea in certain, living, typical characters.
AT " Zahara Berkut» Ivan Franko sought to recreate the pictures of the future labor society. The story echoes the ideals of Russian revolutionary democracy in the sixties.
Among the dramatic works of Ivan Franko, a well-known drama " Stolen happiness».
The basis of personal misfortune, failure in many cases is class, social reason- such is the inexorable law of life. This conclusion suggests itself after reading the drama. Unusually vivid characters are written out in it. actors, no embellishments, one truth, harsh, sometimes cruel, but true. Appearing in 1893, the play struck everyone with its firm desire to show society the cause of many evils for a person chained in the slave chains of capitalist society. And again Ivan Franko boldly and full voice called to fight in spite of those who tried to lull common man, to reconcile him with reality, pushing him into the arms of the church, replacing him with a genuine struggle with dreams of some future good.
Two years after the appearance of stolen happiness» Ivan Franko published a drama - a fairy tale « Dream of Prince Svyatoslav". In it, he sings of devotion to the motherland, patriotism, the struggle for the unity of Russia.
Could such ideas, loyalty to the cause of the working man, the call to fight, reconcile Franco with those who preached that everything should be peaceful and quiet in its own way? .. Of course not. Franco, persecuted by the Austro-Hungarian gendarmes, was also harassed by Ukrainian nationalists. There were attempts to persuade Franco to a different path. The answer to such attempts is the angry words of the writer:
What kind of decadent am I? I am the son of the people
Which is torn to the sun from lairs.
My slogan: work, and happiness, and freedom,
I myself am a man, a prologue, not an epilogue.
An ardent patriot, Ivan Franko devoted all his work to the fatherland, to the people. The ideas of scientific socialism, with which he was well acquainted, the traditions of Taras Shevchenko, close ties with the people of all Ukraine, from the shores of the Black Sea to the Carpathian peaks, and not just Galicia, as the adherents of the Austrian occupation regime claimed, all this gave Franco a special strength and scope. This should explain his enormous influence on such classics of Ukrainian literature as Kotsyubinsky and Stefanyk, Lesya Ukrainka and Kobylyanska, Cheremshina and Martovych.
Ivan Franko's intransigence towards nationalism and national narrow-mindedness was crystal clear. A true internationalist, the writer embodied in many of his works the idea of friendship among peoples, the unity of interests of the oppressed masses.
With heartfelt jubilation noted Ivan Yakovlevich in one of the articles written by him in Russian: “The peasants - deputies began to oppose the landowners with extreme sharpness, and in addition, after only a few meetings, the peasants - Ukrainians and peasants - Poles united in one close "muzhiks' club" for a common struggle against panism ".
About his attitude to the rights of the nation to freedom and independence, Ivan Franko once wrote as follows: “A nation that, in the name of state or other interests, strangles and stops another nation in its free development, digs a grave for itself and for the state that it supposedly should serve. such oppression."
On the days when the next, and the next, and the next anniversary of the birth of the great Ukrainian writer, eyes involuntarily turn to Ukraine, to which Ivan Franko gave his talent, his heart. And everything that was done by the descendants of the great writer, isn't it the best monument to him?! After all, he dreamed about this, starting his path as a writer, and he gave all his strength to this!
The decision of the World Peace Council to celebrate the anniversary of Ivan Franko is a clear recognition of the correctness and honesty of the path that the writer followed.
The people of Ukraine are fraternally grateful to the leaders of the peace movement for their respect for the work of the great Ukrainian classic, who understood, like the best representatives of other peoples, that the most cherished aspiration of a simple person who loves his people and his Motherland was and remains peace.
Franko Ivan Yakovlevich(1856-1916) - the great Ukrainian writer-thinker, scientist and public figure. Born in the family of a peasant blacksmith in the Drohobych region. After numerous ordeals and disasters, he graduated from the gymnasium; studied at Lviv University. The Austrian authorities persecuted Franco, threw him in prison three times on charges of socialism, of creating secret societies, in sympathy for the Russians, in ties with peasant movement. Franco's worldview was formed under the influence of T. F. (see) and Russian revolutionary democrats- (see), (see), (si.), (see), (see), Saltykov-Shchedrin, Nekrasov.
The spread of Marxism influenced the development of Franco's revolutionary democratic ideology towards scientific socialism. He studied and popularized “(see) Marx and Engels and “” (see) Marx; for the first time translated into Ukrainian the 24th chapter of the first volume of "Capital" and selected sections from "" (see) F. Engels. Franko's worldview is closely connected with the liberation movement of workers, with the awakening to political life the proletariat, which was formed at that time in the areas of oil fields and in the cities of Western Ukraine, with the achievements of natural science, with teaching (see) and Darwinism. Franco criticizes false Darwinists who apply biological laws to the interpretation of development human society and drawing reactionary conclusions on the basis of this. He calls for the democratization of science, for its transformation into an instrument of struggle for the interests of the working people.
His philosophical views are set forth in the following works: “A Few Words on How to Organize and Maintain Our Popular Publications”, “Thoughts on Evolution in the History of Mankind”, “Literature, Its Purpose and Most Important Features”, “Critical Letters on the Galician Intelligentsia”, and also in a wide range of works of art. Franco sees the basis of all things in matter. Nature is immortal, eternal, is in constant motion, seething. The spirit is not the second world-creating principle, but only a reflection of moving matter, a function of the material brain and nervous system. Franko interprets human knowledge as a reflection of reality and nature. He refuted agnosticism and relativism.
Franco expressed some dialectical ideas, he saw the continuous change of the world, its inconsistency, he was guided by what was going forward. He is an atheist, a fighter against fideism and overt clericalism, against clericalism and the religious education of the youth. The brightest journalistic works of the writer are directed against the Vatican, Catholicism, Uniatism, sectarianism. Franco criticized the false theory of the eternity of capitalism, exposed capitalist society as a predatory society, devouring generations and destroying the health and morality of the masses. This is a world of deceit and violence. Bourgeois democracy, proclaiming "equality" before the law, "looks as if they are consoling the hungry with the fact that he has the right to be fed without giving him bread." Franco firmly believes in the triumph of the revolution. Referring to Marx's teaching on socialism, Franco calls for the elimination of the "wall" that separates the working man from the instruments of production, for the transformation of the instruments of production into public property, for the elimination of "between", this synonym private property to collective labor and distribution according to work.
In the struggle for the ideology of literature, Franco contrasts idealistic aesthetics with its metaphysical ideas about the eternal norms of art with the materialistic aesthetics of Belinsky, Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov and Shevchenko. Oi emphasizes the historical nature of art, argues that life is the main engine in art. For Franco, as well as for Shevchenko, poetry is "condensed, concentrated, crystallized reality." He mercilessly criticizes the theory of "art for art's sake", decadence, decadence in literature. In their works of art Franko deeply realistically reflected the servitude of the working people of Western Ukraine. He was the first to introduce the image of a worker into Ukrainian literature. M. Gorky highly appreciated the work of Franco. An outstanding patriot, champion of friendship between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples, Franko believed that "the hour will come!" - and Ukraine will sparkle "in a crimson halo in the circle of free peoples ...".
He fought for the reunification of Ukraine within Russia, where, in his opinion, the “spring of mankind” began - the revolution of 1905. Speaking for the equality of peoples, Franco wrote: “A nation that, in the name of either state or any other interests oppresses, stifles and stops the free development of another nation, digs a grave for itself and for the state that this oppression supposedly should serve. He proved the impossibility of national question without addressing the social issue. Franko was a resolute opponent of both bourgeois Ukrainian nationalism and rootless cosmopolitanism. He was the first in Ukraine to expose M. Grushevsky as the ideologist of Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism, oh false theory without bourgeoisness Ukrainian nation, branded the activities of the spy organization, which demagogically called itself the "Union for the Liberation of Ukraine", condemned the book by M. Grushevsky on the history of Ukraine, written to please the German aggressors, who were preparing a plan to seize Ukraine, tear it away from Russia. Scientific interest represents Franco's book directed against M. Grushevsky (1912).
There were also erroneous views in Franco's ideological development. He was not always able to avoid national narrow-mindedness, which Lenin pointed out in the interests of the democratic national liberation movement in Ukraine. Franko did not become a Marxist in his views, but his entire glorious life, his enormous artistic talent, which he put at the service of the working people, his military activities in the interests of the liberation of the Ukrainian people and the strengthening of friendship between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples brought him universal love; not only the Ukrainian people, but all the peoples of the Soviet Union honor the memory of Ivan Franko.
