Słowacki, Juliusz

Słowacki, Juliusz, b 4 November 1809 in Kremenets, Volhynia gubernia, d 2 April 1849 in Paris. Polish Romantic poet and dramatist; representative of the Ukrainian school in Polish literature. He spent parts of his childhood and youth in Kremenets and knew the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian folk songs and folklore. In the summer of 1827 he visited Odesa, Tulchyn, and Uman. Ukrainian linguistic and folkloric elements and themes are found in his first poem, ‘Duma ukraińska’ (Ukrainian Duma, 1826), in his narrative poem ‘Żmija’ (The Snake, 1832), and in other poems. He depicted Ukrainian historical events in his narrative poems ‘Jan Kazimierz’ (1839), ‘Bienowski’ (1841), and ‘Sen srebrny Salomei’ (Salome's Silver Dream, 1843) and in the dramatic romance ‘Ksiądz Marek’ (The Priest Marek, 1843). He also utilized Ukrainian settings and folklore in his plays ‘Balladyna’ (1834), ‘Mazepa’ (1839), and ‘Lilla Weneda’ (1840). Słowacki's works have been translated into Ukrainian by Ivan Verkhratsky, Mykhailo Starytsky, Olena Pchilka, Vasyl Shchurat, Petro Stebnytsky, Mykola Zerov, Sydir Tverdokhlib, Maksym Rylsky, Mykola Bazhan, Volodymyr Gzhytsky, Andrii Malyshko, Marko Zisman, Mykola Tereshchenko, Borys Ten, Yevhen Drobiazko, and others. Ukrainian editions of his works appeared in in 1959 (2 vols) and in 1969. Books about him have been written by the Soviet Ukrainian scholars Yevhen Rykhlik (1929), Hryhorii Verves (1959), S. Levinska (1973), and R. Radyshevsky (1985), and a Ukrainian bio-bibliographic guide was published by V. Stefanovych (1959).

Roman Senkus

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]