Women have always played a crucial role in Ukrainian
society. They have been involved in the
political, cultural and social life of
the nation.
Probably, one of the most
influential females in Ukrainian
history was Lesya Ukrainka.
Having been brought up in a
highly cultivated family, she was
exposed to science, literature and
history from an early age as her
parents were intelligent and welleducated
people.
Physically she resembled her father and was really good
friends with him. However, it was her mother, a writer, a
poet and a publisher, in whose steps she chose to follow
Unfortunately, from the age of twelve she started to
suffer from a painful and debilitating disease, which
however, didn’t stop her from pursuing her passion for
writing. Her illness made it necessary for her to travel to
places where the climate was dry, and, as a result, she
spent extended periods of time in Germany, Austria, Italy,
Bulgaria, Crimea, the Caucasus, and Egypt. She loved
experiencing other cultures, which was evident in many
of her literary works.
Apart from being an artist, she also was a political, civil,
and feminist activist. The poems and plays of Ukrainka are
associated with her belief in her country's freedom and
independence. She actively opposed Russian tsarism and
was a member of Ukrainian Marxist organisations. In
1902 she translated the Communist Manifesto into
Ukrainian. She was briefly arrested in 1907 by tsarist
police and remained under surveillance thereafter.
Ukrainka concentrated on poetic dramas from about
1906 on. Her plays were inspired by various historical
events. Folk songs and fairy tales provide the
framework for Lisova pisnya (1912), in which Ukrainka
reflects on the never-ending conflict between high ideals
and sordid reality. Her historical drama Boyarynya (1914)
is a psychological tragedy focusing on a Ukrainian family
in the 17th century.
Ukrainka also wrote short stories and critical essays and
did masterful translations of works by Homer, William
Shakespeare, Lord Byron, Victor Hugo, and Ivan Turgenev.
Lesya Ukrainka devoted her whole life to promoting the
development of Ukrainian literature and national
identity. She passed away at the relatively young age of
forty-two, leaving behind a rich and diversified literary
legacy. 
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