«Messianic Time» and the Experience of Tragedy in Lesya Ukrainka's Dramas

Abstract

The author analyses the core of the tragic nature of Lesya Ukrainka’s dramatic works. Highlighted are the relationships of this feature of her dramas with Classical (1) and Romantic tragedy (2), and with the cultural awareness of the time of Decadence and Early Modernism (3). In her Kassandra [Cassandra], Kamienny gospodarz [The Stone Host] and Pieśń Lasu [The Song of the Wood], Lesya Ukrainka transgresses the borders of real time and space in depicting the tragic experience of a human being. In this way, she comes close to the fundamental problems of the 20-th century culture, with the conflict between the idea of existential choice and rebellion becoming paramount ideas of contemporary literature and art.