I. S. ROMANCHENKO AS A RESEARCHER OF THE BULGARIAN PERIOD IN THE LIFE AND ACTIVITY OF MYKHAILО DRAHOMANOV

Abstract

The article examines the contribution of the Ukrainian literary critic Ivan Savych Romanchenko (1894– 1977) to the study of the Sofia period in the biography of the prominent Ukrainian scientist, public and political figure Mykhailo Petrovych Drahomanov. To date, this aspect of I. S. Romanchenko’s research has been most fully reflected in Antonina Yakimova’s monograph “The Bulgarian Period in the Life of Professor Mykhailo Drahomanov”. Taking into account the facts and conclusions presented in this monograph, the author of the article intended to add some new materials for a more comprehensive disclosure of the outlined issues. The facts about the relevant creative contacts of I. S. Romanchenko with Bulgarian scientists Simeon Rusakiev, Mikhail Arnaudov, Petko Atanasov, Krumka Sharova, as well as with the Ukrainian sculptor in exile (in Bulgaria) Mykhailo Paraschuk, are emphasized and supplemented. The direct contribution of I. S. Romanchenko to the study of the Bulgarian period in the life and activity of M. P. Drahomanov, which was reflected in the scientific process of the 1950s–1970s, is emphasized. The key ideas of his article “Mykhailo Drahomanov in Bulgaria” (1958) are highlighted, as well as some characteristic evaluations by contemporary scientists of the third chapter of David Zaslavskyi and Ivan Romanchenko’s monograph “Mykhailo Drahomanov. Life and Literary Research Activity” (1964), which is dedicated to the Bulgarian stage of his biography, etc. The materials about the stay of I. S. Romanchenko (at the invitation of Sofia University) in Bulgaria at the end of 1971 are covered more thoroughly and supplemented with exclusive photographs. The program of his visit contributed to the intensification of Ukrainian-Bulgarian relations in the field of Drahomanov studies. It was concluded that I. S. Romanchenko became one of the first Ukrainian Soviet scientists to thoroughly research the Bulgarian period in life and activity of M. P. Drahomanov. It was noted that his study of this aspect of Drahomanov studies, as well as the entire Drahomanov’s legacy, was definitely influenced by the ideological factor, the need to comply with the canons of Soviet social science. However, his publication and analysis of new sources, less known stories from the life and work of M. P. Drahomanov for readers of the time in the Ukrainian SSR and beyond had quite a significant impact for their time and are of scientific interest today.