“WRITE BACK MORE OFTEN, EVEN WITH SHORT LETTERS”: EPISTOLARY OF BORYS AND MARIA HRINCHENKOS TO SERHII YEFREMOV, 1907—1910

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the correspondence of Borys and Maria Hrinchenko to Serhii Yefremov from 1907 to 1910, which is stored in the fonds of the Department of Manuscripts and Textual Studies of the Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature. The objec tives are to assess the source potential of this epistolary, to identify new information that these letters provide for understanding of the relationship between Hrinchenkos and Yefremov, little-known facts and main directions of their activities, and the system of interaction among the leaders and activists of the Ukrainian movement during this period. Methodology. The main research methods were the method of archival heuristics, historical and critical methods of studying historical sources, and historico-biographical method. Scientific novelty. The correspondence of Borys and Maria Hrinchenkos to Serhii Yefremov during a critical period for the Ukrainian movement was introduced and commented on. The state of epistolary studies in the field of Hrynchenko studies is analyzed. The main issues discussed in Borys Hrinchenko’s letters and the style of his correspondence are highlighted. Conclusions. According to the analysis of sources and literature, in recent years there has been an increase in the interest of researchers in the archaeographic study and scientific understanding of Borys Hrinchenko’s epistolary. The presented texts of letters from the Hrinchenko couple to Serhii Yefremov reveal new biographical facts, inform about creative intentions and achievements, provide some details of publishing projects and various aspects of the correspondents’ public activities, contain information about Hrinchenko’s family life and health, reproduce the uniqueness of the writer’s epistolary style, and allow comparing it with Maria Hrinchenko’s style. For Yefremov himself, Hrinchenko was not just a “man of duty” but one of the “significant Others” whose memory he kept in his academic life.