Post-Orientalist Discourse in Lesja Ukrajinka’s Writing

Abstract

The article interprets Lesja Ukrajinka’s creative work through the lens of post-colonialism and post-orientalism. The conceptions of H. Dabashi, G. Spivak, T. Hundorova are involved for analyzing the vision of the East by Lesja Ukrajinka. The article focuses on phenomena of communication with the other; on a global dialogue of cultures; and on the writer’s critical response to historical conflict between East and West. The author’s pathetic apology for the East is likely a result of belonging to a colonized people that is doomed to marginalization under the pressure of the Russian Empire. This leads to the identification of Ukrainian national issues in the writer’s oriental motifs. The interpretation is based on the texts Rufin and Priscilla, Only One Word, Yakut Poem, and Ra-Meneis.

The article asserts that Lesja Ukrajinka does not put romantic pathos into the image of the East, which fully resonates with the contemporary concept of post-orientalism. She avoids exotic poetics and concentrates on the controversial position of other-image.