THE THEME OF WOMEN ’S SELF -REALIZATION IN NATALIA ROMANOVICH -TKACHENKO ’S SHORT STORIES

Abstract

The article investigates the works of Natalia Romanovich-Tkachenko, who is one of the unjustly forgotten writers of the first half of the twentieth century. N. Romanovich-Tkachenko was actively involved in the women’s movement and in the literary and cultural life of Kiev in 1910-1930. She always combined skillfully the social and literary work with family responsibilities. The theme of the article is the problem of women’s self-realization, raised in N. Romanovich-Tkachenko’s stories «Autumn», «The hearth», «Petrus’, Ninus’, Yurus’», «A spirit of victory shall win», «On the balcony», «Marko and Mara». They show the formation of a new character, who is intelligent, educated, and who realizes herself as part of the socio-political life. In the interpretation of N. Romanovich-Tkachenko a woman – is a self-sufficient person, who in any case shall not live by the labor of her husband. For her, he – is an equal partner in spirit and fight. Marriage for the heroines of N. Romanovich-Tkachenko is, on the one hand, – the meaning of life, on the other, – the difficulty to realize their potential.
Emancipatory principles of N. Romanovich-Tkachenko are closely related to the idea of public education of children as a way of physical and spiritual liberation of women.