The dissertation systematically and comprehensively investigates the history of the creation of Panteleimon Kulish’s novel Chorna Rada [The Black Council] in its Ukrainian-language and Russian-language versions (both published in 1857). Based on an analysis of the different sources (manuscripts of the novel, correspondence, memoirs, diaries, censorship documents), Kulish’s work on the novel is analyzed in detail. The main periods of this work are: 1) 1843‒1846, when Kulish was preparing to write the Russian-language version and when he created a Ukrainian «translation» of it; 2) 1847‒1849, when both version were edited without any hope of having it published; 3) winter of 1854 to spring of 1855, when the author further revised both texts also without intending to publish them; 4) autumn of 1855 to September of 1857, when both versions were finally revised, then examined by the censor and issued.
In the dissertation, for the first time, multiple archival sources are used, such as the manuscript of the Russian version of Chorna Rada, which was printed in the journal Russkaia Beseda, the censorship imprint of the story Odin Den iz Zhizni Zaporozhca Kirila Tura [One Day in the Life of the Zaporozhian Kyrylo Tur], Moskvitianin in 1846, as well as the censorship documents and various letters related to the history of the creation and publication of the novel. All manuscripts and authorized prints of the Chorna Rada have been examined in detail in order to recreate the evolution of the texts of both versions.
All textual sources of the Ukrainian and Russian versions of Chorna Rada have been systematically studied, the connection between each of the manuscripts has been established and the chronology of their creation has been determined. It is found, that during the creation and editing of his novel, Kulish wrote ten manuscripts (six in Ukrainian and four in Russian). Only six manuscripts have survived to this day ‒ four in Ukrainian and two in Russian (only one of each group contains the full text).
For the first time, the censorship aspects of the publication of Chorna Rada are addressed and the censorship interference in the text of both versions of the novel is analyzed. P. Kulish used the Russian-language version of the novel for censorship’s consideration of Ukrainian-language version. All textual changes made under the influence of the censor (I. Lazhechnikov) are described. The study also examines the problem of self-censorship of Kulish as a writer of Chorna Rada. The creation of the article Ob otnoshenii malorossiiskoi slovesnosti k obshcherusskoi [On the Relationship of Little Russian Literature to All-Russian Literature] is directly linked to the textual history of Chorna Rada. At first, this article Kulish conceived and wrote as a preface to the Ukrainian-language version of the novel. But the complicated process in obtaining the censorship permission caused the author to publish this article as an epilogue of the Russian-language version.
In the dissertation, the evolution of the structure of the novel and the connection between structural and textual changes is examined. Mutual dependence in the changes of structure of the Ukrainian and Russian texts of the novel is detected.
The interpretive and heuristic potential of the epigraphs containing the Russian version of the novel is revealed and the evolution of their editing is shown. With epigraphs, the author enters the Russian text in the force field of the Ukrainian identity. At the same time the epigraphs act as a commentary ‒ the writer suggests to watch the text under some angle of view, emphasizing some ideas, topics, problems. They correspond not only with the Russian text but also with the Ukrainian text and echo by quotations and allusions. Linked to the text of the sections, the epigraphs give the reader an idea of the future development of the action or, conversely, are universal in its relation to the content.
