The Formation of National Identity Attitudes Among the Youth of Kiev in the 1860s (Based on the Example of the Literary Legacy of Włodzimierz Antonowicz, Leonard Sowiński and Paulin Święcicki)

Abstract

On the eve of the 1863–1864 January Uprising, the University of Kyiv became an arena for searching and making complicated choices about national identity among the studying youth of Polish and Ukrainian, and often mixed origins. The memoirs and works of later recognized writers, social activists, and scholars (including Włodzimierz Antonowicz, Leonard Sowiński, Paulin Święcicki and others) show the difficult processes of searching for and declaring national identity – Polish or Ukrainian. This was associated with continuing activities for the Polish insurgent cause or departing from it and focusing on shaping the self-awareness of the Ukrainian nation as a separate nation with the right to its own development. The ego-documents and literary works of the above-mentioned authors represent at least three directions of shaping national identity attitudes among ethnically mixed students: “definite Polishness” (the works of Leonard Sowiński), “definite Ukrainianness” (the memoirs of so-called peasant-lovers, including Włodzimierz Antonowicz) or heterogeneity – an attempt to remain Polish and Ukrainian at the same time (the bilingual works of Paulin Święcicki).