Ukrainian-French Parallels in the Study of the Heroic Epic

The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of the contribution of French and Ukrainian scholars to the study and popularization of the Ukrainian heroic epic. The National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations in Paris (Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales) has become the main center for the study of Ukrainian literature and folk art in France starting from the 20th century. Famous Slavists L. Léger, A. Mazon, P. Boyer, A. Meillet, A. Martel, M. Scherrer and others have worked there. Attention will be paid to the scientific and translation activities of the French Slavist and Ukrainian scholar Marie Scherrer. Thus, the edition “Ukrainian Dumas. Cossack Epic” (Les Dumy ukrainiennes. Epopeé cosaque par Marie Scherrer) remains one of the most thorough to this day. It is worth mentioning the cooperation of the French researcher with the Shevchenko Scientific Society as its member as well as with Ukrainian scholars, in particular with Dmytro Stepovyk. The contribution to the development of Ukrainian-French folkloristic relations of the famous Ukrainian folklorist Kateryna Hrushevska, who has maintained scientific contacts with many European scientific centers, including in France, remains important. It is no coincidence that her preface to the two-volume edition “Ukrainian Folk Dumy”, which has been banned by the Soviet totalitarian government in the 1930s, was presented in French. It has been republished by M. Rylskyi IASFE of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 2004. Kateryna Hrushevska has emphasized the interest in the Ukrainian heroic epic and Ukraine in France and also made attempts to translate Ukrainian folk dumy into French. Some of them have been published in Paris. The translations by Marie Scherrer of various genres of Ukrainian folklore have been also submitted in 2004 in the “Anthology of Ukrainian Literature of the 11th–20th Centuries” (Anthologie de la literature ukrainienne du XI au XX siècle), which testified to the Ukrainian component in the European cultural space.