L’eredità di Kostomarov e Ševčenko in Russia e Ucraina
Due percorsi divergenti
abstract
The present article inquires a fundamental political theme, that is the value of teaching left in inheritance by two of the greatest Ukrainian authors of the nineteenth century, Kostomarov and Ševčenko. The thinking of the two intellectuals, linked to each other by a deep friendship, was based on a solid common ground. However, the vision of the aristocrat Kostomarov appears more inclined to slavophilism prone to democracy, while that of the ‘proletarian’ Ševčenko is more pugnacious and directed towards an open patriotism. Here we will try to understand why their thought was understood in so many different ways, and why their memory has given rise to profoundly different outcomes.
Keywords: Memory • Historical heritage • Russian Empire • Ukrainian patriotism • Slavophfilism