Correspondence of Danylo Mordovets with Alina Kostomarova: Towards the Epistolary Narrative of the Writer

The purpose of the article is to present and publish the correspondence of the Ukrainian writer, ethnographer and publicist Danylo Lukych Mordovets (1830–1905) with the wife of the prominent Ukrainian historian, public figure Mykola Ivanovych Kostomarov – Alina Leontiivna; to clarify the information potential of letters, the problems of the epistolary corpus, to determine its role and place in the general source base of the study of the life of the Ukrainian intellectual elite. The letters of D. Mordovets to A. Kostomarova were stored in the personal fond «Mykola Ivanovych Kostomarov (1817–1885) – historian, archeographer, archivist, ethnographer, folklorist, writer, publicist» (F. XXII), which is kept in the Institute of Manuscript of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. The methodological basis of the research is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, comprehensiveness and interdisciplinary methods of literary studies, cultural studies, ethno-anthropology. The biographical and prosopographical methods are widely used, which is due to the diverse guidelines for studying significant personalities and introducing epistolary samples into scientific circulation. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the actualization of a little-known set of archival documents that collectively reproduce the friendly relations between the Kostomarov and Mordovets families. Submitted letters of D. Mordovets to A. Kostomarova defines the dominants of private correspondence: sincerity and frankness, the presence of conversational intonations, common interests, concern and care, etc. D. Mordovets's letters to A. Kostomarova is distinguished by the author's interpretation of historical events, often by his assessment of certain facts and actions of individuals, which indicates, on the one hand, full trust in his respondent, and, on the other hand, the presence of the author's independent thinking and his worldview. Conclusions. It has been established that D. Mordovets's letters to A. Kostomarova is mostly private, concerning the health of family members and friends, their financial support, plans for the future, etc. However, sometimes they also deal with creative issues, such as publishing, discussions of proofreading, etc.