Friends!

Friends! On this day in 1916 died prominent Ukrainian writer, poet, public and political figure Ivan Franko. According to legend, when Metropolitan Sheptytsky received the sad news about the death of Franco, he called this event the biggest loss of Ukrainian in the First World War. Franco was the only Ukrainian poet who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature. His contribution to Ukrainian literature cannot be overestimated. So today I propose to mention some interesting facts about the Ivan Franko.

The first true love of Franko was Olga Roshkevych. He worked as a tutor at her brother. The couple met and their meeting turned into feelings. The writer even asked for the hand of his beloved when he was 20. However, the writer was arrested and girl’s father persuaded her to renounce Franco.

Overall Franko was arrested three times. The first time he spent in the chamber 11 months. After the second arrest in 1880, nearly died of starvation. After his release, he wrote in a week full story "On the bottom" and for the last money sent her to the city. For three days he lived on pennies that he found on the banks of the Prut River. And when they were spent he lied unconscious without power. He was saved by an employee of the hotel.

Franco knew 14 languages. When he was a student at the school he showed phenomenal abilities: he could almost literally transfer all the information given by teachers.

In 1886, Ivan Franko married Olga Horuzhynska. There was a theory, that the marriage was more of convenience. During thirty years of marriage, Franko dedicated only one verse to her. But she maintained her husband was a true friend. It was not alien to the idea of ​​revival of Ukraine. Together, the couple brought up four children - Andrew, Taras, Peter, Anna. Olga suffered because she was refused to accept by the Galician society. But the worst thing for a woman was unexpected death of her son Andrew in 1913. With all the burden that fell on her, she had tuberculosis, nervous strain, and then it turned into a mental disorder. In 1914, Ivan Franko's wife was hospitalized in a "madhouse."

The last decade of life Franko passed mainly in isolation. He also suffered - both physically and psychologically. Although, according to current data, he suffered infectious rheumatoid arthritis, due to which his arms were paralyzed, he continued to work. And you left us many wonderful pieces, translations of poems. Share in the comments your favorite poems of Franko as a sign of eternal memory to the grand Kamenyar!