Updated: 6/19/2023
225 years ago, in the fall of 1798, the poem "Aeneid" by the prominent Poltava resident Ivan Petrovich Kotlyarevskyi began its glorious journey, on which the author worked for about 30 years.
The history of the creation of this work is quite interesting both for those who have read the poem and for those who are just going to familiarize themselves with its content.
Ivan Petrovich Kotlyarevskyi began working on the famous "Aeneid" in 1794.At first, he did not intend to publish the poem, it was distributed among readers in handwritten copies.But in 1798, in St. Petersburg, Maksym Parpura, a Konotop public figure, publisher and philanthropist, and his assistant Yosyp Kamenetsky published the first 3 chapters of the poem without the author's knowledge and consent.Kotlyarevskyi was dissatisfied with their action.
In 1808, a second edition of the poem was published again without the author's knowledge and consent.It was published in Ivan Glazunov's printing house in St. Petersburg based on the first edition of 1798.
And a year later, Ivan Kotlyarevsky finished writing the fourth part of the "Aeneid" and published it together with the previous three as a separate book: "Virgil's Aeneid translated into Malorossiysk yazyk by I. Kotlyarevsky.
Newly corrected and supplemented against the previous editions, Sankt-Peterburg, in the medical printing press.Ivan Petrovich Kotlyarevsky finished writing the fifth part of the Aeneid in 1821, and the sixth in 1827.
Shortly before his death, the author sold the manuscript to O. A. Volokhinov from Kharkiv, who published his completed work in six parts in 1842.Only in 1842, "Aeneid" in six parts was published in Kharkiv.Witty humor, beliefs, customs, pictures of military and moderate life - all this gives the work a bright national flavor.The publication of "Aeneid" became a significant event in the cultural life of Ukraine.
It was the first printed Ukrainian book written in the living vernacular, with his work Ivan Petrovich Kotlyarevskyi told the whole world that there is such a people - Ukrainians, with a unique culture and traditions.On the occasion of this anniversary, we suggest viewing the exhibition "Immortal "Aeneid" Jubilee of one book".