Abstract

The article explores The Blue Rose (1896) by Lesia Ukraїnka as a multidimensional and experimental drama. In it, Lesia Ukraїnka transforms numerous biographical facts into fictional situations and engages in a discussion on topical themes and motifs of the fin de siècle, in particular female insanity, hysteria, and sexuality. The writer employs naturalistic methods of scientific analysis and supports her descriptions of insanity with facts from psychiatric practice. The Blue Rose displays Lesia Ukraїnka’s interest in Neoplatonism, which she would later associate with a Neo-romantic impulse ins Blaue. In general, the author did not follow foreign models, as critics claimed. She masterfully described the authentic practical experience from her own life and from her relatives’ and friends’ lives, analysing catastrophic transgressions of moral norms, psychological states, personal lives, and cultural codes, which marked the Zeitgeist of the new era. These themes represented Lesia Ukraїnka’s initiation to fin de siècle culture and paved her way to modern drama.