HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

236 ASHER WILCHERszego poematu Franki pt. "Mojżesz" wyłonił się ze streszczonej powyżej rozmowyautora z Herzlem.Z pomysłem tym nosił się Franko długo, bardzo długo. Już w roku 1893 wWiedniu kreślił szkic poematu, usiłując przedstawić żydowskiego Mojżeszatak, ażeby czytelnik ukraiński mógł poznać w nim losy wodza ukraińskiego.Kiedy mu pierwsze próby nie udawały się rzucił je do kosza. Dopieropo latach, po gorzkich przeżyciach osobistych, które doprowadziły go doznanych nam konfliktów tak ze społeczeństwem ukraińskim, jak i z polskim,odczuł silniej tragedię życiową wodza żydowskiego i dał nam poemattylko na pozór historyczny, bo pełny aktulaności z punktu widzenia losówwodza ukraińskiego narodu. Stało się to w roku 1905, kto wie, czy i nie wzwiązku właśnie z wrażeniem wywołanym zgonem Herzla . . . 8TRANSLATION"I am very glad to meet you," Herzl said to Franko, "because my colleague[F. S. Krauss] has already mentioned you to me several times. Mentioned —tosay the least. He told me so much about you that to meet you became mydearest wish."Here I must note that when I first met Krauss, I visited him, at his request,together with Franko, as early as in December 1892. And already then talk athis home was about Herzl, among other topics. I do not now recall all thedetails of that conversation, but I remember well the theme of the discourse,which was essentially the idea displayed by Herzl in all its particularities fouryears later, in his monumental work entitled Der Judenstaat. The very sameidea was also the subject of the first conversation Franko had with Herzl. . . ."I like your idea of the restoration of the Jewish state very much," Frankosaid. "It appealed to me strongly because it is [like] a sister to our Ukrainianidea of the restoration of the Ukrainian state. But can they, the one like theother, come true just now?""Why shouldn't they?," answered Herzl. "In this world anything that thehuman mind can comprehend could well happen.""The rational human mind," added Franko."Right, the rational mind, because only about such is it worthwhile to tellpeople who want to be considered wise," continued Herzl."Even the loftiest idea born in a wise or rational human mind can becomereality if it inspires the great masses with fervor and raises from amongst their8The fact of Franko's meeting with Herzl and of V. Scurat's article about it inChwila was first mentioned by A. I. Skoc' in his essay on the genesis of Mojsej("Do henezy poemy I. Franka 'Mojsej'," Ivan Franko — Stattı i materiały, vol. 12[1965], pp. 59-60). Skoc' noted the importance of the meeting, but gave no detailsabout the conversation. The meeting was also mentioned by the Ukrainian émigréA. S wir ko (Svirko) in the preface to his French translation of Mojsej: Moise(Brussels, 1969), p. 7.