«“THE HARD ROAD TO GOODNESS»:” : IVAN FRANKO’S HUMANISTIC VISIONS

Franko’s literary work was a reflection of his spiritual impulses, experiences, interactions with his milieu, and the evolution of his worldview. The humanistic core of the writer’s creative thinking was always fundamentally centered on important anthropological issues. The paper focuses on his interpretation of the problem of good and evil. In Franko’s writings, the human quest for goodness aligns with the mythologem of the road. In his later works, this symbol acquires a transcendent determination and significant anthroposophical features, representing the complex path of a person toward goodness through inner struggle, catharsis, and spiritual insights. In his poems, goodness is revealed through various symbols, archetypes, characters, ontological models, anthroponyms, and theonyms. Semantically resonant images include spirit, heart, candle, God, love, prayer, light, work, truth, angel, demon, death, forgiveness, road, and river. The writer’s constant search for beauty and goodness always leads to the human heart — the epicenter of humanistic existence, serving as a person’s ontological, mental, and emotional core. As a writer, philosopher, and insightful expert on the human soul, Franko always believed in the triumph of humanity and goodness, which he considered the ‘universal ideal.’ Franko the humanist, whose existential program evolved under the influence of Christian ideas, national values, and folk pedagogy, aimed to affirm righteous human life through adherence to moral maxims, “so that the sum of goodness among people grows and continues to grow.” For the writer, the true essence of goodness is of utmost importance. It becomes attainable when human thoughts and actions are in harmony with moral principles. Franko’s humanism lies in his belief in the good person, the greatest ‘masterpiece of nature.’ The quintessence of the writer’s humanistic visions is most evident in the novellas “The Thorn in the Foot,” “How Yura Shykmaniuk Crossed the Cheremosh,” and the poetry collection “My ‘Izmaragd’.” Franko’s advocacy for goodness and “genuine human morality” extends from the fate of the individual to that of the nation and humanity, which must reach “the grand gates of statehood.” This is the singular and historically inevitable path that will lead the people out of age-old misfortune and ensure a stable national future.