The life and works of Platon Kostecki as biographical and source studies challenge

The text considers difficulties which arise when writing a biographical work about Platon Kostecki (1832-1908), Lviv poet and journalist of the Ruthenian origins, multi-annual editor of “Gazeta Narodowa” and other Polish and Ruthenian newspapers. The publication discusses, among others, the problem of his identity, impossibility of recognition of all Kostecki’s texts published in the press (because of the lack of given authorship), and finally the lack of the sufficient number of sources allowing to prepare a comprehensive and complete biographical narration. Such a situation results especially from loss of the home archive of Kostecki, whose fragmentary history the author tried to reconstruct in this text. As a result, the biographer of Kostecki must accept the challenge of finding a golden mean between studying the facts from the life of his hero and views of this person visible in the press and literary works. For years, Kostecki was the most recognisable figure of gente Rutheni, natione Poloni among literary and artistic Galician elites, as well as the creator of vision concerning the independent Republic of Three Nations. These facts encourage to conduct deep studies on Kostecki’s biography and influence of his works. The biography of Kostecki can allow to better understand identity changes which appeared in the Polish-Ruthenian society of Galicia in the 19th century, and to answer the question why in the first half of the 20th century an ultimate disunity between Poles and Ukrainians arose in the area commonly inhabited.