Beacons in the Darkness (Turbulent Times, Vol. 2)

The overarching theme of the trilogy Turbulent Times is the growth of national and political awareness in Halychyna (Galicia) in Western Ukraine in the second half of the nineteenth century. The social and economic unrest of the early nineteenth century culminated in the abolition, in 1848, of the oppressive feudal system established in 1772 when Halychyna came under Austrian control. The two novellas in Beacons in the Darkness, the second volume of the trilogy one, Unknown Waters, set in rural Halychyna, and the other, Lel and Polel, in Lviv, the capital of the region describe the post-1848 emergence of educated, nationally and politically aware young people dedicated to the enlightenment and empowerment of the largely illiterate masses in both the Ukrainian (Eastern) and Polish (Western) parts of Halychyna. These activists became beacons of hope in the multifaceted and discouraging struggle for social justice, economic equity, and democratic and national rights in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The three volumes in this trilogy paint a vivid and unsettling picture of life in Halychyna from the rural and urban insurrections of the 1840s and the abolition of serfdom in 1848, to the disillusionment of the following decades and the complex struggle for national and democratic reform in the latter part of the 19th century. Franko drew the material for his prose from personal observations and experiences, and infused it with his passionate commitment to ameliorating the lot of the common people and raising their national and political consciousness. Franko understood his literary mission to be the illumination of historical events and periods by telling the stories of individuals on whose lives they impinged. This he did so successfully that his prose works constitute a veritable encyclopedia of the beliefs, attitudes, and lifestyles of the social strata and ethnic groups whose intertwined destinies became the grist for his creative genius.