Natalena Koroleva

Natalena Koroleva, born Carmen-Alfonsa-Fernanda-Estrella-Natalena Dunin-Borkowska on March third, eighteen eighty-eight, in San Pedro de Cardeña, Spain, was a multifaceted Ukrainian writer, archaeologist, opera singer, painter, and stage actor. The daughter of Count Adrian Yurii Dunin-Borkovsky and Maria Clara de Castro Lacerda, she faced the tragedy of her mother's death at birth, which marked the beginning of a life filled with diverse experiences across Spain, Ukraine, France, and Italy.

Her education was extensive, having attended the Convent of Notre Dame de Sion in France, the Kyiv Institute for Noble Maidens, and the Archaeological Institute in Saint Petersburg. Natalena's studies encompassed history, archaeology, philosophy, medicine, and music theory, and she became fluent in several languages, including French, Polish, Spanish, Arabic, and Italian. Her passion for archaeology led her to participate in expeditions to significant historical sites such as Pompeii, Alexandria, Armenia, and Iran.

Natalena's literary journey began in nineteen oh nine with her first work published in French journals in Paris. After returning to Kyiv in nineteen fourteen due to her father's illness, she served as a Red Cross nurse during World War I, where she sustained serious injuries. In nineteen nineteen, she relocated to Czechoslovakia, working as a translator for the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Prague. Her first Ukrainian short story was published in nineteen twenty-one in the Ukrainian-language weekly Volia in Vienna, and her works appeared in various publications, particularly Dzvony.

Throughout her life, Natalena faced criticism for her abstract plots and characters, which some felt did not resonate with Ukrainian reality. However, her unique contributions to Ukrainian literature have since been recognized. She was married twice; her first husband, Iskander ibn Kurush, an Iranian soldier, died in battle in nineteen fifteen, and later she married Vasyl Koroliv-Stary, a Ukrainian writer, who passed away in nineteen forty-one. Natalena Koroleva passed away in Mělník at the age of seventy-eight, leaving behind a legacy of literary and artistic achievement.