The Metamodernist Dimension of the Literary Screenplay “The Cherry Orchard...” (2008) and the Film “The Guide” (2014)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31861/pytlit2025.111.338

Keywords:

“The Cherry Orchard...”, “The Guide”, metamodernism, metanarrative, literary screenplay, “new sincerity”, oscillation, immersiveness

Abstract

The article attempts a comprehensive analysis of the literary screenplay “The Cherry Orchard...” (2008) by O. Sanin and I. Rozdobudko and its film adaptation – the film “The Guide” (2014) in the context of the aesthetic dominants of metamodernism. The attention is focused on identifying the key ideological and artistic foundations of the metamodern worldview, in particular, such as new sincerity, oscillation, personalism, immersiveness, as well as on identifying the leading metanarratives – national identity, historical memory and personal involvement of the individual in social and cultural transformations. The author’s concept evolved from the poetic code of Shevchenko’s text to a deeply personalised story of spiritual insight that comprehends the national tragedy through the prism of individual experience. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the characters of Ivan Kocherha and Peter Shemrok as carriers and translators of cultural memory, who appear as representatives of the existential search for meaning in the context of a historical catastrophe. It is noted that the script and the film function as examples of national cinema of the metamodern era, which synthesise documentary truth and artistic convention, emotional authenticity and symbolic versatility. Through the dialogic nature of the narrative, the appeal to archetypal images, the integration of national codes and the actualisation of traumatic historical experience, the works under study represent a new type of aesthetic reception that ensures a reflective understanding of the past and the formation of a modern identity. In this way, the film “The Guide” and its literary basis are considered as significant markers of the contemporary Ukrainian metamodern discourse, which contributes to the reconstruction of historical memory, humanistic guidelines, and national self-knowledge.

Author Biography

Nataliia Nikoriak, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University

Department of World Literature and Theory of Literature

Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University

2 Kotsiubynsky Street, 58002, Chernivtsi, Ukraine

References

Bondarchuk, L. (2006). Oles Sanin: “Stsenarii – tse duzhe utylitarnyi tvir...” [Oles Sanin: “A screenplay is a very utilitarian work...”]. Kino-Teatr, no. 6. (in Ukrainian). URL: http://archive-ktm.ukma.edu.ua/show_content.php?id=605 (accessed: 13.04.2025).

Hrebeniuk, T. (2023). Spilnyi bil’, viina i identychnist’: natsional’na spetsyfika ukrains’koho literaturnoho metamodernizmu [Shared pain, the war and identity: peculiarities of Ukrainian literary metamodernism]. Suchasni literaturoznavchi studiï, no. 20, рр. 30–58. (in Ukrainian). https://doi.org/10.32589/2411-3883.20.2023.293539

Hundorova, T. (2013). Pisliachornobyl’ska biblioteka: Ukraïns’kyi literaturnyi postmodernism [The post-Chernobyl library: Ukrainian literary postmodernism]. Kyiv : Krytyka, 342 p. (in Ukrainian).

Lytvyn, M. (2016). Rozstrilianyi zïzd kobzariv: zabuta trahediia [The executed congress of Kobzars: a forgotten tragedy]. Na skryzhaliakh. (in Ukrainian). URL: https://na-skryzhalyah.blogspot.com/2016/11/blog-post_9.html (accessed: 28.04.2025).

Pakharenko, V. (2021). Metamodernizm iak khudozhnii napriam: Rozdumy pro novyi typ svitospryiniattia [Metamodernism as an artistic direction: Reflections on a new type of worldview]. Ukraïnska mova ta literatura, no. 7–8, pp. 56–68. (in Ukrainian).

Rozdobudko, I. and Sanin, O. (2016). Sadok vyshnevyi...: literaturnyi synopsys [The Cherry Orchard...: literary synopsis]. In: Kino na paperi. Kyiv : Nora-druk, pp. 79–169. (in Ukrainian).

Sanin, O. (dir.) (2014). Povodyr [The Guide]. Pronto Film. (in Ukrainian).

Teteriuk, M. (2014). “Povodyr”: vyhadani pryhody na tli real’nykh smertei [“The Guide”: fictional adventures set against the backdrop of real deaths]. Kino-Teatr, no. 5. (in Ukrainian). URL: http://archive-ktm.ukma.edu.ua/show_content.php?id=1666 (accessed: 14.04.2025).

Turner, L. (2015). Metamodernism: A brief introduction. Notes on Metamodernism, January 12. URL: https://www.metamodernism.com/2015/01/12/metamodernism-a-brief-introduction/ (accessed: 13.04.2025).

Wallace, D. F. (1993) E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction. The Review of Contemporary Fiction, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 151–194.

Published

2025-06-30

How to Cite

Nikoriak, N. “The Metamodernist Dimension of the Literary Screenplay “The Cherry Orchard. ” (2008) and the Film ‘The Guide’ (2014)”. Pitannâ lìteraturoznavstva, no. 111, June 2025, pp. 338-65, doi:10.31861/pytlit2025.111.338.