Pitannâ lìteraturoznavstva

Artistic Markers in the Essays of Oleksandr Boichenko

2025-01-19T15:04:46+02:00

The essays of Oleksandr Boichenko are primarily a reflex and reflection on the issues of the day. Reflex – as they are almost instant reactions to problems that provoke Ukrainian society. Reflection – as the essayist, within the field of his text, often contemplates reality, employing Socratic maieutics as a means of self-discovery, a technique for creating concise writings, and a way to communicate with readers. However, when Boichenko’s columns, usually published in “Zbruch”, “Krayina”, and other media, are turned into books, the texts are detached from the news stream, stripped of dates and the presence of essays by other authors, and recontextualized by the book’s title. At this point, these texts, initially perceived as direct-action essays, begin to reveal previously unnoticed facets and drift toward artistry. This is particularly true of essays in which Oleksandr Boichenko draws on his personal life experiences – family, friends, travels, and overcoming illness. While these texts could be classified as memoirs, they are constructed based on the principles of artistic writing. The author develops plots (both local, within individual essay-novellas, and overarching, shaping the sequence of texts in each book), employs irony, sarcasm, satire, paronomasia, defamiliarization, overt stylistic devices, anachronisms, narrator juggling, and – in a thoroughly postmodern manner – explicitly and implicitly incorporates quotations into his texts. He meticulously selects epithets, creates fresh metaphors, and maintains rhythm. In crafting his essays, Boichenko builds his own linguistic paradigm, creating a distinctive style. Oleksandr Boichenko primarily works within the genre of diatribe, particularly Menippean satire, although his latest book, “Hra na vybuvannia”, demonstrates a departure from this genre. Boichenko’s texts exhibit a tendency toward monologism, and a noticeable shift to a different stylistic approach emerges. The author moves closer to metamodern discourse, with postmodernist playfulness diminishing, and textual passages oscillating between irony and sincerity.

Issues of Authorship in Nonfiction Literature (on the example of Edith Egger and Martha Hillers)

2025-01-19T15:20:54+02:00

Issues of authorship in nonfiction literature, in particular in works representing traumatic experiences, such as the Auschwitz concentration camp or the period of occupation of Berlin by Soviet troops after World War II, are considered. It is noted that this problem is complex and multifaceted, going beyond the usual understanding of authorship. In the example of the works of Edith Jaeger (“Choice”) and Martha Hillers (“A Woman in Berlin”), the author analyzes different approaches to authorship and their impact on the perception of texts and interaction with the reader. The relevance of the work is due to the lack of a precise terminological apparatus in Ukrainian literary studies for analyzing nonfiction. At the same time, the authorship of fiction is a well-researched aspect; authorship in nonfiction texts, which balances between facts and interpretation, opens up new discussions about the limits of truth and ethical responsibility. Edith Jaeger chooses an open approach, legitimizing her experience through her identity, which serves as a tool of therapy and authority. Instead, Gillers, remaining anonymous, uses this approach as a defense mechanism that allows her to share painful events while avoiding the risk of public attack. It is noted that their works not only transform individual memories into public memory but also question the boundaries between authorship, authenticity, and ethical aspects of representation. Both cases demonstrate that authorship in nonfiction is a key element that influences narrative formation, traumatic experience representation, and audience interaction. The conclusions emphasize that such works reveal a profound dynamic between the personal, historical, and literary dimensions, raising important questions of authenticity, responsibility, and representation.

Imagological Representation of the Balkan City in the Collection of Essays by Joseph Roth “Cities and People”

2025-01-19T15:34:41+02:00

The article makes an imagological analysis of the section “Journey through the Balkans” from the book “Cities and people” written by famous Austrian writer Joseph Roth (1894–1939). The specifics of the formation of the urban imagological image as a socio-cultural space are described, the characteristic features of the author’s travelologists are outlined, including: subjective optics, symbolism, representation of cultural, social and political transformations, etc. The study used elements of the biographical method, because the author came from Brody (now Lviv region), which is the border town. He grew up in a multiethnic multilingual environment on the outskirts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which partially influenced his understanding of the Balkan context and undisguised empathy for the inhabitants of this region. The article mentions J. Roth’s personal experience of participation in the First World War, as the writer resorts to retrospection in the last text of the analyzed chapter and uses his stay in Serbia as a way to close the gestalt and work through the triggers through reporting. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of social contrasts, architectural landscapes, the political structure of different Balkan countries, as well as a generalized description of the mentality and life of the population. It is determined that the author considers cities as a metaphor for identity, cultural crossroads and existential search. He applies an anthropocentric approach to the description of urban space, emphasizing details that reflect the spirit of the times and cultural specifics. The article emphasizes the uniqueness of J. Roth’s reports, which go beyond the traditional ideas about travelogues. The study is interdisciplinary and is based on the methods of imagology, cultural studies, literary hermeneutics and sociocultural analysis. The article contributes to the rethinking of the place of J. Roth’s travelologists in European literature, as well as the author’s contribution to the formation of cultural memory of the Balkans in the interwar period.

Existential Dimensions of War in Ernst Jünger’s Essay “War as Inner Experience”

2025-01-19T15:45:19+02:00

This article explores the existential dimensions of war as presented in Ernst Jünger’s essay “War as Inner Experience”. As a direct participant in World War I, Jünger centers his reflections on the protagonist’s (his own) personal engagement with the destructive phenomenon of war, which serves as a means for self-transformation and the integration of these experiences into a cathartic process. The study underscores that Jünger’s poetic portrayal of combat operates as an attempt to grapple with human existence in its most critical and extreme states. Invoking Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical concept of the “Übermensch”, the analysis posits that war gives rise to a new archetype of soldier – individuals who, through an ongoing process of existential transformation, adeptly navigate societal destruction and derive self-identification from their wartime experiences. Existential categories such as solitude, fear, anxiety, freedom, and faith are intricately woven into each chapter of Jünger’s work. The study further identifies key binary oppositional existential themes that form the conceptual core of Jünger’s narrative. These include the oppositions “Eros and Blood”, “The Trench and Pacifism”, and “Horror and Courage”, which reflect the author’s moral and philosophical contemplation of his wartime experiences. The dichotomy of “Eros and Blood” serves as a metaphor for the tension between the polarities of “life and death”. Blood is emblematic of the mortal violence inflicted upon the enemy, whereas Eros, by contrast, signifies the affirmation of life and a quest to reclaim vitality. Similarly, “The Trench and Pacifism” illustrates the gulf between the harsh realities of frontline existence and the utopian aspiration for peace. The trench becomes a symbol of dehumanization, while pacifism embodies the longing for a harmonious world. Lastly, Jünger’s existential pair “Horror and Courage”, forged through the crucible of war, captures a spectrum of emotional extremes. Horror immobilizes and disorients, whereas courage replenishes the inner resolve of the soldier, enabling decisive action. Through such oppositional binaries, Jünger constructs a conceptual framework in which war emerges as a transformative force, capable of forging a new human identity.

Constructing Reality in Literary Reportage: The Fictional Dimension of the Documentary

2025-01-19T15:55:31+02:00

The article analyzes the methods of constructing reality in literary reportage, using examples from German-language literary reportage texts of the 19th–21st centuries. It is noted that, given the hybrid nature of this text type, it is characterised by documentariness, which implies the depiction of reality through artistic means through the prism of the author's own experience. This feature justifies the consideration of fictional and documentary components in it not in opposition, but in their complementarity as components of a single textual space. It is established that such a combination contributes to a deeper disclosure of the topic, creates an emotionally rich narrative, while maintaining a connection with reality, which makes the text both reliable and artistically expressive. In order to identify the strategy of constructing reality and establish the relationship between the fictional and the documentary, the analysis was carried out within three categories: text structure, formal features and internal characteristic elements (level of direct presence, character level, documentary level). It was found that the presence of photographs and maps in the text, accurate descriptions of the place of action, chronological narration with time specification, detailing of audio elements, direct speech of characters and integration of reference information into the text enhance the documentary nature and reliability of the depicted. The fictional nature of literary reportage is represented by the level of experience, which, although indicating the author’s direct presence, is formed through the author’s reflection, supplemented by stylistic devices. Thus, it is established that the documentary and fictional components engage in a productive interaction, facilitated in particular by the mediality of the text. This mediality is expressed through multichannel elements (such as text, visual imagery, and sound) and intermediality, resulting in a holistic and multidimensional narrative capable of effectively conveying both informational and emotional content.

Non-Fiction from a Historical Perspective: Situation of Lithuanian Statemen Amid Tragic Events of 1940–1941

2025-01-19T17:01:13+02:00

Non-fiction literature has become the crucial historical drama of the present, with its power to change the fate of the state and its interpretations. The line of statehood defence in the context of history or the so-called Mannerheim line is crucial in texts accessing only destroyed documentary sources left from decades of occupation. It is characteristic of the current era, in which real wars of history develop, and fiction causes the need for non-fiction looking for explanations, facts and illuminating shadowed destruction of the State and still dark turns of Lithuania’s historical path. Several episodes of non-fiction electrify society even today. There are unresolved questions where non-fiction is invaluable to changing the pro-Soviet historical narrative. The first question is the meeting of the last Government and the loss of Independence on June 15, 1940. Most Lithuanians believe it was President Antanas Smetona’s guilt (1874–1944), though he voted against the Soviets’ ultimatum and realised where things were leading. The question about the President’s guilt for leaving Lithuania and his mysterious death in an “accidental” fire in the USA is still influential in contemporary Lithuania but seems to have failed for genuine historical research. The following unresolved question is about the June Uprising against the Soviets during the invasion of the German army and the role of Colonel Kazys Škirpa in collaboration with Nazis or being their enemy. Historian and journalist Vidmantas Valiušaitis is engaged in the historical decoding of the Lithuanian Statehood path and building its own Mannerheim line, actually for predicting the fate of Ukraine and a new war with the Imperial ambitions of Russia in Europe.

Strategies of Biographical Writing: Irving Stone and His Fictionalised Biographies of Artists in the Development of Biographical Texts

2025-01-19T17:23:28+02:00

The article is dedicated to the development of the genre of fictionalised biography, its beginnings, the aspects of its evolution and transformation, and inter-art strategies, as highlighted primarily in the material of biographical prose about artists written by the American writer Irving Stone. Starting from 1934, when Lust for Life about Vincent van Gogh came out, and during the upcoming decades, Stone resorted to the genre on many occasions, thus laying the foundation for the development of fictionalised biographies about artists, sculptors and other renowned personalities. In 1957, as a popular biographical novel writer, Stone presented the fundamentals of biographical fiction in a lecture he delivered at the Library of Congress. The paper focuses on the analysis of primary strategies for writing fictional biographies identified in novels about artists, the lecture about biographical novels, and during analysis of the specifics of the development of the genre of fictionalised biographies in a long-term prospect. The article examines the basics of biographical novels in the legacy of Irving Stone and within a wider context of biographical fiction development. The historical and literary approach and intermedial studies have been used to analyse trends in the development of the genre of biographies of artists. The analysis is centred on the essential characteristics of biographical novels about artists by Irving Stone, which feature complicated personalities, exposure of the psychology of the character, and the poetics of inter-art interaction which are revealed through a detailed study of an artist’s studio, description of the creative process, the use of pictorial quotes and ekphrasis, complying with the palette via the use of colour terms. Currently, we are witnessing a resurgence of interest in biographical fiction in Western literary studies, which is attested to by such works as L’épuisement du biographique? еd. by V. Broqua and G. Marche, 2010, a 2014 collection of interviews Truthful Fictions: Conversations with American Biographical Novelists, a 2012 publication of the special edition of the Critique journal on the issues of biographical genre.

“Free Fantasiesˮ: Fictionalization of Autobiographical Narration with the Help of Music

2025-01-19T17:43:54+02:00

The article explores the fictionalization of autobiographical texts with the help of music. The theoretical basis of the research lies in an analysis of fictionality from a comparative perspective of arts and media. Central to the analysis is the concept of “automediality” which is closely linked to the cultural and media nature of individual and collective identities as well as the principles of intermediality. Within such a theoretical framework, subjectivity is seen as a concept constructed using bodily and medial techniques. Thus, the study aims to reveal a model of creative becoming in the way it is presented in the autobiographical short story “The Future of Beauty” („Die Zukunft der Schönheitˮ, 2018) by the contemporary German writer Friedrich Christian Delius (1943–2022). It is stated that the decisive role in the described process of remembering adolescence and youth by the author is played by a well-known concert of free jazz saxophone player Albert Ayler, which F. C. Delius attended in 1966 as a member of the not least famous meetings of Group 47 at Princeton. The analysis revealed how American free jazz is becoming an important non-narrative form of self-construction and the main modus for portraying oneself. The concert is depicted as a revelation of one’s own creative life. It is argued that the German writer has a particular media-specific technique of reflecting on one’s own creative personality, namely that he skilfully semanticizes specific performances of the jazz concert and, thus, fictionalizes the autobiographical story. Communication with one’s past, contextualized and activated by a jazz concert, is perceived as a fictional event, specifically in its performability aspect: within a concert, as a performative act, we observe gradual and immediate change not just in the perception of music but also in the attitude toward one’s past.

“Yaremchuk: The Incomparable World of Beauty” (2024): The Literary Potential of a Non-Fiction (Cinema) Text

2025-01-19T17:53:02+02:00

In terms of the discourse of the literary potential of non-fiction (cinema) texts, the article under discussion presents a detailed analysis of the biographical documentary “Yaremchuk: The Incomparable World of Beauty” (2024) directed by Artem Hryhorian. It points out that in order to artistically reconstruct the history of personal and creative growth of the famous Bukovynian singer and folk artist, the first Ukrainian pop star, the lead singer of the VIA “Smerichka” Nazariy Yaremchuk, the filmmakers have skillfully combined a number of non-fictional sources in the film. In particular, these are diaries, memoirs, interviews, expert comments, photographs, film documents, and newsreels, which make the film emotionally rich and authentic, at the same time revealing the deep literary potential of the documentary text. The article emphasizes that Nazariy Yaremchuk’s diaries have become a reliable source of knowledge about him, allowing the readers to understand his inner world, thoughts, feelings, experiences, as well as trace up the sequence of his life events. They do not just outline the author’s inner world, his individual perception of the surrounding reality, but, within the literary discourse, become a unique text, marked with poetry and deep psychology. This cinema text is a literary study of an exceptional personality with a unique inner world and a deep understanding of the Ukrainian soul, with spirituality and close connection to nature, with a desire to preserve and develop folk culture, promoting it in his work. The artist is regarded as a special character of his time. He expresses the spirit of the era whose social and spiritual life is reflected in his fate. The filmmakers present the material in such a way as to convey the hero’s inner feelings and love for his country and his muse – the song. Accordingly, the latter plays a leading role in the film, becoming a means of expressing the inner world and psychology of the hero. The songs that sound in the film set the mood for a certain emotional atmosphere, as well as move on the film narrative, emphasizing the importance of the musical heritage that Nazariy Yaremchuk left behind. It is essential that the cinema text intertextually refers to the legendary film-musical “Chervona Ruta” (1971), the film directed by the Estonian filmmakers “Smerichka Ensemble under the Direction of Levko Dutkivsky” (1975), and the musical film “Chervona Ruta. 10 Years Later” (1981).

The Genre on the Boundary: Innovative Features of the Czech Enigmatic Prose

2025-01-19T18:32:52+02:00

The author of the present contribution deals with the development of the Czech enigmatic prose since the 1960s which arose from a specific branch of classical science fiction by means of the gradual transition to the problem of enigma expressing the cinviction of the extraterrestrial origin of humankind which might radically change the whole concept of history of the Earth and our notion of the rise and fall of cosmos.This type of nonfiction has often an artistic character of belles lettres (fiction) which absolved of the responsibility for strict rationalism and the only right views shared by the science mainstream. The authors of this type of prose quite frequently used genre masks for expressing their real research intentions. Later they ceased to be so timid and started create the real literature of the fact that moved along the boundary of fiction and nonfiction like the majority of world bestsellers. The clusters of such works and the groupings of their authors have been formed the special canon having – as a other genres or types of literature – its fandom and also sharp critics. The author of the present contribution focused on two main figures of this current – Ludvík Souček (1926–1978) and Arnošt Vašíček (born 1953) – not avoiding their predecessors in world interliterary community. The present contribution came to the conclusion that especially this genre type has an immense potential to develop and link various poetological strata of both fiction and nonfiction permeating them in most prolific way. From the point of view of literary scholarship these artefacts have been playing the key role in world literature, at least the most read and readable which lasu contains strong elements of genuine creativity.

Assignment in Anti-Utopia

2025-01-19T18:49:59+02:00

The investigation proposes a comparative analysis of three modern bestsellers of non-fiction which being too different in their subject matter nevertheless are connected with the name of the English writer George Orwell and his famous novel “1984”. An attempt is made to clarify the cause of that. The one is the 75th anniversary since the book came out, and the other – an extreme relevance of the famous dystopia that turned out to be on time and called for very much at our difficult time first of all because of the events connected with the military aggression of Russia. The war I Ukraine ruined the remnants of illusions about the Soviet/social brotherhood of people discovering clearly the essence of the Russian empire totalitarian regime. The comparative analysis of the books proposed (Lynskey Dorian. Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell “1984”, 2019; Ricks Thomas E. Churchill and Orwell. The Fight for Freedom, 2017; Laurence Rees. Hitler and Stalin. The Tyrants and the Second World War, 2020) made it possible to identify a general direction of the authors’ thoughts that was prompted namely by Orwell – the necessity to reveal the essence of totalitarianism and the possibility to live in future without the Great Brother. But is there ever such a possibility? The authors very often come to sad conclusion that makes the Orwell’s predictions concerning the further development of the history and society true.

Life as a Journey: Travel Essays of Petro Franko

2025-01-19T19:26:07+02:00

The article reveals the early period of work of Petro Franko (1890–1941) as a representative of the literary Franko dynasty (the youngest son of Ivan Franko). The exploration is based on historical-documentary searches, in particular archival and library. The scientific novelty of the exploration lies in consideration of Petro Franko’s travel essays , which for a long time were out of the attention of researchers due to the prohibition the figure of Ivan Franko’s son in Soviet literary studies. Petro Franko’s life was cut short by the totalitarian Stalinist regime and in consequence of his works were overlooked by researchers. The main attention is focused on the consideration of travel (traveling) essays appeared in the works of Peter Franko as a result of his passion for sports and tourism. The peculiarities of new thematic genre types of essays and reports are clarified: ski essays and ski reports (from the English ski – skiing). A significant number of texts on the topic of skiing in his work and their cross-cutting content and poetic features give the right to claim about Petro Franko’s complete ski text as a phenomenon of sports and travel literature and journalism. The corpus of texts united by the topos of mountains is also taken into consideration. Ivan Franko’s love for traveling in Pidgirya and Chornagora, attached to his children, was also reflected in the work of his son Petro. It is asserted that the son continued and developed the mountain (in particular the Carpathians) text of his father (in his Boykivsko-Pidgirnyi and Hutsulsko-Verkhovynskyi variations). Peter Franko’s travel essays enriched the mountain (Carpathian) text of Ukrainian literature.

The Image of Narcissus in Literary Criticism

2025-01-19T19:37:07+02:00

A mythical image takes on new connotations in literary criticism. The image of the myth is used as an explanatory route from the context that maintains the explanation of the relationship between the text and the author/writer. Narcissism is analyzed from the perspective of the “mirror effect” paradigm by university professor Sanda-Maria Ardeleanu and the participants of the transdisciplinary project: Fiction-Psychiatry / Anthropology. The main objectives are: differential explanation of narcissism, depending on time; the approach of several scientific models; explaining the scientific consensus on the notion of narcissism; the investigation of narcissism in some Romanian writers from the 20th century. In this regard, the literary critic elaborates his vision in an explanatory stratification that contains certain landmarks, which the reader begins to notice the interpretive construct similar to a journey. The mythical image used in the study of literary criticism has an element that fascinates through its recognition and the detection of the transformations attributed to it by the researcher. Academician Eugen Simion, a graduate of the University of Bucharest, cataloged in “Fiction of the intimate diary” the relationships between the author and the diary from the perspective of Narcis’s fears/expectations. The problem of reflection involves the researcher to probe another fundamental element of the myth – the mirror. And this is not about the surface of the lake or the Venetian mirror. Any mirror is imperfect for the one who struggles with the goal of stopping time, of perpetuating himself in an eternal metamorphosis. Academician Mihai Cimpoi investigates the Eminesian creation through the monad Narcissus – Hyperion. Other correspondences persist with other mythical characters, such as: Neptune, Prometheus, Orpheus, Parce, etc. To explain the possible perspectives of knowledge in Eminesian creation, the researcher will be determined by two names from Greek mythology: Narcissus and Hyperion.

Making Non-Fiction a Literary and Political Profession of Faith: The Making of a “Poached” Work, the Construction of an Authorial Posture and Strategic Literary Uses of Sociology by Annie Ernaux

2025-01-19T19:49:36+02:00

This article examines the uses of non-fiction in the autosociobiographical work of Annie Ernaux, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2022, and the literary and political issues involved in blurring the boundaries between literature and sociology. From the “transpersonal I” of La Place (Gallimard, 1984) to the “collective autobiography” of Les Années (Gallimard, 2008), via her “exterior diaries” described as “ethnotexts”, the writer has gradually built up a distinctive authorial posture in which she shows herself as an ‘ethnologist of herself’ and of everyday life “down below”, that of her working-class social milieu of origin, in constant search of the “right” form for such narratives. Sociologically informed, this singular literary approach, characterized by a double rejection of the pitfalls of misery and populist posturing, but also by a constant concern to control her own reception, aims to objectify her upward social migration trajectory and those of her social peers, in a deliberately minimalist style, ostensibly sparing of literary means and effects, often described by literary critics as “flat” or “white” writing. Opposing her concern for the “truth” to the autofiction movement to which she is still sometimes misunderstood, the author, who sees literature as a political ‘weapon of combat’, has thus initiated a specific form of autosociobiography, which is not without risk with regard to her position and recognition in the contemporary French literary field.

Sociocommunicative Practice of Yuriy Fedkovych as a Dialogue of Cultures

2025-01-19T10:06:36+02:00

The history of Yuriy Fedkovych is represented not so much in a global sense as in an existential one – considering that every individual we communicate with represents a new distinct culture. Initially, the specific system of the writer’s connections with his closest environment, especially his father, A. Hordynsky de Fedkovych, is examined, indicating the validity of purely ethnic peculiarities of Bukovynian Hutsuls’ communication in the discussed situation and the “textual”, dialogic openness of Y. Fedkovych’s literary and public activities to Others. Then, various forms of the artist’s relationships with Others are distinguished. These are primarily relationships of unity, dialogic communication, subordinated to high democratic-cultural goals and connected with literature and creative practice. This refers to contacts with his sister Mariia, selected representatives of creative intelligentsia (R. Rothkähl, E.-R. Neibauer, A. Kobyliansky and K. Horbal, E. Maroshani, D. Taniachkevych, M. Drahomanov, S. Smal-Stotsky). In relationships with peasants and fellow soldiers, Y. Fedkovych similarly demonstrated not an authoritarian, imperative, but a subject-to-subject style of communication and received high humanistic values in return. However, sometimes these dialogues, due to the utilitarian human nature of some Others, were unable to develop into a full-fledged dialogue of cultures. The circumstances of Y. Fedkovych’s complicated communication with the native intelligentsia and himself in the second half of his life (from the mid-1860s) are examined, which was a reaction to lower forms of relationships between communicants – pseudo-dialogical, even utilitarian, but not complete. Then, conversations with books compensated for the deficit of human attention, which was a form of genuine dialogue of cultures. It is concluded that Y. Fedkovych’s limited communication with contemporaries largely prompted him to communicate with them and all Others through his creative work. The writer possessed a high level of culturological thinking, effectively received and transmitted values of native and foreign cultures, thus he can be considered perhaps the brightest carrier of his ethnic community’s cultural code into the broadest cultural context.

Authentic Chronicle of Knowledge about Eminescu

2025-01-19T12:35:07+02:00

Review on the book: Cimpoi, M. (2018). Dicționar enciclopedic Mihai Eminescu. Chișinău : Editura Gunivas, 800 p.

Voices of Memory by Women Authors: The Narration of the Traumatic Past in Ukrainian Literature at the Turn of the 20th and 21st Centuries

2025-01-19T20:38:40+02:00

The article deals with the study of the representation of the traumatic past in German and Ukrainian literature. The research demonstrates the role of the “culture of memories” and its impact on the process of “overcoming the past” in the political and cultural life of the Ukrainian people. Besides, the research results show the characteristic of understanding the traumas of the past in German-speaking society. There are a lot of works of modern German literature, which are devoted to the crimes of the Nazi regime and their impact on German culture and identity. Many modern literary-critical articles explore individual and collective memory, the problem of guilt, and the difficulties of literary interpretation of the unspeakable. The work is based on research of the important works of famous scientists (T. Hundorova, Y. Polishchuk, M. Riabchuk, O. Pukhonska, M. Barabash, L. Lavrynovych, O. Yavorska, R. Holyk, K. Rutar). Ukrainian literature is analyzed as a space where post-colonial discourse manifests itself, and literary texts are an important tool for reflecting and transmitting historical events and personal and collective memories. Based on the analysis of the novels of V. Amelina “Home for Dom”, O. Zabuzhko “Museum of Abandoned Secrets” and S. Andrukhovych “Amadoka”, the authors demonstrate the traumatic past of Ukrainian individual and collective destinies. Studying such tragedies as the Holodomor, Stalinist repressions, deportations, and wars is important for the formation of national identity. These are not simple stories of Ukrainian families, but serious studies by the authors of the problem of memory. These works are an important contribution to modern Ukrainian literature, and therefore this topic is a relevant research material. In this article, the culture-historical and comparative methods are used.

Implementation of the Compensatory and Therapeutic Function of Religion in Fiction (based on William Paul Young’s “The Shack”)

2025-01-19T11:43:42+02:00

The article explores the compensatory and therapeutic function of religion in fiction through the example of William Paul Young’s novel “The Shack”. The analysis is conducted from an interdisciplinary perspective that integrates theological, philosophical, and literary approaches. The central plotline of the novel revolves around the existential struggle of the protagonist, Mack, who undergoes profound spiritual and axiological despair following the loss of his child. The symbolic space of the novel, built on religious imagery and biblical references, provides a foundation for understanding pain, despair, and faith as interconnected elements of human existence. The author examines the literary text, which abounds in religious symbols and images, as a therapeutic tool that allows the reader, through empathizing with the characters, to reflect on their own experiences of suffering, discover pathways toward spiritual transformation, and restore trust in higher values. Particular attention is given to the triad of characters – Mack, Nan, and Missy – who symbolize struggle, trust, and love as key stages of the human spiritual journey. The article emphasizes the significance of such narratives in times of war, when a crisis of meaning and the loss of orientation necessitate the spiritual revitalization of individuals. It concludes that the synergy of the artistic and religious dimensions in literature holds potential for fostering spiritual resilience, where suffering is perceived as a space for encountering the transcendent, and the literary text serves as a medium for therapeutic catharsis and the restoration of life resources for communication and creativity.

Formation of Donbas Mythological Image in Ukrainian Literature: Cultural, Social, and Political Aspects

2025-01-19T12:06:15+02:00

This article explores the process of shaping the image of Donbas in Ukrainian literature, perceived as a region artificially isolated from the rest of Ukraine. Particular attention is devoted to the mythologisation of Donbas’s space and identity, which has influenced cultural and social processes while intensifying the challenges posed by hybrid warfare. The study draws on the work of Ukrainian and foreign scholars who examine the impact of the Soviet legacy, politically motivated information campaigns, and the narratives crafted in literary and artistic works. The article highlights the transformation of regional identity, the emergence of new cultural codes and narratives, and the role of internally displaced persons in modernising and constructing civil society in Ukraine. Emphasis is placed on the reception of the Donbas myth in literary and documentary works of the early 21st century. The study observes that contemporary literary research has yet to provide a systematic understanding of this phenomenon, despite existing studies on literary genres, the interplay between historical truth and fiction, and structural elements. The importance of developing a new field within literary studies – namely, the “local urban text” – is underscored. This field includes specific interpretations such as the “eastern text” or the “Donetsk text”. Within this context, the works of Oksana Zabuzhko, Serhiy Zhadan, and Andriy Kokotiukha are analysed. Their essays are considered sources of cultural and conceptual codes that shape contemporary perceptions of Donbas. Thus, the study of the symbolism and mythologisation of Donbas by these authors offers fresh perspectives for literary debates, highlighting the uniqueness and multidimensional richness of this region within the Ukrainian national and cultural context.

To the Issue of Differentiating between Science Fiction and Fantasy

2025-01-19T10:49:50+02:00

The article under studies deals with the issue of differentiating between the genres of science fiction and fantasy within contemporary literary theory. Particular emphasis has been laid on historical, theoretical, and receptive approaches to the evolution of these two genres. The article regards the concept of the genre matrix, which reflects the key invariants and dynamic changes in the genre nature of literary texts and focuses on the views of G. Genette, T. Todorov, J.-M. Schaeffer, as well as contemporary Ukrainian researchers who offer innovative approaches to the study of genre evolution. The article also traces up how fiction, which historically emerged at the intersection of mythology, folklore, and epic, evolved into meta-genre forms such as science fiction and fantasy. It considers the specifics of the simulative chronotope, which combines the real and the imaginary, intertextuality as a key element of genre construction, as well as the receptive orientation of the genre. The concepts of genre transformation and modification, which affect the transformation of genres into new forms, are analyzed separately. The study also emphasizes the differences and common features between science fiction and fantasy, in particular, through the criteria of chronotope, motivation of events, and receptive specificity of texts. It suggests regarding fantasy as a meta-genre with a wide range of varieties, from epic to philosophical. The differentiation of the fantastic deepens the understanding of genre boundaries and mechanisms of literary dynamics.

Novel at the Crossroads of Genres: How G. K. Chesterton Combined Detective Fiction, Fantasy, and Thriller in “The Man Who Was Thursday”

2025-01-19T11:00:42+02:00

The article explores the distinctive genre structure of Gilbert Keith Chesterton’s novel. The author examines how Chesterton skillfully blended elements from three genres – detective fiction, fantasy, and thriller – creating a work that transcends traditional genre boundaries. Special attention is given to how Chesterton used the detective element to build intrigue and tension, the fantasy elements to delve into philosophical questions, and the thriller aspect to maintain a dynamic atmosphere filled with unpredictability and mystery. Chesterton effectively integrates these genres to craft a narrative that immerses the reader in a world of constant unexpected events. The detective aspect serves as the main tool for structuring the plot and developing the central intrigue, as the characters strive to uncover a conspiracy and identify the true leader of the anarchists. Fantasy elements are employed by Chesterton to reflect his philosophical ideas and explore essential questions of existence. The surreal events in the novel heighten the sense of a dreamlike atmosphere and symbolize the author’s deep philosophical reflections on the nature of the human soul, free will, and the invisible hand of God in human life. Thriller elements give the novel its dynamism and emotional intensity, which permeates the entire text. The constant feeling of danger, pursuit, and mysterious characters reinforces the atmosphere of anxiety, emphasizing the key themes of the work. The article also highlights how the combination of different genre elements allowed Chesterton to create a complex and multilayered narrative. This genre flexibility helps the novel remain relevant even many years after its creation. By skillfully intertwining detective fiction, fantasy, and thriller, the work not only captivates with its intrigue but also invites readers to reflect on deeper issues of morality, free will, and the nature of good and evil.

Heteromorphic Verse in Romanian Poetry of the First Decades of the 20th Century

2025-01-19T10:20:29+02:00

In the article the Romanian heteromorphic verse of the early 20th century is examined. It is shown that, despite rejecting traditional norms of verse organization – such as isometry, isotony, isosyllabism, rhyme, and regular strophic patterns – these works are nonetheless based on certain versification systems. The first experiments with poetic forms were recorded specifically in syllabo-tonic verse. Such experiments include heterometric or free forms of a nontraditional type, which are constructed on the principle of graphic segmentation of the verse, meaning these works consist of regular syllabo-tonic lines but with disrupted line-length uniformity. Among them, we identify structures with a metrical dominant, where the rhythmic inertia of the text is still perceptible, and constructions with an unlimited range of line lengths, where rhythmic scansion is lost. Another manifestation of disorder is found in heterometric verses – disordered structures that combine lines written in different meters without a systematic pattern, creating a unified whole that cannot be separated into distinct components. Within such structures, we distinguish works where lines written in different syllabo-tonic meters are disorderly combined, and poems where syllabo-tonic verses alternate with tonic lines and even with free verse. Tonic disorder is represented by heteroictic forms, which appear in two types: structures with a certain regularity in the number of ictuses and inter-ictic intervals, organized into strophoids, and structures with a chaotic alternation of lines with varying ictus patterns and a wide (ranging from zero to five) inter-ictic interval range. It is demonstrated that the emergence of heteromorphic structures reflects an effort to overcome the excessive rigidity of canonical verse. Its defining feature lies in the intention to challenge the fundamental principle of homomorphism in versification techniques.

Therapeutic Function of an Artistic Image: Poetics of Biblical Images Serhiy Zhadan

2025-01-19T10:34:11+02:00

This article delineates the specific therapeutic function of art in general and the artistic image in particular. Their therapeutic and compensatory potential is examined within philosophical and literary discourses. The discussion engages with Plato’s reflections on the educational and moral role of art and Aristotle’s theory concerning the cathartic effects of tragedy. Contributions from V. Maggi, S. Haupt, G. Lehnert, E. Zeller, E. Müller, and J. Bernays are considered. The study explores Friedrich Nietzsche's notion of the receptive-compensatory function of art, particularly the reconciliation of Apollonian and Dionysian principles. Sigmund Freud’s concepts are interpreted in relation to the unconscious and the interaction between individuals and art during periods of epistemological crisis. Roman Ingarden’s perspective emphasises the therapeutic aim of literature when there is a corresponding receptive inquiry from the reader. Key ideas from reception aesthetics are foregrounded, highlighting art’s capacity to act as a medium of transcendence, influence the reader, and underpin the therapeutic effects of art and literature. Hans Robert Jauss’s concepts of the “horizon of expectations” and catharsis as a communicative dimension of aesthetic experience are revisited. Wolfgang Iser’s analysis of aesthetic experience in addressing gaps of indeterminacy is examined, alongside Umberto Eco’s insights on receptive indeterminacy as a defining feature of the “open work”, which catalyses co-creation by the recipient, stimulating imagination, fostering empathy, and providing intellectual therapy. The study also considers the therapeutic potential of sacred images during periods of radical epistemological shifts prompted by cataclysms, historical events, revolutions, or wars. Mircea Eliade’s framework of the “sacred-profane” dichotomy and the capacity of sacred images to function as points of transcendence, transcendent centres, or ontological anchors is discussed. Paul Ricoeur’s interpretation of the therapeutic influence of sacred motifs, images, and symbols on readers as they engage with existential questions is also addressed. Finally, the therapeutic role of biblical imagery – God, the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, and the Apostle Thomas – is analysed through the lens of Serhiy Zhadan’s poetry collection “Life of Maria” (2015).