Pitannâ lìteraturoznavstva

Contemporary Television Reading of I. Nechuy-Levytsky’s Novel “Kaidash’s Family”: Semiotic Aspect

Svitlana Zemliana — 2024-06-28

This article meticulously examines the semiotic aspects of the contemporary televisual adaptation of I. Nechuy-Levytsky’s story “Kaidash’s Family”, directed by N. Vorozhbyt. It outlines the intricate specifics of the adaptation process against its historical backdrop, with particular focus on the temporal shift to the modern era (2010–2014) and subsequent thematic reinterpretations. The semiotic ramifications interwoven into the translation of literary language and the visual lexicon of the film have been scrutinized. Through a comprehensive analysis of narrative structure, thematic motifs, and ideological reconfigurations, the transformation and reinterpretation of semiotic signifiers from a literary source into a cinematic medium are elucidated. The adaptation strategically diverges from the original literary source, skillfully introducing new thematic elements such as rampant consumerism, rural unemployment, and a crisis of cultural identity. This transformative process entails the nuanced decoding of literary signs into visual and auditory realms, wherein cinematic techniques are employed to encapsulate the essence of the original narrative. The intricate intertextual dialogues embedded in the adaptation are also examined, highlighting the adept utilization of audiovisual cues such as motifs from radio news to convey multifaceted layers of meaning to the audience. The portrayal of landscapes and visual elements in both iterations is juxtaposed to discern subtle disparities in the depiction of the Ukrainian countryside. It is concluded that the creative ethos of the adaptation hinges on cross-mediality and the synergistic interaction of artistic mediums, engendering a synesthetic experience for the audience. By adeptly navigating the intricate interplay between literary and cinematographic signifiers, the screen adaptation adeptly reshapes the narrative landscape for modern viewers, while preserving the essence of I. Nechuy-Levytsky’s original work.

From “Parability” to a film parable: Specifics of the Cinematic Novella by I. Drach “A Spring for the Thirsty”

Nataliia Nikoriak — 2024-06-28

Over the past decades, Ukrainian literary studies have been actively dealing with the interdisciplinary analysis of literary texts that are functioning on the verge of different artistic systems. This phenomenon may be explained by the tendency of art to the cross-genre transgression, which results in the complexity of text bounding principles, whereby the texts themselves are not only borrowed from other types of art or interpreted, but have also their codes creatively deformed. Today, however, the issue of genre continuity in the discourse of the poetics of intermediality is getting especially significant, and in particular, the issue of the specifics of the reception and transformation of literary genres in cinematography. The cinematic novella “A Spring for the Thirsty” (1964) by I. Drach is a text that is close in its parameters to the peculiarities of parable poetics, which has been fully implemented in the film by Y. Ilyenko (1965). Direct instruction and unambiguous didacticism (characteristic of the parable genre) are reinforced by philosophical reflection (from prologue to epilogue). The key character is portrayed primarily through the psychological motivation of his actions, with features of a certain idealization of the image in the dichotomous tandem of “parents and children”. In terms of parable specifics, particular emphasis has been laid on the tendency to special generalization, which is marked with the highest degree of conventionality, the principle of abstraction of the idea, and the universality of the chronotope. I. Drach actively uses dreams or visions (metaphorical or symbolic) that are montaged with the main events of the text, thus relaying old Levko’s inner experiences, sub-consciousness, fears, or hopes, while blurring the line between reality and unreality. The use of such duality in the narrative of the text, reinforced by the active insertion of intertextual and intermedial codes, offers a deep philosophical subtext inherent in the parable.

Musical Poliphony of Modernist Writing: British / Ukrainian Women’s Perspective

Nadiya Polishchuk — 2024-06-28

The subject of scientific research is a comparative analysis of the British and Ukrainian women writers short stories from the perspective of the interaction of literature and music in the period of modernism. This approach involves considering music as an expression of the specific modernist worldview of writers, passed through the prism of the inner “Self” of the female personality. It is based on the literary analysis of the works of V. Woolf “String Quartet”, K. Mansfield “The Singing Lesson”, “Weak Heart” and “Spring Pictures”, D. Vikonska “Polonaise D-moll Chopin (op. 71, No. 1)”, “Prelude of fis-dur No. 2, Vasil Barvinsky”, “Music” and I. Vilde “Pianist”, “Oriental Melody” and “Bizarre Heart”. The study of the phenomenon of musicalization of prose, based on the concept of the famous intermedialist W. Wolf, allows us to identify various forms of its presentation. In the content aspect, we can talk about the presence of two varieties of thematization of music in mentioned literary texts: intra- and paratextual thematization. In the structural aspect, all three forms of imitation are represented: verbal music; imaginary content analogy, expressed mainly in the associative imagery of water (love); a formal and structural analogy, presented as an imitation of musical macroforms (quartet and fuget) and microforms (compositional technique of polyphony). A notable feature of this study is the discovery of original creative parallels in the poetics of modernist women writers – simultaneously at the intersection and within the national literatures. Imaginary content analogies are related to the writing style of Ukrainian and British women writers – D. Vikonska and V. Woolf, as well as I. Vilde and K. Mansfield; the imitation form of musical microforms reveals the internal stylistic similarity of both British and Ukrainian literatures: amplification constructions in V. Woolf and K. Mansfield writings, on the one side and syntactic modifications of key reference lexemes in D. Vikonska and I. Vilde, on the other side.

Parareality as a Structural and Semantic Component of Fantasy Genre Texts

Aliona Matiychak — 2024-06-28

The paper is motivated by new perspectives in expanding the boundaries of the fantasy text analysis in the aspect of its structural and semantic components. Since the thematic context of fantasy is extremely broad, the research is predominantly focused on the plane of parareality, as a variable of the space-time continuum. The article delves into the specificity of pararealities in the texts by J. K. Rowling and S. Clarke. The common textual characteristic of the authors’ fantasy is the creation of parallel realities with the eternal confrontation between good and evil. However, J. K. Rowling offers a new, completely fictional world, the product of fictitious realities with a characteristic vagueness of geographical and temporal specificity. Instead, the novel “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell” by S. Clarke clearly expresses the combination of historical and authorial contextualization (historical novel of the Napoleonic Wars and authentic mythopoetics). As a convergence of real history and fantasy genre the specific character of thematic, hermeneutic and stylistic components of the historical fantasy “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell” indicates the transition from exemplification to modulation of the genre identity with the plenitude of its hypertextual links: imitation of the historical novel, compilation with fantasy format by means of mythological structures and images stylized as Celtic folklore, as well as its transformation into an alternate history. Overall, S. Clarke’s novel is considered as a fantasy genre variation with a conscious replacement of real historical events and conventional phenomena by hypothetical variations against the background of simulated pararealities.

To Literary Anniversaries: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Kostiantyn Ushynsky, Olena Pchilka, William Somerset Maugham, Ernest Hemingway

Roman Dzyk — 2024-06-28

To Literary Anniversaries: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Kostiantyn Ushynsky, Olena Pchilka, William Somerset Maugham, Ernest Hemingway

Women’s Rights in the Academic World (Based on the Novel “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus)

Kateryna Kalynych — 2024-06-28

An analysis of the debut novel “Lessons in Chemistry” (2022) by the American writer and professional copywriter Bonnie Garmus is carried out from the perspective of feminist criticism. In particular, the issue of gender inequality and the struggle for women’s rights in the academic topos is emphasized through the prism of a biographical story about a talented chemical scientist, a single mother, Elizabeth Zott. Such interpolation to the university environment and focusing on the private life and scientific activities of the main character, as well as focusing on the research work of the entire Hastings Research Institute, gives a reason to assume that B. Garmus integrates the synergistic unity of two genre varieties – lablit and Professorroman – into the text. It is emphasized that the patriarchal oppression of a psychological and physical nature in the academic space of the novel “Lessons in Chemistry” is experienced by the scientist Elizabeth Zott and the employee of the human resources department Miss Fresk. Instead, the male personosphere demonstrates deeply rooted gender prejudice and aggression, toxic masculinity, sexism and sometimes misogyny. Intelligence analyzes the interaction of the protagonist Elizabeth with other characters. The author’s focus on gender parity stratifies male images of the Hastings Research Institute into negative (Dr. Myers – sexual harassment, quasi-science, Dr. Donatti and Dr. Boryvaits – violations of academic integrity) and positive (talented Calvin Evans who promotes equal relations, but is not devoid of patriarchal stereotypes), thus forming a gradation in the perception of the characters in the recipients – from misandry (misogyny) to sympathy and affection. The author emphasizes typical for the scientific environment of the 1950s and 60s of the 20th century. Discrimination and prejudice against women in science, criticizes established masculine and feminine roles, condemns academic and social obstacles to women’s career success and the limitation of their personal development. The topical issues raised in the novel for the modern academic center (gender discrimination, sexual harassment, the destructive influence of the patriarchal structure, the violation of academic integrity and ethical norms) and the need to continue the struggle of women scientists for their professional recognition and emancipation are emphasized.

On the Composition of Vasyl Pachovsky’s Collection of Poems “Scattered Pearls” (versification aspect)

Borys Bunchuk — 2024-06-28

The article under discussion studies the collection of poems by Vasyl Pachovsky “Scattered Pearls” (1901) in terms of the principle (rather popular in Ukrainian poetry of the early XX century) not to place the poetic works with the same form next to each other. In accordance with this principle, the article also briefly regards the composition of the collections of love poems by V. Pachovsky’s predecessors I. Franko and P. Karmansky. In I. Franko’s “Withered Leaves” (1896), there is no arrangement of verses with similar forms next to each other. However, in the collection “From the Briefcase of a Suicide” (1899), there occur certain cases when the verses with the same forms stand next to each other. Consequently, the article introduces the notion of the coefficient of coincidence of form (the ratio of the number of repetitions to the number of poems in the collection). In P. Karmansky’s collection, it is 8,3 %. In the collection by V. Pachovsky, there is the tendency to place works with different forms next to each other. In addition, the article also considers pairs of verses, in which the poet tries to diversify the form with the help of stanza (for example, in the works “Vichno vesny povertaiut’...” and “Iak zazulia vesnu chuie...”), rhyme (for example, “Shumka” ta “Orlynyi let”), introduction of systematic internal rhyme (for example, “Oi navysly moï mysly...” and “I znov buv ia na zabavi...”). The article identifies six cases of repetition of the form in adjacent poems. The coefficient of form repetition in the collection is 5 %. The following pairs of poems have been analyzed in the article: “Na shcho ïkhav na zabavu…” and “Oi iak more stohne hore…”, “Chomu to iak more fyliuie…” and “Hanusiu, skhylysia na hrudy…”, “Oi navysly moï mysly...” and “I znov buv ia na zabavi...”, “Zontsi R. (Oi ty s’mishku, s’mii sia, s’mii!)” and “Iak myne dytynnyi rai…”, “Damen-Vals” and “Znov ia bachu ïkh na muku…”, “Moia Steftsiu, moia zirko…” and “Found pearls”. It is shown that a kind of «justification» for the coincidence of form in the adjacent poems of the collection is their semantic unity. Sometimes one poem is a continuation of the other. It is proposed to study other collections by the poet in terms of form.

Anthroponyms in F. Peretti’s Novel “The Visit”

Aneliya Polshchak — 2024-06-28

The article examines important anthroponyms in the novel “The Visit” by Frank Peretti, an outstanding author in the genre of Christian fiction whose works are on a par with the stories and novels of Tolkien and Lewis. Anthroponyms in this work of Peretti acquire importance due to the deep meaning connection with the literary, biblical tradition, revealed thanks to the application of the method of careful reading. The author’s naming of his characters testifies to his vision of the text, characters, language picture of the world, and reality, is a factor that determines the ideological and semantic level of the work. Therefore, similar studies open perspectives in these areas. The investigation focuses on the anthropoms of several characters with variants of the name Maria, which also include a significant element of symbolism, several names that belong to one character and reflect the evolution of the hero and his self-identification, mutual reinforcement of the names and surnames of the characters. Thus, for example, the set of names associated with Brandon Nichols (Justin Cantwell) reveals his evolution from a person who succumbs to suffering to a false messiah with signs of false brilliance and pathos. The advantage of this study is taking into account the functionality of anthroponyms, which, thanks to their widespread use, contribute the quality of characters some objects of the story (for example, a church dedicated to the Virgin of the Fields). The mutual strengthening of the meaning of different degrees of anthroponyms can be traced both in characters with a tendency towards a clear homogeneous positive orientation (Marian Ciardelli, Kyle Sherman) and in a hero with a more diverse range of evaluation of personality qualities (Brandon Nichols). The presence of different, unrelated, or little related meanings of the name helps to create a three-dimensional image of the hero, as in the case of Brandon Nichols, and leave the reader free for his/her perception and interpretation of the characters.

“Mesopotamia” by Serhii Zhadan: Metrical and Rhythmic Parameters of Poetic Texts

Yuliia Tsivinska — 2024-06-28

The article analyzes the second part of S. Zhadan’s book “Mesopotamia”, “Clarification and Generalization”, which contains thirty poetic texts, from the point of view of versioning. In addition, the paper presents an interpretation of the book’s title that transfers it to Ukrainian basis and possibly reflects some details of the author’s biography. Mesopotamia is associated with Kharkiv, the city of S. Zhadan’s formation. The study offers a general picture of the metrical and rhythmic characteristics of the poems written in the sizes of the syllabic-tonic (iambic), tonic systems (dolnik, metrical, accented verse), and free verse. Also the article indicates the features of their interaction and combination in one text. Among the poems, there are also those that are considered transitional metrical forms and polymetrical constructions, one of which (the poem “And then she says”) combines not only with tonic metres but also the free verse. We raise the question of distinguishing between accentual verse and polymetrical construction on the basis of the quantitative ratio of lines of a particular size. The author makes an attempt to highlight specific features of the writer’s free verse, in particular, irregular rhyme, repetition, stylistic figures, division of syntactic units by means of ending pauses, which form the rhythm of poetry and emphasize its meaning. We substantiate their value and give examples of their use. The paper separately considers the issue of the stanzaic structure of couplets, which we reckon as conditional, since in such texts the concept of stanza has lost its features and is based mainly on the author’s vision. However, such a mosaic „stanza” is another tool that gives free verse a special rhythm. In conclusion, the article outlines the prospects for further research on the author’s versioning.

The Lost Five Years Poet: Dmytro Zahul as a Member of the Modernist Group “Muzaget”

Alyona Tychinina — 2024-06-28

The study delved into the epistemological specificity of Ukrainian modernism, shaped by numerous bifurcation shifts during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It focused on the creative potential of modernism as a result of poetic transgressions during the “lost five-year” period (1917–1922). The main aim was to fill historiographical gaps in understanding Ukrainian modernism and analyse the activities of literary and artistic societies. A personalised examination of poet-innovator Dmytro Zahul (1890–1944) was conducted, highlighting his early (“Bukovyna”) and symbolist (“Kyiv”) stages of work. Zahul’s involvement in a secret school club with political connections, as well as his collaboration with Bukovyna modernist V. Kobylyansky (1895–1919) and the Lviv modernist group “Young Muse” (1905–1914) were explored. His poems, such as “Spring Nights” (1907) and “Between the Borders Lively, Lively” (1913), were analysed for their influence from the “young musicians”. The study also delved into Zahul’s participation in the Kyiv symbolist society “White Studio” (1918) and his journey towards Ukrainian symbolism through works like “There is no grief in the land of dreams” and “Say, don’t be silent, secret demon...?”. His role in establishing the association of Kyiv symbolists “Muzaget” (1919) was thoroughly examined, particularly his contribution to the almanac “Muzaget” with the literary exploration “Poetry as art”, an aesthetic program by I. Maidan. Zahul’s poetic texts, such as “Untangled garlands”, “There where tiredness sinks into the darkness”, and “Raven-maned horse”, were interpreted as examples of innovative symbolist form. The study also highlighted the impact of political ideology on art, literature, and the destinies of Ukrainian modernists.