ОБРАЗ ЖІНКИ В УКРАЇНСЬКІЙ НОВЕЛІ КІНЦЯ ХІХ – ПОЧАТКУ ХХ СТОЛІТЬ: ПОЕТИКА, ХУДОЖНЯ АНТРОПОЛОГІЯ
Authors: Лях Тетяна Олегівна 
Published: August 2022

Purpose: The purpose of the study: to trace the poetics and artistic anthropology of the image of women in the Ukrainian short story at the end of 19th – the beginning of 20th centuries, especially in the works of Marko Cheremshina, Olga Kobylyanska, Mykhailo Kotsyubynsky. Materials & Methods: aesthetic, comparative, typological, psychoanalytic, hermeneutic approach.

The image of a woman in the Ukrainian short story is researched both at the level of poetics and in the philosophical-aesthetic, metaphysical discourse. These images actualize the ontological markers of the human being, the relationship of the human with the world and thus reveal the ontological discourse of the Ukrainian short story. The characteristic features of the Ukrainian literary process at the end of 19th – the beginning of 20th centuries develop in connection with Modernism. Ukrainian writers reflected the realities of human life and psychological states, feelings of the characters. Writer’s worldview was formed in the cultural context and philosophy of that time. Their works are closely connected to Modernism tendencies especially to the “philosophy of life”. Therefore, the article deals with the transformation of the image of a woman in Ukrainian short stories of the end of 19th – the beginning of 20th centuries.

The investigation focuses on the vitality origin of Marko Cheremshyna’s image of a woman regarding the content and form. Solving this problem is connected with questions about nature, love, essence and sense of human life. The author comes to the conclusion that Marko Cheremshyna’s understanding of the image of a woman is close to pantheism; a human for him is a part of the Universe. Woman in the short story “Parasochka” embodies vitalism of human existence, Eros. Tsiia in the short story “Parubotska sprava” (“Bachelor occasion”) brings death and reflect Thanatos.

The image of Parasochka is typologically related to the image of the heroine of the short story “Uncultured” by O. Kobylianska. Both female images are neoromantic, which is manifested in the searching harmony with the world, striving for the ideal.

In autobiographical short stories “Son” (“Dream”), “Na ostrovi” (“On an island”) by M. Kotsiubynsky the image of the woman was created through the author’s subjective perception of the world. The author’s Self becomes the core in the kaleidoscope of events and images on the island. Sound, visual, olfactory images create a colorful impressionist picture of life, which sometimes resembles a report in which the author focuses the reader’s attention on the inner experiences of the lyrical subject and his vision of the woman. In the short story “Son” (“Dream”) the images of Martha and Stranger woman on the island embody prosy and spiritual aspects of human beings.

The study of the image of women in the Ukrainian short story at the end of 19th – the beginning of 20th centuries in the context of poetics and artistic anthropology helps to understand the phenomenon of writers of the “new generation” (I. Franko), complements the idea of a special philosophical thinking of writers and impulses to study the short stories according to the interdisciplinary research.