TYPOLOGY AND FUNCTIONS OF READING PERFORMANCE IN CONTEMPORARY UKRAINIAN CHILDREN’S AND ADOLESCENT LITERATURE
Authors:   National University of Ostroh Academy, Visych Oleksandra A. , Mykhalchuk Tetiana V. ,   National University of Ostroh Academy
Published: December 2024

The phenomenon of reading stands as a focal point in literary, cultural, and philosophical studies,
prompting ongoing research into how readers perceive texts and the profound impact this process has
on our conscious and subconscious minds. Classical theories, including transactional theory (Rosenblatt),
reader-response theory (Fish), psychoanalytic reader-response theory (Holland), and the theory of aesthetic
response (Iser) continue to shape discourse in these fields, supplemented by contemporary investigations.
Recently, there has been a significant expansion in performance studies, with Peter Kivy’s “The
Performance of Reading: An Essay in the Philosophy of Literature” analysing the metamorphosis of
narrative voices. This highlights the notion of reading as a performance, prompting exploration into how
this performative aspect is integrated into literary plots. Writers often reflect on the act of reading, yielding
a genre of metaliterature where readers become central characters, engaging in conflicts that revolve
around their absorption into the text’s world.
Delving deeper, this article focuses on contemporary Ukrainian literature for young audiences,
exploring instances where reading transforms into an internal performance through activities such as
recitation, family reading rituals, and silent perusal.
The article aims to define and characterise the ways of representing reading as a performance in
contemporary Ukrainian literature for children and young adults, as well as to explore the artistic function
of reading scenes within these works. To achieve this goal, we will employ the foundations of performative
theory, particularly its literary applications, substantiated in the works of Peter Kivy and Päivi Kosonen,
along with a comparative and typological method, drawing on concepts from receptive aesthetics and
transactional reading theory, which we have adapted to analyse in-text reading scenes in order to uncover
the dynamics of interaction between the imaginary reader and the imaginary author.
The article outlines various aspects of performative strategies in literary texts, emphasizing the
depiction of reading as a performance. Despite considerable interest in the issue of performativity in
contemporary Ukrainian and global literary studies, literature for children and adolescents remains largely
understudied regarding the artistic models of reading that are particularly sought after and prominently
featured. This is vividly illustrated in the works of contemporary Ukrainian authors such as Volodymyr
Areniev, Halyna Vdovychenko, Kateryna Babkina, Natalia Yasinovska, and others.
Performative strategies in epic narrative (reading performance as a family ritual, the theatrical
reading, interpretive reading, storytelling as performance) create a tendency to organise the literary text as
a verbal-plastic form, aimed at generating a visual effect, where the aesthetics of narration transform into
the aesthetics of the show, and an illusion of present action (real-time mode), which, in turn, determines
the variability of temporal organization within the narrative. The tendency of the literary epic form toward
visualisation may indicate that a trend toward the fusion (or synthesis) of literary genres and types is be-
coming more relevant in the contemporary literary process.
In the analysed texts, reading as performance is realised in a number of formats. The article
characterises the depiction of the family reading ritual, which retains the specific characteristics of such
performances: the presence of an actor, a spectator, mise-en-scène, requisites, and social impact. It is
determined that the performative aspects of reading go beyond oral recitation and include elements of
staging and sometimes puppet theatre. It is proved that the portrayal of reading shows the characters’
ability to fully immerse themselves in the text and to interact creatively with the artistic material,
emphasising the strong connection between generations and the preservation of cultural traditions. In
many texts for children and adolescents, the performance of reading has a therapeutic function, helping
characters overcome emotional challenges and traumatic situations.