"PROMETHEUS' DESCENDANTS" BY D. MORDOVETS: SPECIFICITIES OF RECONCEPTION THE MORAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DOMINANTS OF TRADITIONAL IMAGES
Authors:   Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine, Hrytsyk Liudmyla 
Published: November 2024

Background. D. Mordovets's novel "Prometheus' Descendants" has long fallen out of the attention of researchers, both literary historians and comparative scholars. This was mainly due to a complex interplay of historical and cultural factors. Several of his works were written in Russian, leading to his classification as a Russian author. No less significant was D. Mordovets's attitude to Russia then, a period marked by destroying everything "different" in the name of power. The study of D. Mordovets's works was also influenced by the level of comparative studies of the time, its purpose, and nature. The "departure from Ukrainian literature" (there was also such an opinion) also affected the study of his prose. The particular perception of D. Mordovets's works in Georgia had its reasons. Several of his novels ("The King Without a Kingdom," "Farsman and Radamis," "Iron and Blood," and "The Caucasian Captive") were connected with Georgia. Although Georgians knew and supported him, his "excessive Slavic sympathies" and "Ukrainian nationalism" did not cause much enthusiasm among the authorities, nor did Mordovets's thoughts/views on the colonial policy of tsarist Russia. At the end of the nineteenth century, Tedo Sakhokia, a Georgian writer, scholar, and public figure exiled to Siberia for his participation in the 1907 uprising, later an emigrant (he studied at the Sorbonne and lived in Paris), showed a particular interest in Mordovets's prose. These "traces" in the biographies of T. Sakhokia and D. Mordovets became significant in the future fate of both of them: they were united by Abkhazia, which Sakhokia loved to the core, and which was included in D. Mordovets's Descendants of Prometheus, the Kavkaz newspaper, where the translations were published, and Ukraine, which T. Sahokia knew well, and the image that became the "impetus" for the creation of the novel and its reflection in Georgian. Methods. The study used biographical, cultural and historical, historical and literary, and typological methods. Results. Of particular interest is the unique approach taken to "stir up" Georgian materials, specifically those related to D. Mordovets's activities and his contacts with Tedo Sakhokia and the Kavkaz newspaper. This analysis reveals how and why the legendary mythological structure retains its relevance in 'projections' on a specific historical basis and becomes consonant with the recipient literature. The author, through the lens of D. Mordovets's novel, uncovers the peculiarities of the functioning of traditional plots and images, the factors of semantic renewal, and more. Conclusions. The exploration of D. Mordovets's prose offers a fresh perspective on the forms and methods of actualizing the myth of Prometheus in a novel that resonates with the anti-imperial struggle of the Caucasus peoples. This study fundamentally alters the interpretation of the Prometheus image. 'The Descendants of Prometheus' serves as a catalyst for contemplation on the issues of traditional plots and images. It also delves into various themes of Ukrainian comparative studies, including the temporal and spatial aspects of R. Trusson.