Fantasy in Ukraine: an in-action cultural tradition
Authors:   Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, Kropyvko I. 
Published: June 2024

Fantasy as a metagenre exists in many (art and non-art) forms, due to which scholars refer to it as a symbol of broad modern cultural development (O. Manakhov). Fantasy enhances the magicization of the real world and creates the secondary, non-existing one; it pushes numerous amateurs toward artistic self-implementation, unites the experts in various fields in their shared attempt to explore and create fantasy worlds, to arrange their life space. Fantasy as an in-action cultural tradition has not yet been interpretated as separate research; however, certain issues are regularly raised. Modern culture of fantasy penetrates literature, films, movie series, comic strips, manga, videogames in a way that makes fantasy one of the most important artistic styles of today, and is embodied in three dimensions – cultural, economic, and transmedia (K. Maj). The scholars refer to comicons, videogames, artificial intelligence that will create animated 3D maps of fantasy locations (O. Manakhov) as well as to various types of fan-art (Ye. Kanchura, Ya. Yukhymuk), fanzines activity (S. Legeza), K. Kaczor). All these works have one common trait: each of them emphasizes the aspect connected with the main aim of the research and places a smaller focus on the fact that this is an in-action process – not only intertextual but also multiple media, often extraart, as it covers different areas of the life of a modern individual who wishes to take an active part in this process rather than to be a mere consumer of the cultural product. The research seeks to prove that modern fantasy, particularly in Ukraine, is an in-action literary and, in a broader sense, cultural tradition, a multidirectional process affected by all the components of fantasy and making it impossible to clearly distinguish their positions; all taken together, they build the magic fantasy world, which combines an artistic illusion with the present. Fantasy in Ukraine is indeed an in-action cultural tradition, which is actively spreading beyond literature and targets both writers, and artists involved in numerous types of art (comics, live action etc.), as well as critics and fan community. Moreover, fantasy is a part of applied arts, street art and leisure activities (videogames, board games, festivals). The development of any fantasy-related activities testifies to the transgressive crossing of any borders – between experts and amateurs (fantasy created and explored by fans, fan-art, field-specific journals and fanzines, competitions and workshops run by editorial houses and fanzines, special projects and amateur online platforms, festivals and comicons), between art and routine life (wall art, paintings, fantasy décor), between high and pop culture (from art-house, indie-projects to merch). This trend is intrinsic not only to Ukrainian fantasy. Ukrainian culture is actively entering the global cultural process. The future focus of the research will be placed on Ukrainian fantasy, which is actively growing and becoming a part of the global literary and non-literary practice namely as an in-action cultural tradition, which is built under the influence of the fan community and embodied in various media and cultural forms thus testifying to the development of fantasy discourse of modern society. Key words: fantasy, tradition, cultural product, fan-art, globalization.